We were pleased to host a double celebration at our annual party in Singapore last week: the tenth anniversary of our Singapore office and the fifteenth year of the Christopher Bathurst Prize, awarded in memory of the late Christopher Bathurst QC (Viscount Bledisloe) and former member of Fountain Court.

At the celebration on 5 September, the winner of the Christopher Bathurst Prize 2024 was announced as Adriel Ho Jian Yao.  Adriel is a future trainee solicitor at Simmons & Simmons JWS.  The Honourable Justice Andre Mariam (co-chair of the Singapore Academy of Law’s Professional Affairs & Memberships Committee), Stephen Moriarty KC of Fountain Court and Yeong Zee Kin, the Chief Operating Officer of the Singapore Academy of Law, presented the prize to the winner. The prize was again kindly supported by the Singapore Academy of Law.

Participants were asked to submit an essay of not more than 3,500 words. The competition question and winning essay can be found here.

Entrants were judged on a variety of criteria, namely originality, critical analysis, succinctness, clarity, persuasiveness and pragmatism. The judges were Stephen Moriarty KC of Fountain Court, Siraj Omar SC of Drew & Napier and Dr Sandra Booysen, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore.

The prize is an all-expense-paid two-week internship at Fountain Court in London. We hope to welcome Adriel to London in 2025.

The Reception was held at Art di Daniele Sperindio in the National Gallery and the guests included many old and new friends of Fountain Court, spanning the legal profession in Singapore and the Pan-Asia region.