This year's Rodyk Challenge was designed as a debate based on two draft hypothetical legislation selected from the Moot Parliamentary Programme (MPP). The MPP is organised by the Ministry of Education's Gifted Education Branch (GEB) to enhance the interest among high ability secondary school students in the process of drafting and passing legislation to address social and community issues. Student teams research issues, draft bills and then debate the bills.

Through the luck of the draw, the Rodyk Challenge competitors had to review, improve and propose one of the two hypothetical bills:

1. the Minimum Wage Act, which proposed a minimum wage scheme for full-time employed Singaporeans, to reduce income inequality and increase the standard of living of lower income wage earners in Singapore; and
2. the Cyber Bullying Act, which tries to tackle the problem of internet users who torment or bully others online.

The grand finalists were judged by Singapore's Attorney-General Steven Chong, and Rodyk senior partners Gerald Singham (corporate) and Lee Ai Ming (intellectual property & technology).

After a closely fought battle, Team SMU beat Team NUS to take the title. Team NUS, however, produced the best speaker in Stephanie Law, who walked away with the 'Best Individual Performance' award. The winning team walked away with a grand total of S$6,000 in cash prizes while the runners up received a total cash prize of S$4,800. 

Rodyk thanks the GEB for its support and for allowing the use of the MPP developed materials in the competition.

About Dentons Rodyk

Dentons Rodyk is one of Singapore's Big Five law firms, with a team of around 200 lawyers offering clients a full suite of legal services necessary to do business locally and globally. With over 160 years of establishment, consistently ranked highly in leading publications, we pride ourselves on providing the highest quality advice to our clients while maintaining strong working relationships with key public sector agencies and leading organisations in the private sector. Our combination with global law firm Dentons, makes us part of the world’s largest law firm with 20,000 professionals in over 200 locations in more than 80 countries.

Designed to be different, Dentons Rodyk can help you grow, protect, operate and finance your business. Our polycentric and purpose-driven approach, together with our commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity and ESG, ensures we challenge the status quo to stay focused on what matters most to you.

The first global pan-ASEAN law firm, Dentons ASEAN has an established history in Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Singapore and will continue to grow our presence through combinations with exceptional local firms across the ASEAN region and help clients navigate change wherever they are located.

In the new dynamic decade, clients continue to be confronted with complex scenarios and want to work with a purpose-driven law firm that has the experience and confidence to help them thrive at wherever they are located. Through our combinations with firms that are leaders in their respective communities and local markets, along with the partner firms in Dentons’ Nextlaw Referral Network, Dentons is ideally positioned to support our clients everywhere in ASEAN and around the globe.