Thio Shen Yi

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Thio Shen Yi SC is a Singaporean lawyer who is a managing partner of the TSMP Law Corporation, alongside his wife Stefanie Yuen-Thio. He served as the president of the Law Society of Singapore in 2015 and 2016.

Contents

Education

Thio completed an undergraduate law degree at the University of Cambridge in 1991, [1] and was subsequently awarded first prize in the Council for Legal Bar Examination in 1992, topping his cohort for the UK Bar Examinations. [2]

Career

Thio was one of the founding members of TSMP Law Corporation, [3] which was named after his mother Thio Su Mien. [4] He and his wife Stefanie Yuen-Thio are its joint-managing partners. [5]

Thio was appointed Senior Counsel of the Supreme Court of Singapore in 2008. [6]

From 2015 to 2016, Thio was president of the Law Society of Singapore. [7] [8] [9] In that capacity, Thio advocated for accused persons to be given earlier access to legal counsel, pointing out that Singapore's criminal justice system was "an outlier" that placed emphasis on "efficacy of investigations over protection of suspects". [10] [11] This topic received public attention when a 14-year-old boy committed suicide after having been brought in for questioning by police; Thio commented on the incident in the Law Society's newsletter Law Gazette, pointing out that as a vulnerable suspect, the child was not accompanied by a "parent, guardian or lawyer" during the police interview. [11] [12] Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam responded to the piece in parliament, criticising it for implying that "police intimidation" had caused the death; [13] Thio issued a clarification that this had not been his intention. [14] Other issues Thio addressed during his tenure include the expansion of legal aid schemes to cover a wider range of criminal offences and provide pro bono legal assistance to more applicants, as well as managing a glut of law graduates flooding the job market. [15] [16] [17]

In 2021, Thio included in lifestyle magazine Tatler's list of 59 "Asia's Most Influential SG" in the Public Service & Law category. [18]

As of 2022, Thio is an independent director of Keppel Infrastructure Trust. [19] Thio was awarded the SAL Merit Award in 2022. [20]

Thio is a Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators, [21] and serves as a panel arbitrator of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, [22] and the Asian International Arbitration Centre. [23] He is also a specialist mediator in the Singapore International Mediation Centre. [24]

Personal life

Thio is married to Stefanie Yuen-Thio, who is joint-managing partner of TSMP Law Corporation. [5] Thio is the brother of Thio Li-Ann, a professor at the NUS Faculty of Law. Thio's mother is Thio Su Mien, a former dean of the NUS Faculty of Law. Thio's father is Olympian Thio Gim Hock. [25]

In 2022, it was reported that Thio was one of the victims of a large-scale "nickel scam" in which he had invested $87,000. [26] [27]

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References

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  2. "Shen Yi Thio, SC > TSMP Law Corporation > Singapore > Singapore | Lawyer Profile". www.legal500.com. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  3. "Home". TSMP Law Corporation. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
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  11. 1 2 Koh, Valerie (17 February 2016). "'Less intimidating approach' should have been taken in Benjamin Lim case: Law Society President". TODAY. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
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  13. Lee, Min Kok (1 March 2016). "Shanmugam slams inaccurate statements on death of teen Benjamin Lim; MHA to look into how to respond to falsehoods". The Straits Times. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
  14. Nurul Azliah (2 March 2016). "No intention to imply that Benjamin Lim's death was caused by 'police intimidation': Lawyer Thio Shen Yi". yahoo.com.
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  19. "Mr Thio Shen Yi | Keppel Infrastructure Trust". www.kepinfratrust.com. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
  20. SAL Merit Award 2022: Mr Thio Shen Yi SC , retrieved 8 January 2023
  21. "Members Listing". Singapore Institute of Arbitrators.
  22. "SIAC Panels Archive". Singapore International Arbitration Centre.
  23. "Thio Shen Yi, SC". Asian International Arbitration Centre.
  24. "Thio Shen Yi" (PDF). Singapore International Mediation Centre.
  25. Iau, Jean (8 April 2020). "Real estate tycoon and Olympian Thio Gim Hock dies aged 82 | The Straits Times". www.straitstimes.com. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
  26. "Finian Tan, top lawyers Thio Shen Yi, Sunil Sudheesan, among alleged victims in S$1b nickel scam". Business Times. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
  27. Sun, David (29 June 2021). "Top lawyers among those allegedly cheated in $1 billion fraud scheme". The New Paper. Retrieved 25 May 2022.