18 August 2009 2107 hrs (SST)
CNA
SINGAPORE: Parliament has passed amendments to the Legal Profession Act to make it easier for returning lawyers to practise in Singapore. The changes will also ensure Singapore continue to grow as a legal hub.
A law graduate currently has to undergo pupillage at a law firm before being admitted to the Bar in Singapore. But some pupils may have little direct contact with their pupil masters.
Hence, a new Training Contract will replace the pupillage to ensure that trainees have a structured learning programme for six months. It will also ensure the law firms take greater responsibility in the pupil’s training.
Law Minister K Shanmugam said: “The current system doesn’t train pupils adequately and you need to impose that obligation on the law firms. If they are not resourced to train their pupils, we will try and find a way in which they can arrange with other law firms to go and get their pupils trained.
“But the pupils’ interests and the profession’s interest on the whole must not suffer. People should take on pupils with the clear idea that the pupillage period, the entire pupillage period, should be used to train the pupils (and) not to use them as additional labour.
“It is no answer really to say that the law firms may not be in a position to train the pupils. It is not fair to the pupils – which is why we now say we will provide the framework.”
Another change to the Legal Profession Act is the doing away with the existing overlapping powers between the Board of Legal Education and the Law Minister. This is in preparation for the establishment of the proposed Institute of Legal Education next year.
The change will give the Law Minister single exemption power and allow him to exempt lawyers from certain practice training requirements based on their experience and standing. This will shorten the training period and encourage more graduates to return.
The move, however, raised concerns among some members of the House. Ellen Lee, MP for Sembawang GRC, asked: “Why should the minister be the only authority to so decide without consulting the other relevant bodies? What KPIs are in place to measure the quality of applicants’ contributions?”
Mr Shanmugam said: “It’s a government policy. What sort of criteria can we waive? How many lawyers do we need? Should we expand the criteria? These are issues that the minister should decide and be answerable in Parliament here.
“And bearing in mind, currently the minister has and does exercise substantive powers of exemption. So, it’s not a new development.”
Mr Shanmugam said that many Singapore lawyers are sought after by international firms as they are well-educated and have a reputation for hard work.
In view of the fact that Singapore firms are also short of lawyers, it is important to ensure that those trained overseas can come home and practise here, without too many hurdles.
On increasing the intake of law students here to meet aspirations, Mr Shanmugam said that the National University of Singapore (NUS) has almost reached its optimal level. The Singapore Management University (SMU) has also expressed that it wants to keep the cohort small.