[6] He obtained his bachelor of laws degree from the National University of Singapore in the 1960s, and played the guitar in a jazz band to raise money for his tuition fees.
[3][7] He joined the Singapore Legal Service in 1970 and rose through the ranks "with the speed and power of an Exocet missile," as Queen's Counsel Roy Allaway later described it.
[14] Knight also led the prosecution team in Singapore's first case of insider trading, that of former United Overseas Bank banker Allan Ng.
[15][16] On National Day 1990 (9 August 1990), he was awarded the Public Administration Medal, Gold, for his work as Director of the Commercial Affairs Department.
[17] On 23 March 1991, Knight was suddenly replaced as CAD director by Senior State Counsel Lawrence Ang in a decision that shocked the local legal community.
[18][19] After an investigation lasting more than two months—one of the longest probes into the conduct of a public servant in Singapore—Knight was arrested on 27 May 1991[20][21] and charged with corruption the next day.
[23][24][25] The judge originally set Knight's trial to commence in October 1992, but changed his mind and brought it forward to September 1991 after the prosecution complained that its witnesses had been subject to intimidation, and investigating officers had received mysterious phone calls warning them to "watch out".
[39] Although the sentence meted to him was eventually reduced, the corruption case had left permanent damage on Knight's career as a civil servant.
[41] In August 1994, the High Court struck Knight off the roll of advocates and solicitors, meaning that he could no longer practise law.
[43] In 1998, Knight was again charged in court—this time with criminal breach of trust by misappropriating money totalling $4,200 when still the CAD's Director on two occasions, in 1989 and 1990.
Knight, together with three other lawyers, represented odd-job worker Tharema Vejayan Govindasamy, who was charged with murdering his ex-wife Smaelmeeral Abdul Aziz by flinging her off the 13th floor of a HDB block in Stirling Road, Queenstown.
Subsequently, the trial court rejected the defence's contention and therefore found Tharema guilty of murder, and sentenced him to death in May 2009.