David Tan
David Tan is a Singaporean law professor at the Faculty of Law of the National University of Singapore (NUS Law). He was the Vice Dean of Academic Affairs at NUS Law from January 2015 to June 2021. His legal scholarship covers intellectual and intangible property law. David is also a fine art and fashion photographer, with exhibitions presented by Cartier and Versace. Biography. David graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours) and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne, and he was a resident of Trinity College, Melbourne (1991–1995) where he was named Valedictorian . He was awarded the RJ Hamer and Corrs Chambers Westgarth Prizes in Constitutional & Administrative Law, Price Waterhouse Prize in Contracts, and Rayne Dickson Memorial Exhibition Prize in Health & Medical Law. David was conferred a Master of Laws in 1999 from Harvard, where he attended on the Lee Kuan Yew Scholarship. David worked in DBS Bank before joining the Singapore Administrative Service in December 2001, serving as director of International Talent at the Ministry of Manpower and head of Contact Singapore, and as Director of Sports in the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports. David left the Singapore Administrative Service  and enrolled in the Ph.D. programme at Melbourne Law School in 2006. David joined NUS Law as an assistant professor in December 2008. In 2012, he became a tenured associate professor. He was appointed vice dean of academic affairs in 2015, overseeing the LL.B. and LL.M. programmes. In 2016, he was appointed to the position of dean's chair at the faculty. He was promoted to full professor on 1 July 2018. David has a curatorial collection of over 200 jackets, mainly blazers, which includes rare runway looks from Alexander Lee McQueen's final menswear collection and Gucci's "Roger  Federer Met Gala 2017" crystal cobra tuxedo. Legal scholarship. David's legal scholarship covers three areas of intellectual and intangible property – personality rights, copyright, and trademarks – as well as tort law and comparative constitutional freedom of expression. He adopts an "interdisciplinary approach drawing on cultural studies and semiotics". His monograph "The Commercial Appropriation of Fame: A Cultural Analysis of the Right of Publicity and Passing Off" was published by Cambridge University Press in 2017. David has also published in a range of journals including Yale Journal of International Law, Harvard Journal of Sports & Entertainment Law, Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment  Law Journal, Virginia Sports & Entertainment Law Journal, WIPO Journal, Sydney Law Review and Law Quarterly Review. David's recent work also encompasses the future of legal education in Singapore. He has proposed a new "3T" paradigm of "Transnationalism, Technology and Tradition". Photography. David has contributed to magazines like Harper’s Bazaar and Elle. He is currently represented by Yang Gallery. A visual arts studio at Trinity College, Melbourne has been named after him. David has staged several solo photography exhibitions: