Part A of The Singapore Bar Examinations

Overview

Part A of the Singapore Bar Examinations (the “Part A Examinations”) is a conversion examination for graduates from overseas scheduled universities who intend to apply for the Part B Course and Examinations. It is one of the requirements that an overseas graduate must satisfy to meet the definition of a “qualified person” pursuant to the Legal Profession (Qualified Persons) Rules (the “QP Rules”). 2 sessions of the Part A Examinations are held each year.

The Part A Course is an optional course to prepare applicants for the Part A Examinations. The Part A Course is currently conducted twice a year, from January to end-April, and July to end-October, each calendar year.

Eligibility

To apply to sit for the Part A Examinations, you must fulfil all the following requirements:

1. You are a Singapore citizen or permanent resident;
2. You have graduated with an applicable law degree from an overseas scheduled university, and have attained at least lower second-class honours or have been ranked as being amongst the highest 70% of your batch of graduates (“ranking requirements”); and
3. If you are completing your final year of the applicable law degree from an overseas scheduled university, you will need to graduate meeting the ranking requirements and submit the relevant supporting documents to the SILE on or before the date specified in the Application Guide for the session of the Examinations you are applying for.

If you do not meet the above eligibility requirements, or any other requirements under the QP Rules, you can consider applying for an exemption from the Minister of Law. Details of the exemption application procedure can be found on the Ministry of Law’s website.

Note: For requirements (a) and (b), you must have applied for an exemption or obtained the exemption by the time you submit your application to sit for the Part A Bar Examinations.

Applying for Part A Course and Examinations

You may apply to take the optional Part A Course and Part A Examinations during the specified online application period.

More information on the application process, such as the application timelines and supporting documents required, can be found in the Part A Application Guide, which will be made available during the online application period.

First-Time Applicants: Applicants who will only graduate after the application period closes may still submit their applications if they can obtain the degree certificates, official academic transcripts, ranking certification documents and university documents (if applicable) by end-March (for the Session 1 Examinations) or by end-August (for the Session 2 Examinations).

Re-Takers from Past Sessions: Re-takers from past sessions who wish to sit for the Part A Examinations must register by completing the Retakers Registration Form. This does not apply to re-takers from the immediately preceding session. Separate instructions will be provided to re-takers from the immediately preceding session. The completed registration form must be sent to the following address by the stipulated deadline indicated in the Part A Application Guide, which will be made available during the online application period.

Email Address:           [email protected]
Subject:                      [NAME] – Application for Retaking Part A Examinations

Re-Takers from Immediately Preceding Session: Applicants who have just sat for the Part A Examinations should wait for the results to be released. Those who fail the examinations will be given instructions on how to apply to re-sit the examinations during a separate application period.

Course and Examination Fees

Note: The optional Part A Course is offered during both Sessions 1 and 2 of Part A. The Examinations only fees apply to Singapore citizens, Singapore PRs and foreigners.

The applicable fees may change and are subject to review.

All fees are inclusive of:

• a library card for physical access to the National University of Singapore Libraries;
• a personal LawNet account; and
• access to SILE Campus, an online learning portal to assist applicants in their self-preparation for the Examinations.

Payment details can be found in the Part A Application Guide, which will be made available during the online application period.

Key Dates

These dates are indicative and subject to change.

Examinable Subjects

There are 5 compulsory examinable subjects for the Part A Examinations. All papers will use the open-book examination format.

The subjects are:

1. Company Law;
2. Criminal Law;
3. Evidence Law;
4. Land Law; and
5. Singapore Legal System.

Part A candidates who have been conditionally accepted will be granted access to SILE Campus.

Course materials (such as the syllabus, learning plan and reading materials) will be made available through the SILE’s online learning portal, SILE Campus. Accepted candidates will have access to the course materials. Login particulars to SILE Campus will be made available to candidates by January (for Session 1) and by July (for Session 2).

Faculty

The Part A Faculty comprises leading academics from the NUS Faculty of Law and the SMU Yong Pung How School of Law, as well as seasoned practitioners and members of the judiciary.

