3 international judges appointed to Supreme Court of Singapore from 2025

Three international judges have been appointed to the Supreme Court of Singapore for a two-year term, from Jan 5, 2025, to Jan 4, 2027.

The Prime Minister’s Office said on Dec 10 that Justice Mary Howarth Arden of the United Kingdom and Justice Anthony James Besanko and Justice Anthony John Meagher of Australia have been appointed by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

Justice Arden read law at Girton College, Cambridge. She completed a master of laws at Harvard Law School in 1970 as a Kennedy Scholar.

She was appointed to the High Court of Justice of England and Wales in 1993, becoming the first female High Court judge to be assigned to the Chancery Division.

She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and from 1996 to 1999 served as chair of the Law Commission of England and Wales.

Justice Arden also held appointments at the Court of Appeal of England and Wales and the International Judicial Relations for England and Wales between 2000 and 2018.

In October 2018, she was appointed as a justice of the Supreme Court of the UK, where she served until her retirement in 2022. She is also a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague and has sat as an ad hoc UK judge of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France.

Justice Arden’s areas of expertise include international and foreign relations law, as well as all areas of civil law, including equity, trusts, company law, insolvency, partnership, property law, statutory interpretation, bankruptcy, choses in action, torts and contract law, constitutional and administrative law, human rights law and water law.

Justice Besanko read law at the University of Adelaide and obtained a first-class honours degree in 1977.

He practised as a barrister in South Australia from 1984 to 2001. He also undertook appellate work and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1994.

He was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of South Australia in 2001 before becoming a judge of the Federal Court of Australia in 2006.

Between 2007 and 2024, he served as an additional judge of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory, and from 2015 to 2024 he served as chief justice of the Supreme Court of Norfolk Island.

Justice Besanko’s areas of expertise include commercial law and company law, equity, public and administrative law, intellectual property, bankruptcy and company liquidations, as well as appeals.

Justice Meagher graduated from the University of New South Wales in 1976 with degrees in commerce and law.

He joined law firm Minter Simpson as a solicitor and in 1980 completed a master of laws degree at London University.

He was appointed a senior counsel for New South Wales in 1995. In August 2011, he was sworn in as a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the Court of Appeal.

On his retirement in August 2024, he was the senior puisne judge on the Court of Appeal. He also sat as a judge on the Court of Criminal Appeal.

His experience is in general civil and criminal law. His commercial law experience as a counsel and judge includes insurance and reinsurance, shipping and aviation, professional negligence, banking and finance, corporations and competition law, as well as equitable and restitutionary remedies.

With the appointments, the Supreme Court will have 35 judges (comprising the Chief Justice, three justices of the Court of Appeal, four judges of the Appellate Division, 18 judges of the High Court, four judicial commissioners and five senior judges) and 24 international judges.

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