Who should apply to the SUSS School of Law

I get questions like “how does the SUSS School of Law compare to the other two local law schools?” or “what is the perception of the SUSS School of Law in comparison with the other two law schools”.

Let me first be clear that all three law schools from NUS, SMU and SUSS, are distinctly different when it comes to their student population. I graduated with my first degree from NUS exactly two decades ago. My classmates were primarily from junior colleges. We applied to NUS with our GCE ‘A’ Level results. When I look at the students that graduated from the law school at NUS and SMU, they tend to be younger. Naturally, I do not expect them to have the breadth of life experience as someone who is 20 years older than them. The student population, for better or worse, is older at the SUSS School of Law. Most of the students are like myself. Mid career, already have a first degree, pursuing law as a second degree for a myriad of reasons. When I entered the SUSS School of Law, I was 40 years old. I graduated as a 44 year old. Life looks a lot different through the lens of a 44 year old than it does to a 24 year old. No, it LITERALLY looks a lot different. I am long sighted. My eyesight is not as sharp. I take time to focus on reading text. Now that I am doing my training contract, my eyes get exhausted before my mind or the rest of my body does. I think I am still relatively fit physically, but there are some aspects of ageing I cannot circumvent.

Students at the SUSS School of Law are usually working adults. We have families to support. For me, I had companies to run, teams to build, presentations to make and deals to secure. Wills and probate mean something to some of us who have gone through situations where friends and family have passed on and we have had to deal with matters after their death. Property law seems a little more palatable because most of us have purchased properties. Naturally, many of us are married and have families. Family law tends to take on a greater meaning.

So who should apply to the SUSS School of Law?

Firstly, an applicant to the SUSS School of Law should not be concerned about whether the SUSS School of Law will be as recognised as the other two law schools. Let me explain. We will always be the third law school. NUS will always be the most established law school just on the basis that it has been around for much longer. SMU will always have the second law school and SUSS will have the youngest of the three law schools. Naturally, there will be way more judges, senior counsels, partners of law firms that come from NUS. As of today, there are no judges, senior counsels and partners of law firms (that I know of) that come from the SUSS School of Law. If you are concerned about branding, then you should only be looking at NUS. It is the most established and its alumni produced the most judges, senior counsels and partners of law firms.

Secondly, an applicant to the SUSS School of Law should be someone who is working. The SUSS School of Law is the most ideal law school for working adults. If you need to work and study then this law school is the law school for you. Classes are in the evenings and the lecturers are cognisant to the point of understanding and accommodating to the fact that students have day jobs. Assignments are due over the weekend. This gives you time to do your work. If you are late for class because you are held up at work, a polite email would suffice. If you for some reason are unable to attend class, a recording of the session is made available in the student portal. In comparison, the Part B classes were during office hours. I only attended 3 classes in full. The compulsory ones. I missed the rest. There were some classes where I tried attending while in office but I quickly had to go off as I had to prioritise work. Fortunately I managed to pass the Part B examinations at my first attempt. I credit it to how the SUSS School of Law trained me in doing multiple choice questions though!

Thirdly, an applicant to the SUSS School of Law should be someone who wants to practice law. I really cannot stress this enough. Trust me, there were so many of my friends, colleagues and business partners who did not believe that I was pursuing law as a career. Three months into my training contract, I would like to report that I am taking this very seriously. I have had interns from SMU under my care in my previous company. I know what is a good intern and what is an intern that companies cannot wait to see the back of. I am trying my best to be as good a trainee as possible at my law firm. If you are pursuing law with little to no intention of having it as a career, please let others who want to practice take your spot. I saw how hard the lecturers at the SUSS School of Law worked to train legal practitioners. There are only 70 odd places every batch and I believe only slightly more than two-thirds of each batch graduate. From there, not everyone will go into practice despite what was postulated at their entrance interview.

Fourthly, an applicant to the SUSS School of Law should be someone who is pragmatic. Pragmatic in a sense that the goal is to get a law degree that allows him or her to take the Part B bar exams. If you are looking to get a first class honours at the SUSS School of Law, you are welcome to try. To date, there has been no first class honours graduate. The bulk of graduates pass out with second lower with the ones with academically better grades getting second upper. You are here to get a law degree to allow you to take the Part B bar exam. That is the goal. There are a lot less extra curricular activities. There is no hall life like in NUS. There is no rag and flag, there is no inter-faculty games (that I know of). Yes there is still some campus life. I would like to say that I made the most of campus life. I joined as many sporting events as I could. I enjoyed them, made loads of friends and proved that someone in their 40s could actively compete with people almost half their age. However, I believe I am the exception rather than the norm.

Finally, an applicant to the SUSS School of Law has to have his family priorities sorted. For me personally, I could not have pursued this degree without the help of my wife. My wife is also working. She is a property agent and she helps to contribute to the household income. While I was studying, I was also building my own corporate secretarial and accounting company. I was also dealing with businesses in the F&B arena and the manpower and tech space. I needed the support of my business partners. Eventually when I pivoted to law as a practice trainee this July, I put in place succession plans for everyone to take over from me. To add on, if you are running a business, you need to consider how your business is going to continue without you. Especially during your one year traineeship. I do not know what the future holds. I do know that I want to practice law into my retirement because I enjoy solving problems.

So don’t compare the SUSS School of Law. This law school will definitely lose out if you are someone who is looking for the most established and recognised local law degree. You have to focus on your own situation. Are you someone who needs to work in the day and can only attend classes in the evenings? Do you need to work to support a family? Do you need to juggle work, family and studies? You will be surrounded mostly by people who have said yes to these questions.

So there you go, you should be asking questions of yourself before you ask questions about the SUSS School of Law. If you do join the law school, welcome! From someone who has been there and done that…

Yours sincerely,

Daryl