Justice Judith Prakash is the legal titan who has paved the way for women’s success in law

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A flurry of activity has disrupted the staid silence of the Supreme Court Library. Standing between shelves of law volumes, Singapore’s first female Justice of Appeal, Justice Judith Prakash, smiles for the camera during a photo shoot for this story.

“You look great, very endearing,” says the photographer. To this, Judith responds as she chuckles with amusement: “It’s not a term I’m usually associated with.”

The petite 72-year-old strikes a strong presence. She speaks with a gentle eloquence, underlined by conviction. Judith is measured and thoughtful in her answers, but every so often, a witty quip surfaces. 

For the attorneys who have presented their cases before her, she cuts a no-nonsense figure, known to admonish those who do not adhere to the strict dress code of the Supreme Court. One often-shared anecdote tells of how male lawyers would keep a “Justice Prakash tie” in their wardrobes – in solid black, no less – for when their paths should cross.

Judith may be more stern than endearing in the courtroom, but to many women lawyers here – whether they are seasoned professionals or aspiring rookies – she is an inspiration; an example that they, too, could one day make the Bench like her.

Widely respected for her expertise in commercial law, and for being one of the first women in Singapore on the Supreme Court (the first being Justice Lai Siu Chiu in 1991) in 1992, Judith was named Judicial Commissioner, and became a Supreme Court Judge three years later.

During her 31 years on the Bench, she has also served as a High Court Judge, and Justice of Appeal. Throughout her career, Judith authored approximately 645 judgments, with over 50 per cent of them selected by a panel for inclusion in law reports.

In 1991, she was part of the sub-committee that reviewed arbitration laws (which involves resolving disputes through a neutral third party who issues a binding decision) and made recommendations that led to the enactment of the International Arbitration Act 1994. It explains the steps that need to be followed during the arbitration process, and details the rights of the people involved, the powers of the arbitration panel, and what the courts can do in these situations.

Judith was also the first woman to be appointed as a permanent judge of the Singapore Court of Appeal in 2015. Until 2022, she served as the lead judge for arbitration cases. In January this year, she was appointed senior judge and – from time to time – hears cases in the Court of Appeal as part of the three-judge coram.

Specialising in arbitration law wasn’t an intentional choice for her. The opportunity came about when the government decided to develop Singapore’s status as an arbitration hub through the Ministry of Law. 

“In the mid-1980s, the UNCITRAL (United Nations Commission on International Trade Law) Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration was introduced, which sought to standardise arbitration practices globally, so different countries wouldn’t have vastly different systems.

“A few years later, a committee was established to consider whether Singapore should adopt the Model Law. Justice Belinda Ang and I were members of that committee. Someone recommended me, and I joined. That was my main involvement with arbitration law at the time, as I wasn’t practising arbitration then,” explains Judith.

While arbitration law was “intellectually interesting”, the cases that made the biggest impact on her were the domestic disputes that she dealt with as a young lawyer in 1970s, and preceded over as a judge when she first went on to the High Court Bench. Most of these were divorce cases that involved squabbling couples, custody battles, or children who were estranged from their parents.

“I’ve always felt very keenly that children are the ones who are most affected by divorce. The parents were sometimes very tied up in their own emotions, and unable to see beyond their emotions to the needs of the child, or they just took it for granted that whatever was good for them, was good for the child,” says Judith.

As a mother of four young daughters then, was it difficult for her to maintain a neutral stance in those circumstances? She pauses for a moment and, like many of her wry quips, her answer is somewhat unexpected.

“No, I think I had a better appreciation of the abilities of the parties. I accepted that I was lucky to be in the position that I was in – I was educated, had a job, and could support myself. But there were times when I thought that some of the women in the cases who could also have done that were not doing [the same]. And I thought that some of my male colleagues were perhaps more prone to accept at face value what some women were saying [of their estranged spouses].”

Though her words may seem steely, friends and colleagues are effusive in their descriptions of her personality. Belinda Ang, who has known Judith since 1991, describes her as someone who “relates well to people”.

She adds: “Her orderly officer (who is assigned by the government to perform specific duties) is full of praise for her kindness and caring concern, and she has his full respect and admiration. Judith is also encouraging and supportive to anyone who seeks her out for advice.”

