Category: Singapore

Singapore acts to lure overseas-trained lawyers back home

Singapore acts to lure overseas-trained lawyers back home
By Imelda Saad | Posted: 13 February 2009 1755 hrs
CNA

SINGAPORE: Major changes are on the cards for Singapore’s legal education system.

The changes are aimed to ensure Singapore has an adequate supply of local lawyers who can compete against global competition and to strengthen Singapore’s position as a key regional legal education hub.

Law Minister Law Minister K Shanmugam announced the changes in Parliament on Friday.

In hoping to attract overseas-trained Singapore lawyers to come back and practise law at home, the Law Ministry will abolish the one-year-long Diploma in Singapore Law course.

Mr K Shanmugam noted that the course, which is a requirement for all returning lawyers, has proven to be a disadvantage as lawyers feel they can pick up most of what’s taught during practice.

Hence, from June this year, such students will be offered an optional three-month conversion course.

To enhance legal training, measures include:

– revamping the Practice Law Course;

– replacing the pupillage system with training contracts, with the intention of putting the onus on law firms to ensure that trainees have a constructive and structured learning programme;

– the possibility of making continuing legal education mandatory to ensure practising lawyers are up to date on any changes to the law and are familiar with emerging areas of law.

To ensure a steady supply of lawyers, graduates with a Second Class (Lower) degree from approved universities will be admitted to the Singapore Bar without the two-year minimum legal experience requirement.

Adding to this, the Singapore Management University’s Law School will put in place additional measures to add to the pool of lawyers.

The first batch of graduates from SMU will join the industry in 2011.

The NUS Law Faculty will also increase its intake from 220 to 250 students a year.

Together, Mr K Shanmugam said, these moves will result in an almost 70 per cent increase in the number of local law graduates in a few years’ time – from 220 to 370 annually.

He added the incoming Qualifying Foreign Law Practices (QFLPs) will also bring in more lawyers as they consolidate their regional offshore work here.

To oversee the legal education in Singapore, a new statutory board – tentatively called the Institute for Legal Education – will be set up.

Mr K Shanmugam said: “Most essential for a vibrant legal sector are good quality lawyers. Therefore ensuring that legal education and training is top notch is extremely important”.

The minister also gave an update on moves to free up legal services in Singapore.

The Law Ministry notes that despite the current economic crisis, there is potential in the medium term for the legal sector to expand in certain areas.

One example is arbitration as Singapore is fast becoming an arbitration venue of choice.

By mid-2009, Singapore will have the Maxwell Chambers to house arbitration hearings under one roof.

Mr K Shanmugam said: “Our advantage is our connectivity and world class infrastructure, our judicial philosophy in respect to arbitration and being accessible at a much lower expense than some of the other popular arbitration centres.”

Another good sign is that international law firms have been setting up new offices in Singapore in recent months.

In the past four months alone, four new firms opened up offices here, one of them among the Global Top 40.

Another two firms have already registered with the Attorney-General’s Chambers and have announced plans to open new offices in Singapore.

How to choose good durian

Here is a short durian tutorial by Mr Wong who runs a small boutique durian stall at 231 East Coast Road (Opp Jago Close) Singapore. You can contact him for your durian needs by calling 97514828. At the time of blogging, his Mao Shan Wang was selling for $16 per kg. Having been in the durian trade for 20 years, he has established a good relationship with his suppliers who would pre-select all his durians so that his customers can look forward to a really good durian experience.

Source: http://ieatishootipost.sg/2008/07/durian-tutorial-made-possible-with-my.html

Only an A-Team will do: MM Lee

IS THERE a need for a new type of leadership to steer Singapore into the future? Or will what has worked in the past continue to work in the future?

These questions flitted through 41-year-old Jonas Ang’s mind as he sat through a dialogue at the Human Capital Summit with Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew yesterday.

The human resource director decided to pose them to the man most responsible for building modern Singapore.

Mr Lee’s immediate response: ‘That’s a very pertinent and deep question which I’ve asked myself.’

He said the Singaporeans of today have higher aspirations and are better educated than in the past, but that has also led some to believe that they know better than the Cabinet ministers.

‘You can see it in the letters to the press, which isn’t a bad thing provided they understand that they may not be right, because the ministers aren’t stupid,’ he said.

Changing times notwithstanding, Singapore must continue to have an A-Team of leaders in place, he added.

He said: ‘If we field a B-Team, we are in trouble. We’ve got to have an A-Team. I don’t care whether it’s the PAP (People’s Action Party) or any other party.

‘You need first-class people with good minds, a sense of obligation to do a good job for the people and the ability to execute. That’s an A-Team.’

