Singapore
Margrit Benton began her legal career in New York at Sullivan & Cromwell as a litigation associate, working on securities and antitrust matters as well as on a pro bono death penalty case. Upon moving to Singapore and Jakarta, Indonesia with her husband, Mark Nelson, in 1989, Margrit left the law firm and subsequently acted as an observer on behalf of various international legal organizations at human rights trials in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and in Jakarta.
During her nine years in Jakarta, Margrit was an active volunteer in the National Museum, leading tours and helping conduct the first inventory since 1945 of the ethnography collection. Subsequently, in Singapore, Margrit was a member of the Friends of the Museum. More recently, she served as the vice-chair of the Board of Governors of the Singapore American School (SAS), the largest American curriculum international school in the world, and is currently a member of the SAS Foundation Board.
While focusing on the challenges and joys of raising two children abroad, Margrit founded a reading group 23 years ago, comprising women of diverse educational, professional, and national backgrounds. The reading group is still going strong and has been one of the great rewards of her life in Asia. Mark and Margrit’s son works in Myanmar; their daughter is beginning post-college life in Boston.
Margrit holds a degree in history from Dartmouth College and a law degree from Rutgers University.
Partner: Mark Nelson