Winning the new KhattarWong Scholarship could mean that the 21-year-old Singapore Management University (SMU) student will have help with his tuition fees and study-related expenses, including purchasing a laptop.

To attract the best and brightest like Mr Chung, Singapore law firm KhattarWong has given a third of a million dollars to SMU's new law school to fund scholarships, prizes for top students, and a regional internship programme.

The five-year commitment will see the law firm awarding a $12,000 scholarship to an exceptional student from any year of study; and $3,000 cash for the university's top corporate and commercial law student annually.

In addition, five outstanding students will also be selected each year to go on a three-month internship programme at one of KhattarWong's regional offices, including its Shanghai office.

All the measures would cost the firm about $325,000 - its biggest sponsorship at any educational institution, said KhattarWong's managing partner, Mr Tan Chong Huat.

However, he would not disclose the value of the sponsorship at the National University of Singapore's Law Faculty and Temasek Polytechnic.

Mr Tan, the prime mover behind the sponsorship, said he believes in the value of young ideas and wants to make sure young people get all the financial help possible to realise their dream of practising law.

He said the firm may make additional contributions to increase the value or the number of scholarship or prizes offered each year if there are exceptional candidates.

The 33-year-old mid-size law firm is considered one of Singapore's top firms and has wide-ranging interests from research and development to finance and information technology.

For Mr Chung, who is waiting to see if his interview last month qualified him for the scholarship, the prospect is exciting: 'It is one of the leading law firms here, so I would be excited to work with them in future,' said the former Hwa Chong Junior College student who earned four As in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics C, and Economics in the A-level exams three years ago.

SMU's School of Law, which started classes only last month, has enrolled 117 students with 34 of them offering double degrees.

The school made headlines recently when Professor David N. Smith decided not to take up the appointment to the post of dean, after a six-month worldwide search, due to 'unanticipated personal reasons'.

Professor Michael P. Furmston, who taught law at Oxford University and served as dean of Bristol University's law faculty, took over his place.

SMU told The Straits Times that KhattarWong is the the first law firm to sponsor scholarships for its law students.

Two other law firms, WongPartnership and Rodyk & Davidson LLP, are awarding prizes for top law students.

'Such active and generous support from the legal profession enhances SMU's efforts to groom and nurture a new generation of confident, articulate and analytically agile young lawyers with the relevant and practical experience for the legal practice,' said Prof Furmston.

LOOKING AHEAD

'It is one of the leading law firms here, so I would be excited to work with them in future.'
Mr RYAN CHUNG, 21, a first-year law undergraduate at SMU who has been shortlisted for a bond-free scholarship from KhattarWong