How is an A-Team picked? MM Lee gave a peek into the process.

First, potential leaders undergo rigorous selection tests. They are then put through at least two five-year terms before they get to higher office, he said. ‘So we know that they got what it takes.’

A type of leader that Singaporeans must guard against is the glib speaker who cannot perform.

Said MM Lee: ‘That you can talk plausibly doesn’t mean you can perform effectively. They’re two different qualities. A good politician must be able to do both.’

One reason for the stringent criteria for future Singaporean leaders is the competition the country faces from up-and-coming economies like China and India, he said.

Still, there is something very much on the side of future Singapore leaders.

This is the Singapore system, characterised by traits like the rule of law, transparency, fair play and meritocracy, he said.

India and China will take at least 20 to 50 years to catch up with Singapore in this aspect, he believes.

Canadian and Singapore PR Edouard Merette, who has lived here for 12 years, agreed with MM Lee.

The peaceful, safe and efficient environment here is one reason why his company, Aon Consulting, decided to set up its regional headquarters and a research centre here.

Said Mr Merette, Aon Consulting’s CEO for Asia-Pacific: ‘Singapore is a modern society in a Third World area. You can give compliments only to Mr Lee’s leadership.’

Foreign law firms good for S'pore

ST Aug 27, 2008
Young lawyers get to practise with global firms and gain exposure
By Selina Lum

CHANGES to the Legal Profession Act passed in Parliament yesterday will now open up the hitherto protected legal sector to allow foreign firms more leeway to operate here.

The presence of strong local and foreign law firms will strengthen Singapore’s reputation as the region’s legal services centre, said Law Minister K. Shanmugam.

Young and talented Singaporean lawyers too stand to gain as they will now have more opportunities to practise in big international firms and gain international exposure, he said.

The amendments to the Act follow recommendations made last September by a committee, headed by Justice V. K. Rajah, tasked with developing the legal sector.

They come nine years after the Government first sent signals that the sector should be liberalised.

Three key changes will result from yesterday’s legislative amendment:

Come October, five foreign law firms will be allowed to hire Singapore-qualified lawyers to practise Singapore law in certain areas, namely high-end work in corporate and banking sectors.

Second, an existing scheme in which a local firm ties up with a foreign one has been enhanced, among other things, allowing the foreign part of the venture to share up to 49 per cent of the local constituent’s profits.

Third, the scope of work that foreign firms can carry out in international commercial arbitration involving Singapore law has been widened.

Four of the five parliamentarians who spoke on the issue yesterday were practising lawyers. To a man, the latter expressed concern about the impact of the liberalisation on local law firms. They also had reservations about whether the moves would really benefit Singapore as envisioned.

Mr Shanmugam said he understood their concerns about competition but pointed out that a number of areas would continue to be ‘ring-fenced’ beyond the reach of foreign firms.

These include constitutional and administrative law, conveyancing, criminal law, family law, succession law, trust law for individuals and litigation.

Local firms also stood to benefit if the economy as a whole prospered. ‘We must remember that the decision to liberalise was taken because we believe that it is in the overall economic interest of Singapore. It should also benefit the legal services sector as a whole,’ he said.

Explaining a key driver behind the moves, Mr Shanmugam noted that financial-sector representatives had asked ‘very strongly’ for the legal market to be liberalised.

‘We survive as an economic entity by reason of being open, by reason of being economically competitive. The financial services sector is one of the key pillars of our economy and we have to listen to the feedback from that sector,’ he said.

He later addressed a point made by Mr Sin Boon Ann (Tampines GRC), who was concerned that top local firms could become ‘footnotes in our history books’.

Mr Shanmugam, a partner in Allen & Gledhill until he became Law Minister earlier this year, said he would be the last person to disagree with the point that the major law firms contribute significantly to the legal heritage and legal culture in Singapore.

But when dealing with policy issues, one had to look at things in terms of the benefit to the public, he said.

Singapore’s interest was best served by allowing competition, enabling more choices for young lawyers and creating a more vibrant economic legal market.

‘When that calculation comes through, it cannot be dominated by emotion,’ he said.

To Nominated MP and accountant Gautam Banerjee, who asked for even more liberalisation, he said: ‘We start at five (foreign firms). I think it’s better for us to proceed cautiously and make sure we get it right.’

Tracy Phillips: Mixing Work with Passion

by Chris Emmanuel
As far as the entertainment industry goes, Tracy Phillips is one whose shoes are certainly hard to fill. The humble and trendy pace setter very kindly took time out her busy schedule to sit down and have a chat with CHOICES.

She is young, beautiful and successful. She is undoubtedly a household name among the partygoers at Zouk. Though not always seen, Tracy is often heard through her ideas and concepts that have indeed been a part of the success Zouk experiences.

