First Involvements

I came to Singapore for the first time in 1987 and taught for a term at NUS [National University of Singapore]. And in those days, the NUS summer well I think of as summer, but there's no such thing as summer in Singapore term started in July. So I could teach in July, August and September which you couldn't do now, which is an ideal arrangement for somebody coming from England who doesn't want to take leave from his home university.
We liked Singapore a lot. It was very interesting. Anyway I liked teaching at NUS. I mean, teaching at NUS in those days was very like teaching in Bristol. It was largely by lectures and tutorials and in those days Singapore law was effectively exactly the same as English law in the field that which I was teaching.

Oh, well that must have been quite soon. I think when I was at NUS in '99, one of my best friends was Andrew Phang and his wife was in the economics department at NUS. And either while I was there or shortly after I left, she moved from the economics department at NUS to SMU. So I was aware that there was another institution. And I knew that, I mean, when Andrew of course moved a couple of years later, I don't remember exactly when but in the early 2000s.

Well, I came in one of the short terms, either 3A or 3B. I had been teaching in Australia. By this time, I theoretically retired in England. I mean retirement is actually a very theoretical concept for people who are keen to carry on in universities. So I had been teaching in Australia and the possibility of coming to SMU on the way home as it were was mooted, so I came, I'm not sure whether it was 3A or 3B, but one of the short terms. And of course there was a law department by then but there wasn't a law school. And I taught a course in contract negotiation which would be for the business school and I think most of the people doing it were non-lawyers.