Appointment of Supreme Court and Singapore International Commercial Court Judges (Sep 2025)

The President of the Republic of Singapore, in accordance with Article 95(1) of the Constitution, has appointed Justice Ang Cheng Hock (洪清福法官) and Justice Hri Kumar Nair (哈里古玛法官) as Justices of the Court of Appeal with effect from 1 October 2025.

In accordance with Article 95(4)(a) of the Constitution, The President of the Republic of Singapore has also appointed Ms Low Siew Ling (刘少玲) as Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court of Singapore for a period of two years with effect from 1 October 2025.

The President of the Republic of Singapore, in accordance with Article 95(4)(c) of the Constitution, has appointed Justice David John Goddard (大卫·约翰·戈达德) and Justice Sir Nigel Teare (奈杰尔·蒂尔爵士) as International Judges (IJs) to the Supreme Court of Singapore from 5 January 2026 to 4 January 2027. They will serve on the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) Bench. The SICC is a division of the General Division of the Singapore High Court and part of the Supreme Court of Singapore.

Justice Ang Cheng Hock

Justice Ang Cheng Hock

Justice Ang Cheng Hock graduated from the National University of Singapore with First Class Honours in Law in 1995 and a Master of Laws from the Yale Law School in 1998. He was one of the youngest lawyers to be appointed a Senior Counsel at the age of 38 in 2009. He was a senior partner in Messrs Allen & Gledhill, and a member of its Litigation and Dispute Resolution department before becoming a Judicial Commissioner in May 2018 and a Judge of the High Court in August 2019.

While on the Bench, he heard a wide range of cases from civil and commercial disputes to criminal matters. In September 2022, he resigned as a Judge to assume his role as a Deputy Attorney-General at the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC). As Deputy Attorney-General, he oversaw the work of the AGC’s Civil Division, and their Advocacy Group. He also oversaw part of the work of the AGC’s Criminal Division, including several high-profile criminal prosecutions.

Justice Ang was appointed as a Judge of the High Court on 1 May 2025 after serving as a Deputy Attorney-General at the AGC for over two-and-a-half years.

Justice Hri Kumar Nair

Justice Hri Kumar Nair

Justice Hri Kumar Nair graduated from the National University of Singapore with Second Class Honours (Upper) in Law in 1991. Thereafter, he practised in Messrs Drew & Napier LLC assuming Directorship in the firm in 2000. He was appointed Senior Counsel in 2008 and is recognised in the legal field as an expert in dispute resolution and arbitration. Between 2006 – 2015, he served as a Member of Parliament and retired from politics before the 2015 General Elections. He has also held various board appointments in organisations such as the Media Development Authority, the People’s Association and NTUC Income. He was appointed Deputy Attorney General in March 2017, a position he held before becoming a Judge of the High Court in January 2023.

As a Judge, his areas of specialisation have been in finance, securities, banking, complex commercial cases, company, insolvency, trusts, arbitration, tort claims and criminal appeals.

Ms Low Siew Ling

Ms Low Siew Ling

Ms Low Siew Ling graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (1st Class Hons) from the National University of Singapore in 2003. She joined the Legal Service Commission (LSC) on 15 July 2003 and was posted to the Supreme Court as a Justices’ Law Clerk and thereafter, as an Assistant Registrar in the Supreme Court on 1 July 2005. Ms Low was awarded an LSC Scholarship in 2007 to further her studies in the Harvard Law School and obtained a Master of Laws in 2008.

Upon her return to service in 2009, Ms Low was posted to the AGC as a State Counsel in the Civil Division. Prior to her current appointment as Chief Counsel in the Civil Division in April 2021, where she advises the Government on a wide range of legal matters, including constitutional and administrative law issues, Ms Low had served as Deputy Chief Counsel (Advisory) and Senior State Counsel in the Civil Division and as Senior Director of the AGC’s Knowledge Management Unit as well as the Strategic Planning Office.

Justice David John Goddard (New Zealand)

Justice David John Goddard

Justice Goddard graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours in Mathematics from the Victoria University of Wellington in 1983, and subsequently obtained a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours in Law in 1986 from Oxford University in England where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. He was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1988 and was admitted as a barrister and solicitor in New Zealand in 1989.