Subject Coordinators
1.	Company Law		Associate Professor Lan Luh Luh* NUS Faculty of Law Associate Professor Luh Luh Lan teaches corporate law, corporate finance law and securities market governance at the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore. Her research interests span areas such as ESG and directors’ duties, and her work has been published in various leading academic journals, including Journal of Corporate Law Studies and Harvard Business Review. She is the author of the award-winning book, Essentials of Corporate Law & Governance in Singapore. A former Academic Director of the UCLA-NUS EMBA and Board Member of ICGS, she actively contributes to legal scholarship, policy consultation, and executive education. She is currently the subject coordinator for Part A Company Law. She holds an LL.B. and Ph.D. from NUS and an LL.M. from Cambridge. *Associate Professor Lan Luh Luh also serves as Facilitator for Company Law.
2.	Criminal Law		Professor Kumaralingam Amirthalingam NUS Faculty of Law󠁼󠁼​​​Kumaralingam Amirthalingam is a Professor at the National University of Singapore Law School. He obtained his LLB and PhD in Law from the Australian National University and he researches in selected areas of Tort Law (specializing in medical negligence and economic loss) and Criminal Law (specializing in public prosecutions). He teaches both these subjects as well as a Master’s course on Business Torts. Kumar has served as Vice Dean of the Law School and Chair of the NUS Teaching Academy. He is on the International Advisory Board of Medical Law International and Editorial Advisory Board of Medical Law Review. He was seconded to the Attorney-General’s Chambers for two years as Senior Director (Research & Policy) and Deputy Public Prosecutor, and he has served as Amicus Curiae in the Court of Appeal and as expert consultant to the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Law.
3.	Evidence Law		Associate Professor Chen Siyuan Associate Dean, SMU Yong Pung How School of LawSiyuan specialises in evidence and procedural law. He has published more than 150 works and he has been cited by the Singapore High Court, Singapore Court of Appeal, Singapore International Commercial Court, Indian Supreme Court, and the Law Commission of England & Wales. Siyuan also directs SMU’s International Moots Programme; his teams have won major competitions such as Jessup, Vis East, Price, Lachs, ICC, and Frankfurt.
4.	Land Law		Professor Tang Hang Wu SMU Yong Pung How School of LawTang Hang Wu is Professor at the Yong Pung How School of Law and Associate Provost (Research Governance) at Singapore Management University where he researches on the law of property, wealth management, charity and non-profits and equity and trusts. He has published widely and his work has been relied regularly by all levels of the Singapore courts and other Commonwealth jurisdictions. In addition to his academic work, he is often instructed as Counsel and expert witness by Singapore and international law firms.
5.	Singapore Legal System		Assistant Professor Benjamin Joshua Ong SMU Yong Pung How School of LawBenjamin Joshua Ong is an Assistant Professor of Law at the Yong Pung How School of Law, Singapore Management University (SMU), where he has been a faculty member since 2017. He holds the degrees of Bachelor of Arts (Jurisprudence) and Bachelor of Civil Law from the University of Oxford, and has been called to the Singapore Bar. In his research work, he focuses on constitutional and administrative law in Singapore and Malaysia; he also writes about criminal procedure. He teaches courses relating to public law and governance to law students and social science students at SMU.
			Associate Professor Kenny Chng SMU Yong Pung How School of LawKenny is an Associate Professor of Law at the Yong Pung How School of Law, Singapore Management University (SMU). His research focuses on constitutional and administrative law. Kenny has publications in leading academic journals in his areas of interest, including the Law Quarterly Review, Legal Studies, Public Law, the International Journal of Constitutional Law, Judicial Review, the Journal of Private International Law, the Civil Justice Quarterly, the Hong Kong Law Journal, the Asian Journal of Comparative Law, and the Singapore Journal of Legal Studies. His work has been cited with approval by the High Court of England and Wales as well as the Singapore Court of Appeal.Kenny is currently reading for a DPhil in Law at the University of Oxford with the support of the Yong Pung How Fellowship. His DPhil work is on judicial review and administrative policies. For exceptional academic performance on the DPhil, he was awarded the Senior Hulme Scholarship by Brasenose College, University of Oxford. Prior to beginning his DPhil, he completed his LL.M. studies at Harvard University as one of the first-ever recipients of the MOE-START Overseas Postgraduate Scholarship. At Harvard, he received the Dean’s Scholar Prize as the top student for the Public Law Workshop. He also graduated with first class honours from the SMU Yong Pung How School of Law.
			Assistant Professor Lau Kwan Ho SMU Yong Pung How School of LawLau Kwan Ho is an Assistant Professor of Law at the Yong Pung How School of Law, Singapore Management University (SMU). Prior to joining SMU, he was a Senior Associate at Allen & Gledhill LLP and a Justices’ Law Clerk with the Supreme Court of Singapore. He also worked as in-house counsel at the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC).Kwan Ho’s main research areas are in contract law and private law. He writes as well on judicial decision making in the common law and on the development of the legal profession. His work is cited by courts in Singapore (High Court and Court of Appeal) and Hong Kong (Court of Appeal), by sitting Commonwealth judges in extra-judicial speeches, by regulatory bodies, and in academic treatises and articles regularly. He has given expert evidence on Singapore law in foreign court proceedings. Between 2021 and 2024 he served as the Deputy Director of the Centre for Commercial Law in Asia.

