Law firm Oon & Bazul renews bursary for needy SMU law students and establishes Prize for Top Student in Law of Torts

Singapore, 11 January 2016 (Monday) – Law firm Oon & Bazul, which has been supporting Singapore Management University’s (SMU) needy law students through the Oon & Bazul Bursary since 2011, has renewed its commitment for another five years.  The Bursary, worth S$5,000 each, will be awarded to one law undergraduate student each year from Academic Year 2015-2016 to Academic Year 2019-2020.  Besides placing the awardees on the road to financial freedom and enabling them to focus on enjoying a fulfilling and holistic university education, the Bursary also motivates them to pursue all-round excellence.

In addition, the firm has announced the establishment of the Oon & Bazul Prize for the Top Student in Law of Torts at SMU for a period of five years.  To motivate SMU’s law students to achieve academic excellence and to recognise the top student in Law of Torts, a compulsory course offered at the SMU School of Law, one Prize worth S$1,500 will be awarded each academic year from 2016.

Professor Yeo Tiong Min, Dean of SMU School of Law, said, “I’m grateful to Oon & Bazul for their continued support and encouragement towards needy law undergraduates via the Oon & Bazul Bursary.  Their generosity will continue to make a significant difference in the educational journey of deserving law students at SMU and enable them to enjoy a fulfilling university education free from financial burden and distractions.”

“With its far-reaching impact on diverse aspects of our society, the law of torts is an important and compulsory area of study for undergraduates at our law school.  The newly established Prize will certainly motivate students to aim to do their best in this subject,” he added.

Mr Bazul Ashhab, Managing Partner and Head of Dispute Resolution Practice Group at Oon & Bazul LLP, said, “The firm, although relatively young, has done very well in a short span of time and has 50 fee earners and is still growing.  Having achieved success, the partners are keenly aware of their corporate social responsibility.  We have done very well and we want to give back to society.  What better way to do this than support a young person financially to achieve his dream of a career in law.  The firm is therefore very thankful to SMU for this opportunity.  As such, it brings us immense satisfaction to renew the Oon & Bazul Bursary with SMU for a further five years.  We are pleased that the bursary has been helpful to its recipients and we sincerely hope that it will continue to assist those SMU law students who need it in the future, who in turn can do their part in contributing constructively to our community.”

One such beneficiary is SMU alumna Victoria Choo Li Yuet, who graduated from SMU School of Law in 2014 with a Bachelor of Laws degree.  She was a recipient of the Bursary in 2012, became an intern with the firm in 2013 and was eventually offered a training contract with the company in 2015.

Victoria, who is now an Associate at Oon & Bazul, shared, “I used to have to take up many private tutoring jobs to earn money.  At one point I had seven tuition students.  It was very exhausting because I had to pack all my tuition classes into Saturday and Sunday after a busy school week.  Receiving the Oon & Bazul Bursary allowed me to halve the number of tuition students I took.  I was then able to spend more time on my studies and rest during the weekend.  The bursary enabled me to fully enjoy my university experience, and it literally bought me time, which I will always be thankful for.”

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About Singapore Management University

Singapore Management University (SMU) is internationally recognised for its world-class research and distinguished teaching.  Established in 2000, SMU’s mission is to generate leading-edge research with global impact and produce broad-based, creative and entrepreneurial leaders for the knowledge-based economy.  SMU education is known for its highly interactive, collaborative and project-based approach to learning, and for its technologically enabled pedagogy of seminar-style teaching in small class sizes.  Comprised of six schools specialising in Accountancy, Business, Economics, Information Systems, Law and Social Sciences, it offers a wide range of bachelors', masters' and PhD degree programmes and is home to 9,300 students.  With an emphasis on generating relevant multi-disciplinary research that addresses Asian issues, and being Singapore’s only university in the city, SMU enjoys strategic linkages with business, government and the wider community through its research institutes, centres and labs. www.smu.edu.sg

About 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 SMU School of Law offers a four-year full-time Bachelor of Laws programme, a five-year double-degree programme which combines law with 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.  www.law.smu.edu.sg

About Oon & Bazul

Oon & Bazul is one of Singapore's leading commercial law firms. The firm regularly acts for clients in international arbitrations; commercial dispute litigation; corporate and commercial matters; restructuring and insolvency; fraud and asset tracing; employment law issues; and conveyancing matters. The firm's shipping practice is ranked one of the best in Asia and the firm has been consistently commended in legal publications such as The Legal 500, Chambers Asia Pacific and Chambers Global.