SINGAPORE: Before he became Singapore's fourth Chief Justice, Sundaresh Menon had already built one of the country's most distinguished legal careers. He became a law firm partner at just 27, helped found one of Singapore's largest firms and later served as Attorney-General.

Over the next 14 years as head of the judiciary, he would oversee changes to modernise the courts while presiding over landmark cases on online falsehoods, Section 377A and the death penalty that shaped Singapore's legal landscape.

Chief Justice Menon, 64, will retire on Feb 26, 2027, after more than 14 years at the helm of the Supreme Court. He will be succeeded by Justice of the Court of Appeal Sushil Nair, 62.

A graduate of the National University of Singapore and Harvard Law School, Chief Justice Menon was just 27 when he became a partner in law firm Shook Lin & Bok in 1990.

After helping to found WongPartnership in 1992, he later joined Rajah & Tann, where he became managing partner in 2009.

His rise continued into public service in 2010, when he became Attorney-General. Not long after, in 2012, he was appointed Singapore’s fourth Chief Justice at the age of 50.

Reforming the family justice system was among Chief Justice Menon’s avowed priorities when he took office. His tenure saw the adoption of the therapeutic justice model in the Family Justice Courts, including the Youth Courts.

This moved the resolution of family disputes and treatment of young offenders from an adversarial paradigm to a problem-solving, rehabilitative approach.

Explaining this philosophy, he likened the family judge to “a doctor with a focus on diagnosing the problem, having the appropriate bedside manner to engender trust and convey empathy, and the wisdom to choose the right course of treatment so as to bring a measure of healing”.

A notable change in this spirit was a simplified track for divorce introduced in 2015, enabling faster, less costly and less acrimonious proceedings.

Under Chief Justice Menon’s watch, the judiciary also took steps to improve access to justice, especially for those navigating the courts without legal representation.

This extended to using simpler terms: an “order to attend court or produce documents” instead of “subpoena”, for instance.

Another initiative was the Singapore Judicial C...