Arfat Selvam is the recipient of the 2025 International Bar Association (IBA) Pro Bono Award. She is honoured for her extraordinary dedication to pro bono service and access to justice. A highly respected corporate lawyer from Singapore with more than 50 years of experience in legal practice, her unwavering commitment to pro bono work is demonstrated by 17 years of continuous leadership in the Law Society of Singapore’s pro bono initiatives.
Mrs Selvam was unable to attend the presentation. Instead, she sent a video addressing those gathered. In it she remarked: ‘It is an incredible honour to receive the International Bar Association Pro Bono Award for this year. The world today is a challenging place, but we are capable of meeting that challenge and we should do it. I am most grateful to the IBA and to its Pro Bono Committee for this recognition. I am also humbled to be in the company of so many distinguished lawyers before me who have used their professional skills to make this world a better place. This award to me is a renewed commitment for me to continue this work for positive change. I would like to end by encouraging every lawyer to embrace pro bono. Find an area that you are passionate in, the community that you can help and give it your all. The impact that you will make is immense. The rewards are far greater than any fees or accolades that you may earn.’
The video can be viewed here.
Sponsored by LexisNexis, the annual IBA Pro Bono Award seeks to honour those who have shown outstanding commitment to pro bono work over the course of their career.
As President of the Law Society of Singapore in 2003, Mrs Selvam’s leadership was instrumental in institutionalising pro bono work within the legal profession. She championed the expansion of pro bono services, from legal aid for individuals to support for community organisations serving the unserved and underserved. She advocated for sustainable pro bono structures within law firms, encouraging policies that allocate billable hours for pro bono work and fostering a culture where pro bono is seen as a core professional responsibility.
Her commitment to pro bono work also extends to fostering a more pervasive culture with her own law firm, Duane Morris & Selvam. She has been a vocal advocate for increased pro bono participation among colleagues, actively encouraging and mentoring junior lawyers in their pro bono endeavours. In 2018, Mrs Selvam was presented with the Pro Bono Leadership Award by Duane Morris.
In addition to her professional and pro bono work, Mrs Selvam is also a Director of Club Heal, a mental wellness charity, and has been actively involved in its corporate governance and whistleblowing processes, ensuring their operations aligned with current legal requirements. She describes this work as particularly rewarding, because it allows her to dedicate more resources towards the organisation’s core missions.
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In a joint statement, the judging panel outlined its reasons for selecting Mrs Selvam as the IBA Pro Bono Award winner for 2025: ‘Arfat Selvam was selected by the panel for her dedicated service and commitment to pro bono practice as part of her career both within her law firm and the wider profession. In the words of one of her nominators, she “set the tone for service at the highest level” and “has been instrumental in institutionalising pro bono work within the legal profession” in Singapore, through leadership positions within her firm, the Singapore Law Society and Pro Bono SG. Her contributions include championing the expansion and sustainability of pro bono service, fostering a culture where pro bono is seen as a core professional responsibility and encouraging policies that allocate billable hours for pro bono work. The panel highlighted that Mrs Selvam delivered pro bono services for many years, both to individuals in need through legal clinics in relation to family matters and employment rights and to organisations supporting individuals in need, including a mental health charity. She was instrumental in ensuring that credit is given for pro bono hours worked and set an important example within her firm. The panel noted that Mrs Selvam detailed that her commitment to pro bono work was a cornerstone of her legal career, “driven by a deep-seated belief in equitable access to justice.” Her nominators identified that her example has “inspired countless lawyers to embrace pro bono work as a means of building skills, confidence, and character.” The panel is pleased to award this year’s IBA Pro Bono Committee Award, sponsored by LexisNexis, to Arfat Selvam.’
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