S’porean lawyer wins global award for parliamentary work, advocacy for groups like migrant workers
Singaporean lawyer Charmaine Yap has been awarded the International Bar Association’s Outstanding Young Lawyer of the Year award. The recognition follows her significant contributions to legislative drafting, including the Good Samaritan Food Donation Act.
Why it matters
It highlights the impact of young legal professionals in shaping public policy and advocating for vulnerable migrant and refugee populations.
Lawyer Charmaine Yap received the International Bar Association’s Outstanding Young Lawyer of the Year Award in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Oct 8.
Listen SINGAPORE – For two consecutive birthdays, lawyer Charmaine Yap spent most of the day hunched over a laptop poring over lines of legislation.
As legislative assistant to former Nee Soon GRC MP Louis Ng, she played a key role in drafting the Good Samaritan Food Donation Act, one of Singapore’s rare laws tabled by backbenchers rather than the authorities.
The Act, which protects food donors from certain civil and criminal liabilities, subject to safeguards, had been years in the making. Ng first mooted the need for such legislation in Parliament in 2020 , and the Bill was eventually introduced in July 2024 and passed unanimously the following month.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in