Organisation

Mr K Shanmugam was educated at Raffles Institution from 1972 to 1977.  He then read law at the National University of Singapore (NUS), where he graduated at the top of his class with First Class Honours, in 1984. He was admitted to the Singapore Bar as an Advocate & Solicitor in 1985.

Mr Shanmugam went into private practice and became one of the Senior Partners and head of Litigation & Dispute Resolution at Allen & Gledhill LLP, which was the largest law firm in Singapore.  Mr Shanmugam had a successful practice and was consistently recognised, in various international publications, as one of the top litigation, arbitration and insolvency Counsel in Asia and Singapore.

Mr Shanmugam has been described as one of the “twin titans” of litigation in Singapore, “regarded as a first-rate litigator”, “respected for [his] quiet, efficient and persuasive style”, “renowned”, “regularly singled out for praise” and “star litigator” (The Asia Pacific Legal 500, 2001 - 2007); “one of the finest all-round legal talents in the country”, the “complete lawyer”, and “formidably logical and aggressive” (Who’s Who Legal, Singapore, 2008).

In 1998, he was appointed a Senior Counsel of the Supreme Court of Singapore at the age of 38, one of the youngest lawyers to be so appointed.
 
When he was in private practice, Mr Shanmugam regularly handled trial work in major corporate, commercial and insolvency disputes for private and public listed companies; major international and Singaporean banking and financial institutions; multinational corporations; professional practices; acted for medical practitioners in malpractice suits and inquiries; and acted for lawyers, in disciplinary inquiries as well as in criminal proceedings.

He had also acted for senior government leaders in Singapore, including the current and previous Prime Ministers of Singapore.  Mr Shanmugam also acted for the Chief Justice of Singapore, in 2005.  He has acted for both local as well as international media, including the International Herald Tribune (“IHT”), in libel matters as well as in contempt proceedings.   

More than 100 of the cases handled by Mr Shanmugam have been reported in the Law Reports.

Mr Shanmugam became a Member of Parliament (MP) in September 1988 when he was elected MP for Sembawang (Group Representation Constituency).

In Sembawang , he is an adviser to several grassroots and community organizations in Chong Pang.  He is also an elected member of the Sembawang Town Council and an adviser to the North West Community Development Council.

Prior to accepting public office, Mr Shanmugam served in various committees and Boards, including the Government Parliamentary Committee for Health; Advisory Board of the Faculty of Law; the Raffles Institution Board of Governors; the Media Development Authority, and Sembawang Corporation Industries Ltd.  Mr Shanmugam was also President of the Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA) from March 2002 to March 2009.

On 1 May 2008 Mr Shanmugam was appointed a Cabinet Minister.  He is now the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Law.  He has also served as the Minister for Home Affairs.

Ms Grace Fu graduated with a Bachelor of Accountancy (Honours) in 1985 and obtained a Masters of Business Administration from the National University of Singapore in 1991.  She began her career with the Overseas Union Bank as an Auditor and worked in corporate planning, financial control and business development positions in the Haw Par Group.

In 1995, Ms Fu joined the PSA Corporation and took on responsibilities in finance and marketing.  She assumed the position of Financial Controller of PSA Corporation in 1998.  Ms Fu was appointed the Chief Executive Officer, Singapore Terminals in 2003.  Before she left the PSA Group in 2006, Ms Fu was holding the appointment of Chief Executive Officer, PSA South East Asia and Japan, where she was responsible for the business performance of PSA’s terminals in Singapore, Thailand, Brunei and Japan.

Ms Fu was elected as a Member of Parliament in June 2006 for the Group Representation Constituency of Jurong.  In August 2006, Ms Fu was appointed Minister of State for National Development.  Ms Fu was promoted to Senior Minister of State in 2008, and was appointed in the Ministry of Education, concurrently.  In 2011, she was elected as the Member of Parliament for the Single Member Constituency of Yuhua and appointed as Senior Minister of State in the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, and the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources.  She was also appointed Chairperson of Women’s Wing of the People’s Action Party.  On 1 August 2012, Ms Fu was appointed Minister, Prime Minister's Office and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Second Minister for the Environment and Water Resources.

In addition, Ms Fu sits on the boards of the Peoples’ Association and the Chinese Development Assistance Council.  Further, she is involved in or has been involved in a number of committees including the Ministerial Committee on Ageing, the Economic Strategies Committee, the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City and the National Integration Committee.

Ms Fu is married with three sons and enjoys outdoor activities like rafting, swimming and hiking.