Justice Judith Prakash was appointed Justice of the Court of Appeal on 1 August 2016 (since re-designated Justice of the Court of Appeal), the first woman to be appointed a permanent judge of the Singapore Court of Appeal. She retired on 18 December 2023 and returned as Senior Judge on 2 January 2024
Justice Prakash graduated from the University of Singapore in 1974 and was admitted as an advocate and solicitor in Singapore the following year. Thereafter she was in private practice until 1992. Starting as a shipping lawyer, she subsequently practiced commercial law in the areas of banking and finance and company law. She joined the Supreme Court as Judicial Commissioner in 1992 and became a High Court Judge in 1995.
Until 2022, Justice Prakash was the Lead Judge for arbitration matters. She has sat on many cases involving arbitration issues, both at first instance and on appeal, and is one of the Supreme Court’s specialist arbitration judges. Other areas in which she has a special interest include family law and trusts, and in the commercial area, banking, finance, shipping and insurance law. She has served more than two decades in the Supreme Court and many of her judgments, particularly on arbitration and commercial law, have been influential both domestically and internationally.