Veteran lawyer appointed judicial commissioner to Supreme Court Bench

Veteran lawyer Sushil Sukumaran Nair has been appointed as judicial commissioner to the Supreme Court Bench, the Prime Minister’s Office said on March 12.

Mr Nair, who has been in practice for about 35 years, will serve a one-year term from April 1.

Judicial commissioners have the powers of a judge and are appointed for a specific period determined by the President.

Mr Nair is currently the deputy chief executive of law firm Drew & Napier. He also heads its corporate restructuring and workout practice group.

He joined Drew & Napier after he was admitted to the Singapore Bar in 1990. Much of his work there was focused on restructuring, mainly in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly in Indonesia and China.

Mr Nair’s expertise and contributions have been publicly recognised.

Asia-Pacific Legal 500 has made him a Hall of Fame member. Who’s Who Legal, meanwhile, honoured him as a Global Elite Thought Leader, and he has been ranked in Band 1 for Restructuring/Insolvency by Chambers Asia-Pacific for the last 17 years.

Mr Nair has also played a leadership role in Singapore’s legal ecosystem, having previously chaired the Law Society’s advocacy sub-committee and subsequently its insolvency sub-committee.

He was a board member of the Singapore Accountancy Commission.

Mr Nair is currently a member of the Insolvency Law Review Committee set up by the Minister for Law, as well as the Insolvency Practice Committee of the Law Society of Singapore, both of which involve the development of the law relating to insolvency and restructuring in Singapore.

He is also a fellow of the Insolvency Practitioners Association of Singapore and sits on its board of directors.

Mr Nair received the Friends of Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth Award in 2022 for his role in the team that negotiated the takeover of the Singapore Sports Hub by Sport Singapore.

In 2023, he was awarded Singapore’s Public Service Star (Covid-19) accolade for conceptualising the framework of and drafting Singapore’s Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) Bill. Passed by Parliament in April 2020, the Bill was integral to the management of the impact of Covid-19 on Singaporeans.

Mr Nair also received the Ministry of Law Partner of the Year Award for this work.

With this appointment, the Supreme Court will have a total of 35 judges – the Chief Justice, three Justices of the Court of Appeal, four Judges of the Appellate Division, 17 Judges of the High Court, five judicial commissioners and five senior judges – and 24 international judges.

Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.

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