Council Bulletin

Mr Palakrishnan, President, thanked all Committee Members involved in the Committees’ Workplan Meeting on 19 February 2000 at the Grand Plaza Hotel.

He intends to meet with Mr Peter Low, Chairperson of the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme (CLAS) Committee, to discuss the concerns of young lawyers and how the Society can reach out to young lawyers. Mr Palakrishnan will also invite various Committees to dialogue with him at future sessions of ‘The President Listens’.

Presently, the Law Society will not purchase any equipment for video-conferencing in Criminal PTCs. Members will, for the time being, attend the PTCs at the Judges’ Chambers.

Thirty-seven firms had indicated their interest in filing their PCs electronically. The Secretariat will contact the Managing Partners of various firms to encourage them to file their PCs electronically.

The Law Society hosted a tea reception for judges and registrars of the Subordinate Courts on 3 March 2000 at the Society’s premises.

The Society’s Social & Welfare Committee has decided to focus on fewer and bigger events this year and to do away with smaller events as there has not been a good response. The Committee will also discuss the Lawasia/Law Society Gala Dinner, to be held in conjunction with the Law Society/Lawasia Conference in November 2000, and revert to the Council at the next Council meeting.

The Practice Structures Committee will consider the draft subsidiary legislation to the Legal Profession Amendment Act and will revert to the Council on 10 March 2000.

The Publications Committee will offer law firms new paid listing packages to enable them to list the particulars of their branch offices and their lawyers’ names, titles and direct telephone lines in the law firms’ section of the Millennium edition of the Law Society’s Directory. The Council approved the Committees’ advertising contracts, advertisement rate card and terms of reference.

Mr Bala Chandran, Council Member, informed the Council that the Sports Committee would be able to cover expenses on the sporting events in the Law Society Shield Competition, as the events had met with a good response from members.

Council Members were invited to provide the Arbitration Committee with their feedback prior to their meeting with the SIAC scheduled for April 2000.

Mr Lim Seng Siew, Chairperson, Electronic Filing System Committee, addressed the Council on various issues mentioned by the Registrar in his letter dated 21 February 2000.

These issues included the reduction of document handling fee, the setting up of an EFS Advisory Council, bundles of documents, written submissions, bundles of authorities and the time of filing of documents.

Other concerns included the provision of opportunities to all lawyers who wish to be trained to use EFS, the differences between the Solicitor Case Query System and the Video Switching Device System, annotations, the Front End System for EFS and the proposed upgrading by SNS from Windows 95 to Windows 98.

The Society has responded to the Registrar’s letter and will nominate Mr Lim Seng Siew as its second representative on the Implementation Committee.

Mr Derrick Wong, Chairperson, Conveyancing Practice Committee, briefed the Council about his Committee’s dialogue session with members about various conveyancing issues. He said that the members were not in favour of freeing conveyancing scale fees and discussed possible repercussions of such an action. The members also indicated that they would prefer separate representation for parties in a conveyancing transaction, eg for a mortgagor and his mortgagee.

An ad hoc committee made up of Mr Goh Phai Cheng SC, Vice-President, Ms Christina Goh, Treasurer and Mr Philip Jeyaretnam, Council Member, will assist the Council in identifying and dealing with the issues.

The Council agreed that in the interest of the protection of consumers, the floor area of landed properties should be included in Sale and Purchase Agreements. Mr Palakrishnan and Mr Derrick Wong are to reply to the Urban Redevelopment Authority.

The Ethics Committee will examine various proposed amendments to the Legal Profession (Professional Conduct) Rules, in particular, Rules 10 and 11 relating to participation in trade and business. The Council agreed that, in principle, solicitors will be allowed to do other businesses, but will not be allowed to practice law under another guise. The Committee’s proposed amendment of Rule 43 was also approved by the Council.

The Council will look into organising the various sporting activities suggested by members in a survey conducted by the Sports Committee last year, for instance, in-line skating, golf and street soccer.

Professor Jayakumar, Minister for Law and Foreign Affairs, has agreed to be the Guest-of-Honour at the 3rd Charity Golf Tournament, which will be held on 1 October 2000. The venue will be determined soon.

Mr Lim Seng Siew of the Information Technology (IT) Committee, briefed the Council on the IT Committee’s proposal to create an e-portal to provide services relating to the legal profession. Set-up costs would be in the region of $1m and external investors will be needed to fund the project.

The Council agreed with the IT Committee’s recommendation in principle and the Committee is to proceed with the creation of a portal and to collaborate with a third party on a commercial basis in this area. The IT Committee will present a detailed proposal to the Council by 7 April 2000.

Mr Palakrishnan, President, proposed a new protocol for dealings with the press. Mr Philip Jeyaratnam will redraft the wording of the protocol and revert to the President. All press matters shall be dealt with through the Law Society’s Secretariat.

The Council agreed that Alexander Forbes should be asked to provide the Law Society with particulars of negligence claims. The Conveyancing Practice Committee and the Practice Management Committee will examine such particulars and consider possible courses of action to prevent or reduce negligence claims, for instance, by conducting seminars to educate practitioners about possible practice pitfalls.

The Law Society’s survey on practitioners’ incomes and working conditions elicited 446 responses from our practitioners. The survey results will be compiled by the Law Society’s Secretariat and will be presented to the Council together with a short analysis and recommendations.

Mr Bala Chandran, Council Representative of the Sports Committee, informed the Council that the Malaysian organisers of the Games will confirm the name of the Games and its participants on 18 March 2000.

Games participants will stay at the Eastin Hotel. The Council agreed to provide a grant of $15,000 for the Games. The Law Society is seeking sponsors for the Law Games. Mr Abdul Rahim Kassim, Assistant Director of Membership Services, is approaching law firms for contributions. Mr Naresh Mahtani, CEO, and Mr Thio Shen Yi, Council Member, will also assist in canvassing for sponsorship.

Mr Sivakumar Murugaiyan, Council Representative of the Ethics Committee, briefed the Council on the Committee’s draft Practice Direction, in particular, about contingency fees, overcharging, conflict of interest and secret profits. The Committee will further examine the rationale of the Law Society of England for referring to equity given in lieu of legal fees as ‘contingency fees’ in their practice directions, before finalising and refining their draft practice directions.

Members have been invited to give their feedback on the draft subsidiary legislation in relation to joint ventures and formal alliances pursuant to the Legal Profession (Amendment) Act. The Practice Structures Committee met on 17 March 2000 to discuss the draft amendments and will report to the Council on 24 March 2000. The Attorney-General has given the Society his permission to distribute copies of the proposed amendments to foreign lawyers and other interested parties.

The President commended and thanked the organisers in the Sports Committee for staging the Millennium Cross-Country Run on 5 March 2000. The event attracted 150 members, their families and support staff in legal firms at MacRitchie Reservoir that evening.

The Society has agreed to assist the Board of Legal Education (BLE) with its ‘On-the-Job’ training programme for students attending its Practical Law Course (PLC). Mr Sreenivasan, Council Representative of the Law Awareness Committee, asked about the expected number of students so that the several Committees involved in the project could work out the details of this joint project.

The Inter-Professional Presidents Group (IPPG) met with representatives from the Ministry of Trade on 8 March 2000 to discuss general policy issues relating to the various professions. The IPPG will meet again on 18 March 2000 to discuss the World Trade Organisation, continuing professional development and various other issues.

The Law Society will inform the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) that the Law Society will encourage members to set up their own systems for e-stamping from their offices.

Council Updates