SAL Annual Review of 2024 Cases on Family Law

Authors

Ms Tricia Ho 
Lecturer, Law Programmes 
School of Law, Singapore University of Social Sciences  


Tricia is a leading family law academic at Singapore University of Social Sciences (“SUSS”), with comprehensive experience teaching family law and developing family law curriculum. Tricia graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a Master of Laws (Dean’s List) in 2022. She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Juridical Science at Berkeley Law. Her doctoral research centres on therapeutic justice in family justice systems and adopts an empirical approach.

Tricia has had significant professional development in the academic sphere, including publishing family law articles and annotated statutes, organising and conducting family law seminars and conferences, participating in family law discussion panels, consulting with the relevant government ministries on family law-related issues and leading an applied research project on offences against women. In the legal training space, Tricia has been recognised as the local subject matter expert on therapeutic justice in Singapore. She conducts an annual certification programme for family lawyers and has been involved in spearheading various accreditations and programmes that have a significant impact on the family law landscape in Singapore.

Prior to joining SUSS, Tricia was practicing at a leading Singapore law firm and specialised in family litigation. She has experience handling complex family law matters with multi-jurisdictional elements such as a stay of foreign proceedings, anti-suit injunctions, the enforcement of Singapore court orders in foreign jurisdictions, relocation and child abduction applications under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Child Abduction. She has also handled cases involving high-conflict children’s issues, novel points of family law, and cross-examination of medical experts.

For the past few years, Tricia has been teaching a family law course on children at SUSS with a focus on both practical and academic perspectives. Tricia also actively volunteers with various organisations to strengthen families in Singapore, as she recognises that the impact that family law has is not solely confined to the doctrinal sphere.

Mr Aaron Yoong
Assistant Professor, Yong Pung How School of Law
Singapore Management University


Assistant Professor Aaron Yoong lectures at the SMU Yong Pung How School of Law, specialising in the law of torts, international law and family law. His research has been published in leading journals including the Arbitration Journal, Tort Law Review and the Torts Law Journal. He is also co-author of leading forthcoming texts including the Law of Torts in Singapore, and Commercial Injunctions in Singapore.

Alongside academia, Aaron has a broad commercial practice at Setia Law LLC. He is instructed, and advises, on cross-border disputes and international enforcement, with a particular interest in cases that involve complex jurisdictional and conflict of laws issues.

Aaron holds degrees from Harvard University and SMU. He also currently serves as Young Independent Counsel for the Singapore Supreme Court, and as National Rapporteur for the General Congress of the International Academy of Comparative Law. Competition.

Panelists

Ms Yarni Loi 
District Judge, Family Justice Courts 



District Judge Yarni Loi earned her LLB (Hons) from the London School of Economics and Political Science and obtained her Postgraduate Diploma in Singapore Law from the National University of Singapore. After being called to the Singapore Bar, she spent the bulk of her career in private practice as a corporate litigation lawyer in a top tier law firm in Singapore where she was Director.

In 2011, she started pursuing part-time studies in counselling and was awarded a Postgraduate Diploma in Counselling by TCA College (accredited by the University of Wales) in 2013. As part of her counselling studies, she completed a full-time counselling internship at a Family Service Centre for 6 months. She joined the Legal Service and was appointed District Judge in the family justice division of the State Courts, now Family Justice Courts, in March 2014.

Mr Yap Teong Liang 
Managing Director, T L Yap Law Chambers LLC 



Teong Liang was called to the Bar of England and Wales (Middle Temple) in 1991 and admitted as an Advocate & Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore in June 1992. On 10th June 2002, he set up his boutique law firm specialising in Family Law.

Teong Liang has represented high net worth clients and handles cases involving foreign marriages, cross-border international complex child abduction and relocation cases, as well as jurisdictional and forum issues (Australia, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States of America), child custody and access cases, maintenance for the child and wife, division of matrimonial assets and family violence. He is listed as a Preeminent and Leading Family & Divorce Lawyer in the Doyle’s Guide.

Teong Liang also practices as a Collaborative Family Practitioner, Parenting Coordinator, and is an Associate Mediator with the Singapore Mediation Centre; he is an Accredited Mediator with the Family Justice Courts and Regent’s University, London (Mediation and Psychology). He is on the panel of Cross-Border Family Mediators of Mediation bei Internationalen Kindschaftskonflikten (MiKK), Berlin, Germany and the Cross-Border Family Mediators' Network.

He was Chairperson of the Family Law Practice Committee of the Law Society of Singapore from 2006 to 2015. He is currently the Head of the Family Law and Children’s Rights Chapter of the Professional Affairs Committee of the Singapore Academy of Law, and Chairperson of the Family Law and Family Rights Section and Vice President of LAWASIA.

He has been appointed by the Chief Justice as a member of the Family Justice Rules Committee constituted pursuant to Section 46(1) of the Family Justice Act and appointed onto the panel of Child Representatives by the Family Justice Courts since October 2014. Teong Liang has presented papers at both local and overseas family law conferences over the years and recently co-authored the chapter on Dispute Resolution Options in the book “The Art of Family Lawyering” (2019 Special Edition) and authored the chapter on Ancillary Relief: Orders That Can be Made in “The Law and Practice of Family Law in Singapore”.

Ms Angelina Hing
Founder & Managing Director, Integro Law Chambers LLC

In the early years of her career, Angelina was an established litigator, handling high-value corporate disputes.

She was a District Court Judge of the Family Justice Courts, from 2009 to 2016.  She has a wealth of experience hearing and mediating complex issues relating to child custody involving difficult issues of international relocation and allegations of child abduction, as well as all financial issues relating to divorce. She currently runs a boutique family law practice.

Ms Wong Kai Yun
Co-Managing Director, Chia Wong Chambers LLC

Having been in practice for over 20 years, Kai Yun maintains a niche focus on private wealth and family matters. Kai Yun's family law clients comprise largely high net worth individuals with especial concerns over financial settlements, as well as cross-jurisdictional issues.

Kai Yun is a Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers (IAFL) and is the current President of the Asia-Pacific Chapter. She is also a registered practitioner of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP). She is an accredited Singapore Mediation Centre Mediator, including being on their family panel and their panel for Collaborative Family Practice. She is also a Certified Mediator with the Singapore International Meditation Institute (SIMI), a Senior Mediator with the Law Society Mediation Scheme, and a Mediator on the panel of Cross-Border Family Mediators of Mediation bei Internationalen Kindschaftskonflikten (MiKK), Germany. She is a Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators (SIArb) and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb). She is also the Executive Editor of the Singapore Journal of Legal Studies (SJLS), the flagship law journal of the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore. In addition to being the current Co-Chair of the Family Law Practice Committee of the Law Society of Singapore (LSS), she is also the current Co-Chairperson of the Family Law and Children’s Rights Working Group of the Singapore Academy of Law (SAL).

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