Justice Goddard was a law lecturer in the University of Bristol from 1986 to 1988 before returning to New Zealand in 1988 to practise as a solicitor at Chapman Tripp. He was a litigation partner at the firm from 1991 to 1998 before beginning practice as a barrister from 1999 to 2019. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2003.

He was appointed as Judge of the New Zealand High Court and Court of Appeal in July 2019. He has been responsible for significant modernisation programmes for his Courts since his appointment – including developing the Digital Strategy for Courts and Tribunals and acting as Judicial Lead for the project to design and implement their new digital case management system, Te Au Reka. He retired from the Bench on 31 July 2025 after six years of judicial service.

Justice Goddard had a wide-ranging practice with a particular focus on appellate litigation before his appointment to the Bench. He also had extensive involvement in law reform in New Zealand and overseas, advising ministers and government agencies, representing New Zealand in bilateral and multilateral negotiations, as well as drafting legislation and international agreements. He was a member of the working group appointed by the Prime Ministers of Australia and New Zealand to develop the Trans-Tasman Court Proceedings regime which came into force in Australia and New Zealand in 2013.

Justice Goddard was a member of the Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal from May 2011 to May 2019, and Acting President of the Tribunal from February 2018 to May 2019. He was the Chair of the Diplomatic Session of the Hague Conference on Private International Law that adopted the Hague Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters in July 2019. He was a Vice-President of the Diplomatic Session that adopted the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements in 2003, and a member of the drafting committee for that Treaty. Justice Goddard undertook research at New York University as a Senior Global Fellow from Practice and Government in the Hauser Global Law School from 2018 to 2019, where he worked on his book “Making Laws That Work” which was published in 2022.

Justice Goddard is currently an Honorary Professorial Fellow at the Melbourne University Law School and an International Fellow with the Singapore Judicial College in the Supreme Court of Singapore. He is also a member of the New Zealand Bar Association, Arbitrators’ and Mediators’ Institute of New Zealand, Lincoln’s Inn, American Law Institute and Australasian Association of Private International Law.

Justice Goddard’s areas of expertise include contract law, competition law and regulation, company law, banking law, torts, private international law, public law (including administrative and constitutional law), equity and trusts.

Justice Sir Nigel Teare (Britain)

Justice Sir Nigel Teare

Justice Sir Nigel Teare graduated from St. Peter’s College, Oxford University in 1973 with a Bachelor of Arts in Jurisprudence and a Master of Arts in 1975. He was called to the Bar of England and Wales by Lincoln’s Inn in 1974, appointed Junior Counsel to the Treasury in Admiralty matters in 1989, made Queen’s Counsel in 1991, and Recorder of the Crown Court from 1993 to 2006 and a Deputy High Court Judge from 2002 to 2006. From 2000 to 2006, he was the Lloyd’s Appeal Arbitrator in maritime salvage disputes.

Justice Teare practised at the Bar in admiralty and commercial matters from 1975 to 2006 before he was appointed a Judge of the Queen’s Bench Division in 2006, sitting primarily in the Commercial and Admiralty Courts. In 2006, he received the customary knighthood. Sir Nigel was appointed the Judge in charge of the Admiralty Court from 2011 to 2020 and Judge in charge of the Commercial Court from 2018 to 2020. Between 2013 and 2017, Sir Nigel was also the Presiding Judge of the Western Circuit. He retired from the Bench on 1 Oct 2020 and returned to active practice as an arbitrator in commercial and shipping disputes. Sir Nigel is also currently a Deemster (Judge) in the Isle of Man High Court.

Justice Teare’s areas of expertise are in commercial and admiralty laws.

With these appointments, the Supreme Court will have a total of 37 Judges (including the Chief Justice, five Justices of the Court of Appeal, four Judges of the Appellate Division, 19 Judges of the High Court, three Judicial Commissioners, and five Senior Judges) and 26 International Judges.

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PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE
19 SEPTEMBER 2025

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