She is someone who cares deeply, says Abraham Vergis, senior counsel and managing director of Providence Law Asia. “When my wife was unwell, she often enquired about her. Many months later, when I saw her at an official event, the first thing she asked was how my wife was doing. I was surprised that she actually remembered, given the time that had passed.

“She has always maintained her humanity, and she never lost her common touch, and that’s really what makes Justice Prakash such a special person to me.

Becoming a trailblazer in law

In her 50-year legal career, Judith has paved the way for female lawyers to carve out their careers at the Singapore Courts. However, being a lawyer or judge was not something she initially aspired to.

The daughter of the late journalist and writer Gerald de Cruz, and the eldest of three siblings, Judith grew up in Katong and completed most of her secondary education at Marymount Secondary, before scoring well enough in her O-levels to attend Raffles Girls’ School (RGS). After completing her A-levels at RGS, she decided to enrol in law school. According to her father, it was what her late mother – who passed away from a rheumatoid heart condition in 1965 – would have wanted.

Although she muses that she might have become a teacher or journalist had she pursued a degree in English Literature instead, Judith has no regrets. “Looking back, studying law put me on the path to doing work that I enjoyed,” she shares.

After earning a first-class honours degree in law from the University of Singapore, she began her career in 1974 with a pupillage under renowned criminal lawyer David Marshall, who served as Singapore’s first Chief Minister in the 1950s. Marshall and his wife, Jean, were close friends of her parents – her mother had worked as his secretary, while her father grew up in the same Katong neighbourhood as the Marshalls.

However, Judith discovered she preferred working on civil cases, and so she applied to commercial law firm Chor Pee & Hin Hiong, which focused on general litigation, and financing and land transactions. 

In 1976, she joined Drew & Napier’s shipping division, and later moved to its commercial department, where she later became a partner. There, she worked under her mentor, GP Selvam (later Justice GP Selvam) and was also inspired by the firm’s senior partner Joseph Grimberg – “a great lawyer, very suave, very articulate”– before being invited by former Chief Justice Yong Pung How to become a Judicial Commissioner.

Criminal law might have a more flashy reputation, but litigation has its moments too. As a lawyer at Chor Pee & Hin Hiong, Judith handled ship arrests, and even boarded a ship with a sheriff. It was exciting the first time she did it, she shares.

“A bill had not been paid, and I had to prepare the arrest papers. As a lawyer, you only needed to come to court to serve the papers, but I did go on the ship once or twice. I felt powerful because the arrest papers stopped the ship from moving away, even though I didn’t actually have the power.

“That is one thing about being a judge as well. You are given certain authority within specific bounds to make decisions that can affect parties, but you are not powerful. It is the power of the institution and the law,” she says.

When asked what she finds most rewarding about her work as a judge, she simply says it is because she does not have to “please anyone”.

“You apply your legal knowledge and your assessment of the merits of the case, and then you give a decision. It may be that, sometimes, there will be an appeal, and the higher court may disagree with you. However, you know that the decision you came to was not influenced by anything else but your own reasoning and assessment of the material. You have that satisfaction of knowing that you thought it was the right thing to do.”

Balancing career and family

Judith’s journey in law started at a time when Singapore had been independent for only nine years. There were many opportunities for young lawyers to make their mark in a developing economy, but the challenge of standing out in a relatively small fraternity of practising lawyers remained.

Female lawyers who sat among male heavyweights like Marshall and Grimberg were few and far between. There were not many women in the legal profession – no women officers nor assistant registrars in the Attorney General’s chambers or the criminal court. The role of women in the legal profession at the time was largely seen as office-based, focusing on solicitor work.

Judith recounts: “In the State Courts, which were then called the District and Magistrate Courts, there were perhaps one or two women magistrates. Jenny Lau, who was appointed Singapore’s first female District Judge in 1966, was the sole flag bearer for many years. Women in law, whether in the legal service or practice, were expected to do solicitor’s desk jobs, rather than go to court and do the more ‘glamorous’ headline-making work,” she says.

Changing the status quo were peers such as Thio Su Mien, who served as the dean of the National University of Singapore’s Faculty of Law from 1968 to 1971; Phyllis Tan, the first woman president of the Law Society of Singapore in 1979; and Anamah Tan, a family lawyer and women’s rights activist.

