SINGAPORE: The Chief Justice, the Attorney-General and other top names in the legal profession gathered in the Supreme Court on Monday afternoon (Nov 28) to pay tribute to retiring judge Andrew Phang Boon Leong in a valedictory reference held in his honour.
This is only the third time the judiciary has held a valedictory reference – the first was in 1990 for retiring Chief Justice Wee Chong Jin, and the second in 2017 when Justice Chao Hick Tin retired as Justice of Appeal.
Justice Phang, who is vice-president of the Court of Appeal, will retire on his 65th birthday from Dec 15 this year, after 18 years in the judiciary.
Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon called Justice Phang a “legal giant”, recounting how he first found out in January about the latter’s decision to retire at 65, instead of continuing in office until he was 68.
Various distinguished members of the Bar gave speeches lauding Justice Phang, an academic-turned-judge, for his humility, intellect, kindness and care for his students.
JUSTICE PHANG’S CAREER
Justice Phang graduated from the National University of Singapore in 1982 with a Bachelor of Laws degree and spent the next 18 years teaching and researching the law as an academic at the NUS Law Faculty.
During that time, he obtained his Masters and Doctorate in Law from Harvard University and became Singapore’s leading contract law scholar. He was appointed a Professor of Law at NUS in 1999 and joined the newly founded Singapore Management University as a Professor of Law in 2000.
He was appointed Senior Counsel in 2004, a milestone in Singapore’s legal history as it was the first time the title was conferred for contributions to academia.
The late Chief Justice Yong Pung How noted that his appointment as senior counsel was an acknowledgement of his “outstanding contributions to legal knowledge”.
In 2005, Justice Phang was appointed to the Supreme Court Bench as Judicial Commissioner. He became a judge that December, and was made a Judge of Appeal two months after – the youngest person to receive the appointment at the age of 48.
He was appointed the vice-president of the Court of Appeal in 2017 and conferred the Meritorious Service Medal by the President this year.
He has given nearly 400 judgments spanning all areas of the law, Attorney-General Lucien Wong said in his address.
He called Justice Phang a legal giant, “whom all of us look up to”.
Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, who was Justice Phang’s classmate, said there was never any doubt from his student days that Justice Phang was always destined to be in a class of his own.
He said Justice Phang, with an “encyclopaedic knowledge”, would often come out of the exam hall concerned that he had failed because he could not pour everything he knew into his exam paper.
Judicial Commissioner Goh Yihan, who first knew Justice Phang when he joined the Supreme Court as a law clerk, said the judge took the effort to reply every email with his customary “many thanks”, letting his law clerks know that he appreciated their work.
He recalled how Justice Phang sensed on one occasion that Judicial Commissioner Goh was troubled by a personal matter and stopped at a fairly crowded Raffles City entrance to pray for the latter.
Both Judicial Commissioner Goh and Senior Counsel Singh referenced the words that Justice Phang had himself said in another speech – do not forget the law, for it will never forget you.
JUSTICE PHANG GIVES THE CLOSING SPEECH
In his speech, Justice Phang thanked everyone who was present and said he was truly humbled and also “not a little embarrassed” as he is most comfortable when in the background.
He thanked his parents and his wife and daughters for constantly reminding him of how important family is and how he needs to strive always to be a better person each day.
He recalled how one of the first questions he was asked after joining the Bench was what it was like to be a judge after being a legal academic for such a long time.
He said being a legal academic was like wearing gloves that were crafted by their maker, who knew not only the size of his hands but also the best material from which to craft those gloves, with the material fitting so well that it felt like a part of him.
On the other hand, being a judge was like “climbing up an almost perpendicular wall with no safety harness!”
He said he always made it a point to make time for his family – “nobody is indispensable at the workplace but we are indispensable to our families”.
Justice Andrew Phang said books, articles and judgments will become outdated with time, and one cannot take material wealth with them. However, a life touched is part of a living legacy.
He wished everyone good health, happiness and the very best in their future endeavours, while reminding those in the audience to “never neglect your family” but to value and love them.
