In 2014, Singapore's legal and judicial landscape underwent a significant transformation with the establishment of the Family Justice Courts. This move centralised the entire range of family-related work under a dedicated court system, and it arose from a recognition of the unique character of family justice: its distinct stakeholders, their precise needs and interests, and the issues that they face.
In this Special Address, the Honourable Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon will explore the evolution of Singapore's family justice system over the past decade, which has been informed and shaped by principles of therapeutic justice. Looking towards the future, the Chief Justice will discuss the need for a renewed vision of family justice that is both collaborative and accessible – one that emphasises the importance of inter-jurisdictional cooperation in an interconnected world, while addressing the fundamental challenge of access to justice.
Mr Sundaresh Menon was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court on 6 November 2012.
Chief Justice Menon graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours) from the National University of Singapore in 1986 and a Master of Laws from Harvard Law School in 1991. He was admitted as an advocate and solicitor in Singapore in 1987, and as an attorney and counsellor-at-law in New York in 1992.
After he was called to the Bar in Singapore, he practised with major local and international law firms, primarily as an advocate, in the fields of commercial litigation and arbitration, construction law and insolvency law. From 2006 to 2007, he served as a Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court. He was appointed Senior Counsel in 2008. In 2010, he was appointed the 6th Attorney-General of Singapore, a post he relinquished in 2012 shortly before his appointment as a Judge of Appeal. He was appointed to the Presidential Council for Minority Rights upon his appointment as Attorney-General in 2010 and was later appointed as its Chairman in 2012, upon his appointment as Chief Justice.
Between 2012 and 2020, Chief Justice Menon served on the Governing Board of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration, and he also served as a member of the International Chamber of Commerce Governing Body for Dispute Resolution Services from 2021 to March 2024.
He is also an elected member of the American Law Institute, an Honorary Bencher of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple in England and the President of the Singapore Academy of Law. Chief Justice Menon was conferred the Honorary degree of Doctor of Laws by the University of Western Australia in 2022 for his services to the law and by the National University of Singapore in 2024 for his outstanding service to the practice and adjudication of law. In 2024, he was also awarded the White & Case Distinguished Jessup Alumni Award.
Chief Justice Menon is married with three children.