Judith was not only building her career, but also raising a family – she had her first daughter in 1977. It helped that her parents-in-law moved in to look after the children while she was at work. Later, when her mother-in law became ill, Judith and her husband cared for her at home for several years until her passing.

She admits she might have felt “a bit jealous” that her children seemed closer to their grandmother. “But I accepted that as the necessary price I had to pay if I wanted to have a career as well,” she says candidly.

She adds: “My ‘quality time’ with the children usually came during the school holidays or weekends. When I was at home in the evenings, I was with the children too, of course. But I wouldn’t call it true quality time because I had to make sure they ate dinner, did their homework, and went to bed on time.”

Is it fair to say that women can’t have it all, then? Judith agrees, stating that support should be extended not only to women aspiring to advance in the legal profession, but also in any leadership role.

“First, the support must come from the employers, who should give parents time off and not expect them to be on call 24/7, and be generous with their maternity and paternity leave. Then, perhaps, systems need to change so that more people are employed, allowing each person to do a bit less work, which is not what we currently do.

“If you prioritise profit above everything else, then you try to get the most out of every employee – men and women alike. It’s not surprising in this society that men feel they must constantly prove themselves, or they won’t be respected. And, of course, young men need to be more willing to take on additional roles at home.”

Creating an environment where women and girls can thrive is evident in the roles that Judith takes on outside of her full-time job. She was one of the early members of the Singapore Association of Women Lawyers, which was established in 1974, and chaired the RGS Board of Governors for 25 years, from 1996 to 2021. There, she supported the board and the school’s management on the development of its pedagogy and pastoral programmes.

“When I was growing up, society was still thinking in a binary fashion: Men did this, and women did that, and you should not stray out of your sphere. If girls are given the chance to do things, to take leadership positions, they will become more confident in their abilities. 

“I believe that in the development of women, they should be recognised as full members of society, not confined to one role or another, with the right to exercise the full scope of their abilities as human beings,” she says.

Living a life of simple pleasures

Dark chocolate, coffee, cookies, fiction novels of all genres, and classical music are some of Judith’s favourite things.

Debbie Ong, who first met her as a young academic at a social event in the early ’90s, declares: “I knew I could trust Judith the moment I discovered she could not resist chocolate. It also felt wonderful that I had something in common with a legal giant. Chocolate has a unifying effect.”

Judith and her husband, Jaya Prakash, share a mutual love for art. Their two-storey home is peppered with works by South-east Asian artists like Singaporean painter Thomas Yeo and local master potter Iskandar Jalil. A portrait of their four daughters, painted by British artist Jonathan Yeo – best known for creating the first official portrait of King Charles III after his ascension to the throne – hangs in the hallway on the second floor.

Jaya, an arbitrator with expertise in commercial and maritime law, has been a constant source of support throughout their 48 years of marriage. 

“By the time I came on the Bench, two of my daughters were almost teenagers, one of them was six, and the other was only three. Despite his work as a lawyer in practice, he was always there to help with the family and to organise things. He always took a big interest in the children and did not leave it all to me to manage,” she says.

Now that work is winding down for Judith, she and her husband – said to be known in the legal fraternity as the power couple who share the same initials “JP” – are spending time together cooking, globetrotting, and looking forward to family holidays.

“I have two daughters based in the UK, and the other two in Singapore, and it’s so hard for all of us to meet. We are trying to organise one big family holiday a year. This year, we are going to Burgundy, France,” she shares. She also plays video games with her grandson, aged nine, in her spare time, and catches up with her Singapore-based family over weekly Sunday brunches.

These days, she finds joy in experiencing the minutiae of everyday life. When asked what keeps her going, she doesn’t hesitate: “When I look around, there is so much beauty and so much to see in Singapore. Just yesterday, my husband and I were walking across Empress Place after attending the launch of [former Singaporean diplomat] Kishore Mahbubani’s memoir, and it was a beautiful evening.

“What keeps me going is that I find life endlessly interesting.”

PHOTOGRAPHY Shawn Paul Tan
ART DIRECTION Ray Ticsay & Adeline Eng
STYLING CK Koo
HAIR Angel Gwee using Davines & Ann Lin, using
MAKEUP Benedict Choo using Cle de Peau Beaute
COORDINATION Chelsia Tan