Born in Singapore, the Marketing Manager of Zouk grew up in Australia. She returned to Singapore when she was 12 and got her secondary school education at St. Joseph’s Convent. After her O’ Levels, Tracy enrolled in a Diploma programme at Nanyang Polytechnic. Upon graduation, she landed her first job at the Waterfilms Production House.

A fan of Zouk ever since her first clubbing days, she used to frequent the nightspot very often. During these visits, she loved sharing her creative ideas on the clubbing scene and it was through such encounters that she found herself being offered a job by Zouk’s management. Sounds like a dream come true for the rest of us.

She kicked off her career with Zouk in September 1998. “I had no prior intentions of actually working in a club, but had always had a great passion for music & club culture and in particular for Zouk. It’s been an amazing journey and I am extremely grateful to Lincoln and all the wonderful people I work with daily for providing me with the opportunity,” says Tracy.

The gorgeous 29-year-old relates that when she first started out in the industry, it was hard to be taken seriously. “I was very young back then, with crazy hairstyles & quirky outfits and working with industry peers….

Temasek selling Merrill Lynch?

Temasek Selling Merrill Lynch
Half or total of 87m shares have been sold off at a loss, according to US recorded filings.
Seah Chiang Nee
Jul 24, 2008

Temasek Holdings has sold off half its ill-timed investment in Merrill Lynch – or about 87m shares, according to a mutual funds report on institutional trades on US stocks. The online report, MFFAIRS (Mutual Fund Facts About Individual Stocks), reported it sold off 86,949,594 shares (50%), leaving a current holdings of 86,949,594 shares (50%), according to the filings made public.

The report gave no exact date or price of the sale. Neither has there been any confirmation from Temasek, which had paid US$48 a share last year. http://www.mffais.com/newsarticles/2008-07-22/2473637-211738.html

Last week Merrill Lynch was traded at $31.

At that price Temasek would have suffered a loss of $17 a share – or a total loss of about US$1.48b for the 87mil shares.

Despite massive write-downs and capital injection, Merrill Lynch’s outlook remains uncertain, reports Bloomberg.

The company’s equity capital position is weak relative to competitors, said Brad Hintz, a New York-based analyst at Sanford C Bernstein, reports Ambereen Choudhury.

“With $19.9b in CDOs still frozen on the balance sheet and with counterparty risk rising on the hedges underlying these troubled positions, the potential for additional material write-downs remains a concern,” Hintz said.

The New York-based firm’s credit rating was cut last week by Moody’s Investors Service to A2 from A1.

The third-biggest US securities firm probably will report a loss of $6.57 a share this year, compared with an earlier forecast of $1.07, Hintz said. The revised estimate assumes the company generates no earnings in the second half. Merrill may have to take an additional $10 billion of pre-tax write-downs related to its holdings of mortgage securities, Moody’s estimates.

Huge paper losses

The disposal leaves Temasek Holdings and the Government Investment Corporation (GIC) still holding substantial parts of big troubled Western banks. Its remaining investments in UBS (Switzerland), Citigroup, Barclays and Merrill Lynch – at an original cost of US$21.88b – have declined on by some 47 percent in value. That is a paper loss of US$10.28b. However, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew had said these investments were made as a long-term strategy of 30 years. But as the Merrill Lynch sale shows, Temasek is not inflexible about cutting losses, if things threaten to get worse. The political leadership has defended its investment of these sub-prime banks as “an opportunistic” foray that can happen once in a long while. It believes these companies will survive the crisis and emerge stronger.

Some experts believe that Temasek has made an error of judgment. Investment guru Jim Rogers said in July he believed that US bank stocks could fall further and predicted that Singapore’s state investors would lose money on Citigroup and Merrill Lynch. “I’m shorting investment banks on Wall Street,” the successful investor said. “It grieves me to see what Singapore is doing. They are going to lose money.”

At the Nomura Dialogue recently, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew reported to investment mistakes, but that no one had benefited from it.

Singaporeans who want to see greater transparency in the government’s investments in troubled companies are unhappy with this vague answer to a serious problem.

One writer said, “Should we just move on? I do not think so. The patently huge mistake is not merely the result of recklessness but rather a systemic lack of accountability in making some of our largest investments.

“Let it be clear, the harm is terminally done. The entire reserves system must be re-examined and audited.”

Said slohand, “I saw the interview on TV last night and felt shortchanged.

“He brushed aside the issues with the logic that since the officers who made the decisions were not the beneficiaries in any sense of the word, such lapses are mistakes and are therefore acceptable…” ..The size indicates that it can only come from the very top.”