Justice Debbie Ong Siew Ling

Biography

Justice Debbie Ong Siew Ling was appointed Judge of the Appellate Division in November 2022. 

Justice Ong earned her Bachelor of Laws from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 1989 and Master of Laws at the University of Cambridge in 1991. She was admitted as an advocate and solicitor in Singapore in 1990.

Her legal career began as an academic at NUS’s Faculty of Law in 1989, specialising in family law. While teaching, she also assisted the Family Courts as a court mediator and the Supreme Court as amicus curiae. In addition, she served as Chairperson of the Centre Governance Committee of the Tampines Family Service Centre, and Resource Consultant for the Law Society’s Family Law Practice Committee. Justice Ong was appointed Judicial Commissioner in 2014 and Supreme Court Judge on 30 September 2017. She was concurrently appointed Presiding Judge of the Family Justice Courts from October 2017 to September 2023.

Justice Ong was a member to various boards and councils, such as the Review Board constituted under the Children and Young Persons Act and the Advisory Board of “Marriage Central” constituted under the National Family Council. She is a member of the International Advisory Board of the Child and Family Quarterly Journal (United Kingdom), the Family Justice Rules Working Party, the Family Law Reform Working Group and the SAL’s Publications Committee. She currently chairs the SAL's Learning and Professional Development Committee.

Justice Ong published the book entitled International Issues in Family Law in Singapore in January 2015, and has contributed numerous articles in local as well as international scholarly journals.

As Presiding Judge of the Family Justice Courts, Justice Ong was a specialist judge responsible for much of the recent legal jurisprudence in family law. Justice Ong co-chaired the inter-agency Committee to Review and Enhance Reforms in the Family Justice System and oversaw the implementation of various reforms and the building of a problem-solving family justice system.

Her accolades include winning the Singapore Academy of Law Merit Award and Legal Aid Bureau Amicus Award in 2013.

Speeches by Justice Debbie Ong

• Speech delivered at Conversations with the Community on 16 November 2023
• The New Family Justice Rules – Navigating the Way Forward
• Speech delivered at the Family Conference 2023
• Family Justice Courts Workplan 2023
• Family Justice Support Scheme Launch 2022
• Panel of Therapeutic Specialists (POTS) MoU Signing Ceremony 2022
• Family Conference 2021
• 8th Family Law & Children's Rights Conference: World Congress 2021
• Family Justice Courts Workplan 2021
• Panel of Financial Experts MoU signing ceremony 2020
• Law Society Family Conference 2020
• Family Justice Courts Workplan 2020