The former deputy attorneys-general take up their new roles from Oct 1; other judicial appointments also announced
[SINGAPORE] Former deputy attorneys-general Ang Check Hock and Hri Kumar Nair have been appointed as judges to the Court of Appeal, the country’s highest court.
They will take up their new positions from Oct 1, the Prime Minister’s Office announced on Friday (Sep 19), as part of a series of judicial appointments.
Two international judges, Justice David John Goddard from New Zealand and Justice Nigel Teare from Britain, will also join the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) bench from Jan 5, 2026, serving one-year terms.
The appointments will bring the Supreme Court’s total strength to 37 judges and 26 international judges.
Diverse judicial experience
Justice Ang, a former litigator and senior partner at Allen & Gledhill, was one of the youngest lawyers to be appointed Senior Counsel – at the age of 38 in 2009.
A member of the law firm’s litigation and dispute resolution department, he became a judicial commissioner in May 2018, and a High Court judge in 2019.
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While on the bench, he heard a wide range of cases, from civil and commercial disputes to criminal matters.
In September 2022, he resigned from the bench to assume the role of deputy attorney-general; he oversaw the civil division and advocacy group of the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), as well as high-profile criminal prosecutions.
He returned as a High Court judge in May this year, before his latest appointment.
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Justice Nair started his career at Drew & Napier, becoming a director in 2000. He was appointed Senior Counsel in 2008, specialising in dispute resolution and arbitration.
Between 2006 and 2015, he served as a Member of Parliament before retiring from politics ahead of the 2015 General Election. He also held board positions with organisations such as the Media Development Authority and People’s Association before joining the AGC as Deputy Attorney-General in March 2017.
Since becoming a High Court judge in January 2023, Justice Nair has specialised in complex commercial cases, including finance, securities, banking, company law, insolvency, trusts and criminal appeals.
International expertise
New appointments were also made to the SICC, a specialised division of the High Court that handles cross-border commercial disputes.
Justice Goddard from New Zealand brings extensive experience in court modernisation and international law reform. The 62-year-old Rhodes Scholar graduated with first-class honours in mathematics and law from Victoria University of Wellington and Oxford University, respectively.
After a distinguished career in the New Zealand Bar, where he was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2003, Justice Goddard served on the New Zealand High Court and Court of Appeal from 2019 until his retirement in July this year. He spearheaded significant modernisation programmes, including developing the digital strategy for courts and tribunals.
His international credentials include serving as Acting President of the Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal and chairing the diplomatic session that adopted the Hague Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in 2019.
Justice Teare, 72, from Britain, brings four decades of expertise in admiralty and commercial law. After graduating from Oxford in 1973, he was called to the Bar the following year, and appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1991.
He served as a Judge of the Queen’s Bench Division from 2006 to 2020, sitting primarily in the Commercial and Admiralty Courts. He was Judge in charge of the Admiralty Court from 2011 to 2020 and the Commercial Court from 2018 to 2020.
Since retiring from the English bench, he has returned to active practice as an arbitrator and serves as a Deemster (Judge) in the Isle of Man High Court.
Separately, Low Siew Ling, 44, has been appointed as Judicial Commissioner for a two-year term. The legal service officer graduated with first-class honours from the National University of Singapore in 2003 and obtained her Master of Laws from Harvard Law School in 2008.
Low has spent her career in public service, starting as a Justices’ Law Clerk before becoming an Assistant Registrar in the Supreme Court in 2005. She joined the AGC in 2009 and currently serves as Chief Counsel in the Civil Division, where she advises the government on constitutional and administrative law issues.
