A/Prof Catherine Tay

Catherine Tay Swee Kian has over 35 years of experience lecturing law as Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore (NUS), Department of Strategy and Policy, NUS Business School (1980 – 2016). She is an Advocate and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore (1980). She is also a barrister-at-law called to the Bar of England and Wales via the prestigious Lincoln’s Inn, United Kingdom. She was an Associate Director of the law firm BR Law Corporation, Singapore. She graduated from Queen Mary College, University of London with a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) degree in 1977 and a Master of Laws degree in 1979 with First Class honours in shipping law. She won the Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par Memorial Prize for the overall best student in 1980 during her postgraduate practical law course upon her return to Singapore. She has taught in the CEHA and SISV property law courses for RES students and prepared examination questions too. Her best-seller book on “Contract Law – A Layman’s Guide” is highly read by students in the universities, polytechnics and the general public. She is author of several law books including contract law (1986), directors’ duties & liabilities (1985); investing in HDB property (1995); buying and selling your property – An essential guide to the Singapore Property market (1994); Guide to Protecting Your Ideas, Inventions, Trade Marks & Products (1997) published by Times Books International; and investing in real estate (1996, Longman Singapore Publishers Pte Ltd). In February 1984 and July 1986, she made representations to the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Companies (Amendment) Bills 1984 and 1986. She has contributed and published legal articles in established international peer-reviewed academic journals. She has presented several legal papers at many conferences and seminars on Business Law, Medical law, Company and Insolvency Laws both overseas and in Singapore. She has been invited regularly by Singapore Medical Journal to do peer review of research papers for publication. She has won recognition for being responsive to doing peer reviews of research papers always on time. She was a legal consultant appearing on many television segments produced by the then Television Corporation of Singapore. She speaks on legal subjects on Media Corp radio weekly. She has co-hosted a weekly talk show “In the Eyes of the Law” on NTUC RadioHeart. She was a consultant to Media Corp television series on consumer laws “What’s Your Case” on TV Channel 5, which was aired during prime time Friday weekly. She is currently a member of the National Healthcare Group Institutional Review Board (IRB) of Domain Specific Review Board tasked to review the scientific and ethical aspects of research protocols since 2002. She is also currently a member of the Centralised Institutional Review Board (IRB), Singapore Health Services Pte Ltd tasked to review clinical research protocols. She was a member of the Research & Ethics Committee of Alexandra Hospital and also the medical-legal adviser of the Institute of Mental Health / Woodbridge Hospital. She was a member of the panel for lay persons for the National Transplant Ethics Committee, Ministry of Health (2009-2011). She is the Honourable Legal Advisor for Singapore Optometric Association, as well as for the Singapore Institute of Engineering Technologists. She has lectured in executive training courses at the NUS Extension in professional and business management law courses for over 35 years; also at the Marketing Institute of Singapore. She was the external examiner on medical law ethics at the Hong Kong University, Law Faculty (2007-2008). She is an examiner on law subjects for a number of professional bodies and universities in Singapore and overseas. A/Prof Tay was the first examiner for the Joint UK & Singapore ACCA examinations of company law module. At the NUS Institute of System Science, she was the Course Instructor in legal issues for MTech in Knowledge and Software Engineering and NICF- IT Outsourcing Management for Practitioner. She has given numerous lectures in Industrial Relations and Labour laws at the Ong Teng Cheong Institute of Labour Studies for over 12 years. She was a Visiting Consultant and adjunct lecturer at the Institute of System Science, NUS for over 16 years lecturing IT outsourcing contracts, intellectual property and contract law. She lectures and facilitate at many seminars, workshops and customised in-house training courses for many companies, organisations, hospitals and institutes of higher learning both in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Yunnan, China and overseas. She has given several lectures on Corporate Governance to bankers from Uzbekistan. She was the Programme Director, for a Singapore-Commonwealth Third Country Training Programme, Singapore – Commonwealth Advance Seminar for Chief Executives 28 May – 7 June 2008, jointly sponsored by Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation Commonwealth Secretariat London, United Kingdom at Training Institution -NUS Business School. She also lectures on “The Legislature, Policy Formulation & Implementation for Good Governance” to Ministers from Nigeria, Kaduna State Legislators” on 16-18 April 2018 at Singapore 2018 Capacity Building Retreat at Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) Professional Development. She also lectures on “Leadership & Governance” to Legislators from Kenya, 21-22 May 2018 at SIM Professional Development. She also lectures Public-Private Partnerships (PPP contracts) and joint ventures including private equity transactions to global audience. She gave lectures several times on Corporate Governance to bankers from Uzbekistan. In May 1994, she received the Paul Harris Fellow Award from Rotary International in recognition of her community service.