Course Facilitators
1.	Company Law		Judge Wong Li Tein District Judge, State Courts of SingaporeJudge Wong Li Tein was appointed District Judge and Deputy Registrar of the Republic of Singapore in 2009. She has served as a Deputy Public Prosecutor and State Counsel in the Attorney-General’s Chambers, the Head of Legal Industry and Regulations in the Ministry of Law, Assistant Registrar in the Supreme Court and Deputy Chief Executive of the Singapore Academy of Law. She is currently also the Executive Director of the State Courts Training Office and a referee of the Singapore Industrial Arbitration Court.
2.	Evidence Law		Mr Dennis Saw Senior Associate, Rajah & Tann Singapore LLPDennis is a Senior Associate in the Shipping and International Trade department at Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP. He has acted in contentious and non-contentious matters for (amongst others) banks, financial institutions, trading houses, multi-national corporations, government institutions, P&I clubs, and shipowners. Dennis has appeared before the Singapore courts (including the Court of Appeal) and in arbitrations under the SIAC, SCMA, ICC, and UNCITRAL rules.
3.	Land Law		Mr Afzal Ali Partner, Allen & GledhillAfzal’s main areas of practice include commercial litigation and international arbitration. Afzal has represented clients over a wide array of commercial and corporate disputes, including high-net worth banking disputes, shareholder and joint venture disputes, trust disputes, employment disputes, and libel claims. He has also represented clients in intellectual property disputes and IT-related disputes. He has acted for statutory boards, public healthcare institutions, and large corporates, including banks. He has appeared as lead counsel both in the High Court (General and Appellate Division) and the Court of Appeal of Singapore. Afzal graduated from the National University of Singapore with an LL.B. (First Class) in 2014. He won many academic prizes, including in Contract Law, Tort Law, Company Law, and Equity & Trusts. Afzal graduated from New York University with an LL.M. in 2014, having pursued an LL.B. and LL.M. concurrently. Afzal has been a facilitator at the Singapore Institute of Legal Education for Land Law since 2016.
4.	Singapore Legal System		Assistant Professor Rachel Phang SMU Yong Pung How School of LawRachel is an Assistant Professor of Law at the Yong Pung How School of Law, Singapore Management University (SMU). Her research interests are in the areas of financial law and regulation, contract law, and tort law. Rachel received an LL.B. from the National University of Singapore in 2016, and an LL.M. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2021. She was admitted as an advocate and solicitor in Singapore in 2017. Prior to joining SMU, Rachel was a researcher at the National University of Singapore’s Centre for Banking & Finance Law. She also practised as a lawyer in Singapore from 2017 to 2020, with a focus on financial services regulation. Her practice covered legal and regulatory issues relating to banking, capital markets, payment services, insurance, and fintech.
			Assistant Professor Aaron Yoong SMU Yong Pung How School of LawAssistant Professor Aaron Yoong lectures at the SMU Yong Pung How School of Law, specialising in the law of torts and international law. His research has been published in leading journals, including the Arbitration Journal, Tort Law Review, and the Torts Law Journal. He is also co-author of forthcoming leading texts, including The Law of Torts in Singapore and Commercial Injunctions in Singapore. Alongside academia, Aaron maintains a broad commercial practice at Setia Law LLC. He is regularly instructed on, and advises in, cross-border disputes and international enforcement, with a particular focus on cases involving complex jurisdictional and conflict of laws issues. Aaron holds degrees from Harvard University and SMU. He currently serves as Young Independent Counsel for the Singapore Supreme Court, and as National Rapporteur for the General Congress of the International Academy of Comparative Law.