SUSS School of Law


The Singapore University of Social Sciences School of Law is an autonomous school of Singapore University of Social Sciences. It was established as Singapore's third law school in 2017 after the NUS Faculty of Law and the SMU School of Law. The school was established to address the shortage of practitioners in family and criminal law. In 2018, it was reported that of the 60 pioneer SUSS law students, seven have dropped out or deferred their studies setting the attrition rate at 10%.
It offers a four to six years undergraduate Bachelor of Laws degree programme, and a three to six years graduate Juris Doctor programme. The school also offers the Master of Taxation programme in collaboration with the Tax Academy of Singapore.

History

2013

In June 2013, then Senior Minister of State for Law and Education Indranee Rajah initiated to fill the shortage of family and criminal lawyers from mid-career professionals through the third law school. Then SIM University before it was restructured into the Singapore University of Social Sciences and the Singapore Institute of Technology were among the institutions shortlisted to house the third law school.
In October 2013, then Education Minister Heng Swee Keat announced during UniSIM’s convocation that the University was selected to house the third law school due to its track record of offering degree programmes for working adults and current offerings in humanities and the social sciences Subsequently, then Law Minister K. Shanmugam clarified that students in the third law school will be trained holistically and not restricted to family and criminal Law only. Eventually, most of the graduates will pursue family and criminal law. It is also not fair to name the school as second class.
In November 2013, the Ministry of Law setup the 12-member steering committee to guide the development of the UniSIM law school. The committee was chaired by then Senior Minister of State for Education and Law Indranee Rajah, and composed of legal experts such as criminal lawyer Subhas Anandan, chief prosecutor Tai Wei Shyong, then chief district judge See Kee Oon, and Mr Noor. Other members include Valerie Thean, Cheong Hee Kiat, Raja Kumar s/o Thamny Rajah, Amarjeet Singh, Foo Fiew Fong and Narayanan Sreenivasan.

2016

In February 2016, the MinLaw announced that 50 to 60 places were offered to the law school’s first intake for January 2017. 80 per cent of the intake will be allocated for mature students and the remaining for fresh school leavers. Students have to complete the course curriculum that is modular and credit based. The programme is practice-oriented, multidisciplinary and focus on applied research. Admission into the programme is based on academic credentials, aptitude, attitude and interest to pursue family and criminal law. There will be offerings in Bachelor of Laws and Juris Doctor programmes.
The school intends to eventually locate in the State and or Family Justice Courts to conduct practical learning.
Despite previous recommendations from the steering committee to conduct conversion course for law graduates with external law degrees not on the list of approved overseas institutions to become full-fledged lawyers, this concluded with the course not being offered.
In October 2016, UniSIM informed that the law school has filled all 60 places for its two law programmes, from close to 400 applications. The school accepted 27 applicants for its LLB programme, and 33 for the JD programme.

2017

In January 2017, SUSS School of Law started with an initial intake of 60 students.