Hi everyone, my name is Daryl. If you are currently a law student in the SUSS School of Law, it is more likely than not that I am your senior.

This student portal is hopefully just the start of something that will grow into a proper students’ association. The other two local law schools have such a set up. To have a students’ association we will need a constitution done up as well as elections to vote a student body to represent our law school.

Four years ago I entered the SUSS School of Law. I was very excited to be a student again. My last experience of campus life was two decades ago when I was an undergraduate in NUS. I believe I would be stating the obvious when I say that our law school is the newest law school out of the three law schools. However, what I need to highlight to all my fellow schoolmates is that because we are a very new law school, we do not have a lot of what the other law schools have. Most notably, a student run students’ association. However, this is not the responsibility of the law school to initiate such a project. If there is no student run association then the matured thing to do, since we deem ourselves as a law school for matured students, would be to initiate the setting up of this association ourselves.

In simpler English,

“Don’t have, don’t complain. We do it ourselves.”

I believe that this portal is important as it allows us to celebrate our achievements. I am someone who focuses on my studies a great deal but there are some of my classmates who took part in competitions and flew the SUSS School of Law flag high. In many cases, even winning competitions. We should celebrate these achievements by posting them up on this portal. We should not wait for the Vice Dean or the Head of Programme to mention these achievements during the semester debrief. I will be asking the law school to provide me with a list of our past achievements and I will work on placing these achievements on this student portal.

The next important thing that this portal can help every one of us in this beloved law school is by showcasing the activities that the law school organises. Just like the networking session that was organised with law firms two days ago, we need participants to step forward to write about these events and post them up on this student portal. What the law school does and is like should be from the view of the people in the law school. The public getting information from online forums is not the ideal way to learn more about our law school. Look at the posts on forums like HardwareZone and compare that to the event that just took place two days ago (I was not there as I had to work late but some of those who attended did share with me how the event went). Our graduates are well received by the law fraternity and our law school is a well respected law school.

The portal will also help the various interest groups reach out to students. I participated in some sporting competitions when I was a 3L and 4L. We always had trouble forming a team. The best part of this would be that once the competition ended, someone would find out that there was a competition and say “I also can play touch rugby. Why never ask me to join?” (or something to that effect). We participated in these competitions with the least number of team members. While the other teams could afford to make multiple substitutions, we had to soldier on in the sweltering heat. I am sure those who were there improved on their VO2 max in one afternoon but let’s not have that situation again ok?

The portal will also be a place where the seniors can share their notes with the juniors. For the uninitiated, mugger notes or cheat sheets are all you need for the examinations. Trust me, acing the examination will not make you a good lawyer. The real world and the examination hall are very different arenas. Not just in the field of law. However, you will still need to clear the examinations and obtain a CGPA of at least 3.5 to be able to take the bar exam to be called as a lawyer. The mugger notes and cheat sheets are what previous batches have come up with to tackle the examinations. For me personally, that is all I needed for my examinations thus far. However, the law will develop, statutes will be amended. Portions of the mugger notes and cheat sheets will become obsolete. Use them with caution, update them with care and always remember to share and help a fellow classmate. The reputation of the law school depends on every single one of us. There is no bell curve in our law school so helping a fellow classmate will not diminish your chances of obtaining your dream grade for a module. Even if there was a bell curve, just help out your fellow classmates. Do not be selfish. Trust me, teaching is the best form of revision. There were umpteen times when my fellow classmate asked me to explain a topic and after I did, it was ingrained into my mind.

Finally, there will be pages for pro bono and community outreach matters. At the point of writing, I am in the Pro Bono Students’ Committee. If there is anything that you need, please refer to the pro bono page. Oh yes, contact myself or my fellow committee members if there ever is an issue. Our contact details are left on the pro bono page on this student portal. Also, a few of us from my batch have been organising community outreach events. Trust me, such events are really fulfilling. It is like chicken soup for the soul (for those who are vegetarian like myself, spinach soup for the soul). You spend a day helping out at an event to make a fellow, less fortunate, human being feel better. We will all become lawyers and chances are that we will be making a more than decent wage. It would be good to contribute back to the society every now and then. The students from my batch are graduating and we would like to hand over this tradition to future batches. I sincerely hope that there will be like minded students who will continue organising community outreach programmes. Judging by the people I have met from batches after mine, there is an extremely high possibility that my hope is well placed.

As for the future of this student portal, we need helpful souls to step forward and help make this work. We need webmasters to improve the outlook of the site and improve it constantly. It helps if you have some technical knowledge about maintaining a WordPress site. I personally am footing the bill for the hosting and domain and I got a web designer to assist us with the site. The site also needs content. Writers to write about events. To cover events and competitions that our beloved law school takes part in. If you would like to contribute to this student portal as a webmaster or as an editor, do contact me or the other current webmasters. You can WhatsApp me at 90098731 or email me at [email protected].

Study hard everyone. All the best for the semester ahead!

Yours sincerely,

Daryl