Keeping up with a changing business and legal landscape
In our increasingly globalised world, the business landscape is in a constant state of evolution. As new markets open up and competition grows, so too do the pressures facing businesses. This shifting operating environment demands an evolution in legal support, with lawyers required to demonstrate greater value add in order to meet their clients' expanding expectations.
In fact, the role of today’s lawyer is both broader and more specialised than ever before. On top of having to keep abreast of changing laws and regulations, lawyers must facilitate collaborations across multiple jurisdictions—even those outside their expertise. It falls to them to help businesses navigate an uncertain future with trusted expertise and insight.
Armed with the intention to brush up on his knowledge and explore different ideas that might be considered a higher risk at work, Dennis Tan opted to enrol in Singapore Management University’s (SMU) Yong Pung How School of Law (YPHSL) Master of Laws (LLM) Cross-Border Business and Finance Law in Asia. To Dennis, SMU was the best option, especially given his wife’s own positive experience of her own LLM journey.
Taking on the challenge of juggling work and studies
With an extensive legal background as an Assistant Vice President at SGX Group, and a State Counsel and Deputy Public Prosecutor at the Attorney-General’s Chambers, Dennis was uniquely positioned to take on the challenge of becoming General Counsel, Head of Data & Corporate Governance at Singapore Trade Data Exchange (SGTraDex).
Already well-versed in numerous aspects of law, he elected to pursue additional studies in the areas of Law and Technology and Compliance that were pertinent to his role within his current organisation. Dennis believed that the SMU LLM programme is an ideal incubator for substantially deepening his knowledge.
“Practical demands and time pressures at work tend not to allow for the intellectual, theoretical exploration that an academic environment encourages,” he shares.
Moreover, he enjoyed the fact that SMU’s LLM programme offered him some room to customise his modules to suit his needs, as well as the fact that there was a two-year part-time option which allowed candidates to continue their full-time work.
Of course, balancing work with postgraduate studies is no walk in the park, as Dennis can attest.
“Having an end in sight and a clear objective help when the going gets tough, and keeps one on course,” he adds, while also expressing the importance of his wife’s support and understanding.
A suitable environment to enrich your legal know-how
There are different perks to pursuing studies as a postgraduate student, such as the opportunity to deep dive into extensive academic discussions on legal concepts, which is not an indulgence one often has time for in a pressure cooker workplace setting.
“It allowed me to test different ideas in various areas of law, which tests may be of far greater risk profile if executed at work. This then allows me to revisit similar issues at work with new perspective and knowledge gathered from those tests.”, shared Dennis. He also felt that the opportunity to learn from peers in other industries was a boon that has furthered his growth as a lawyer.
There are also perks to pursuing studies as a postgraduate student, such as the opportunity to deep dive into extensive academic discussions on legal concepts, which is not an indulgence one often has time for in a pressure cooker workplace setting.
Elaborating on the difference in an LLM programme where one goes in armed with practical experience, Dennis shares that his years of experience helped to enrich the academic discussions he had during the programme. His experience allowed him to look at legal concepts and arguments with a more grounded, realistic perspective, and allowed him to apply real-world contexts to the theory in question.
Law as a continuous learning journey
Besides the knowledge that he can now utilise day to day in the office, a key takeaway from SMU’s LLM programme is the mindset that learning never ends. Indeed, Dennis believes that law is the ultimate apprenticeship profession. “There is always a new area of law that you can learn and develop yourself in, to move into a new practice,” he asserts.
As for advice he would give others in the legal profession who are contemplating SMU’s LLM programme, Dennis says that students should be clear on what it is that they hope to gain from the programme, as that will affect their approach, and be a reminder at times when the going gets tough. He also cautions that having an open mindset to learning is important, as one might find your assumptions challenged over the course of the programme.
He also advises students to gain some practical experience rather than diving into the programme directly after their undergraduate studies. “Being able to practically apply what one learns is of immense value, particularly when time is a premium in the profession,” he says.