Bust of David Marshall finds permanent home in the SMU School of Law

“David Marshall was one of Singapore's most famous sons and a legal legend. Well respected for his advocacy skills, charisma, flamboyance and generosity, it is a privilege and honour for the SMU School of Law to be associated with such a man. The bronze sculpture, donated by the Marshall Family, will serve to remind us of the late Mr Marshall and the legacy he leaves behind,” said Professor Furmston.

“After the family and I had decided to find a suitable long-term home for the sculpture of David, I learned that the SMU Law Faculty's moot court was to be named after him; so it seemed to us that the bust should be placed there. We hope that present and future students in this campus will celebrate and be inspired by the qualities of passion, hard work, courage and integrity which marked David's life-time achievements and legal career," commented Mrs Jean Marshall on the donation.

In conjunction with the David Marshall Moot Court, a David Marshall Moot Court Endowment Fund will be established to support SMU's initiatives to groom legal talent.

The bust was sculpted in 1956 by London-based Hungarian sculptor-writer, Peter Lambda (1911 – 1995).

About David Saul Marshall (1908 – 1995)

David Marshall (1908 – 1995) was Singapore's first elected Chief Minister, a diplomat, a first-class criminal lawyer, head of the Labour Front party and founder of the Workers' Party. Reputed for his great oratorical skill and stirring speeches, he was one of Singapore's best criminal and constitutional lawyers, known for getting an acquittal for most of his cases. Marshall also served as Singapore's first Ambassador to France, Spain, Portugal and Switzerland for 15 years before retiring from the diplomatic service in 1993.

About the SMU School of Law

SMU School of Law proudly welcomed its first cohort of 116 students in August 2007. Taught by a dynamic faculty with postgraduate degrees from renowned universities such as Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol and London, the School aims to nurture its students to become excellent lawyers who will contribute significantly to society. Trained with the ability to contextualise legal expertise and to think across disciplines and geographical borders coupled with SMU's interactive pedagogy, SMU's law graduates are confident articulate and analytically agile.

The Law School offers a four-year full-time Bachelor of Laws programme, a five-year double-degree programme which combines law with either Accountancy, Business, Economics, Information Systems or Social Sciences, and a Master of Laws programme. The School has also launched a full-time graduate programme, the Juris Doctor Programme which can be completed within three years, and in some cases, accelerated for completion within two years.