Reach Out and Reform: Seismic Changes Ahead

Speech from Mr Palakrishnan, President of the Law Society of Singapore, at the Opening of the Legal Year on 6 January 2001

Introduction

May it please your Honours, Chief Justice, Judges of Appeal, Judges and Judicial Commissioners of the Supreme Court.

When I stood here last year, I spoke to you about how the Law Society aimed to reach out to our Members, the legal fraternity, the Judiciary, the public at large and our international community. Much of our efforts last year centred round assisting our Members to cope with the increasing demands made on their practice by technological advancements and changes brought about by new practice structures - to better enable them to serve the public interest.

Consistent with meeting these objectives, the Society was notably instrumental in organising two international Conferences, about five weeks apart - the LAWASIA Business Law Conference and the First Legal Systems and Technology Conference & Exhibition in Asia - events which put us, as a Society, on the world map. Indeed, the initiative to recognise the advent of technology and its effects on the legal landscape was not lost upon the Society, and I seek to meet this revolution in law, though I must say the revolution has barely begun.

This year, the challenge ahead is to look beyond the wonders of technology, and in its wake, recognise the continued importance of the human touch in the provision of legal services. The Society must also not lose sight of the ethical constraints imposed on the profession and set the necessary guidelines to straddle the challenge of professionalism and commercialism.

In short, the Society's theme this year is to 'Reach Out and Reform' in the seismic changes ahead: with progress, passion, possibility and performance.

In the coming decade, issues of technology and the New Sciences will continue to impact not only upon society but also upon the profession. Whether it is revisiting elderly Conventions on intellectual property, developing a legal paradigm within which e-commerce can flourish, bridging the gap of the Digital Divide, patenting Basmati rice or grappling between the cruellest of choices in the Mary and Jodie dilemma, the legal fraternity is being called upon to meet the challenges placed on it by an increasingly progressive society.

High-Tech High Touch

At the outset, the theme that I have for our Members is how to harness technology to enhance legal services and be seen as total solution-providers, whilst retaining the profession's humanity and soul, in the cold light of cyberdawn.

In the world of high tech, there should also be that element of high touch, not only in the provision of legal services, but also in the way in which legal practice management with comprehensive knowledge management, for individual law firms, is redefined.

Already, there is talk of the age of spiritual machines. The true renaissance would be to enjoy the fruits of technological advancements and have them sit well with our humanity and spiritual beliefs - a true appreciation of technology through a human lens, rather than the development of a more human machine - and to find our own balance of the Old and New Economy.

Widening IT access for the public has given better access to justice through online advice on Internet web-sites and through emails. But, faster may not necessarily be better. It is the quality of our advice rendered and received that matters.

In many instances, there is still no substitute for direct advice. Access to justice cannot always be dematerialised from screen to screen in this computer world. Direct contact when a client's questions are answered and mind put to rest cannot always be found at the end of a modem, 'broadband' though it may be.

I therefore say to our small practices, there is still a niche you can carve for yourself, but use technology to enhance the provision of these services, especially where threats of commodification of such legal services is already apparent.

A practice with soul will be what distinguishes the superlative legal practice from the rest. I am pleased to note the family-friendly initiatives already implemented by some of our Members in their practice.

We at the Law Society also see the need to enhance the online services we can provide to Members, with a human touch. In receiving feedback personally from Members, I have sought to do this both through my fortnightly face-to-face 'Your President Listens' sessions, as well as providing a direct online email address.

In meeting the challenge of providing Members with timely, forward-thinking and necessary services, the Law Society, as an organisation, must review its corporate governance from time to time, and part of our Workplan in 2001 would involve putting in place structural reforms to manage and deliver what the Council and Members want.

Recognising the importance of consultation, I hope to unleash a structured consultative mechanism that would maximise responses of relevant focus groups in practice. The all too trite consultation process of a survey, which few (I must confess) bother to reply to, is outdated. Perhaps a page can be taken from Internet surveys and electronic consultation introduced through our Society web-site which is set to be revitalised in this New Year.

Progress: Ethics, Professionalism and Quality Career Education

The legal profession now has - in cyberspace - a new vehicle to market its services. Law firms have started to move from the Yellow Pages to home pages at breakneck speed. On the one hand, there is the intriguing Internet - an information superhighway offering free-for-all information with no limit to content at nanotech speed. On the other, a legal profession that is self-regulating, generally leery of change and traditionally skeptical of over-commercialism within its ranks.

However, technology has always been the forerunner of regulation, and lawyers using the Internet as a marketing vehicle must acknowledge that we are still in a transitional stage where the governing standards have yet to be defined.

For legal web-sites to be useful to members of the public, a uniform classification and quality marking system may be necessary so that legal sites can be more consistently and accurately described to give users of qualifying sites greater confidence in the reliability of the legal information offered.

In the wake of progressive inroads made into the legal landscape by an increasing number of legal dot.com companies, the Society's Ethics Committee conducted a study of the current practices of other jurisdictions and their relevance in the local context, and issued a guidance statement on issues relating to equity in lieu of fees, Internet referrals and the supply of legal services in this Digital World.

The intention is not to straitjacket Members in this Information Revolution in ethical rules, but to ensure that vital core values of the profession are not eroded by the same.

As a Bar, we must commit ourselves and our professional associations to weaving the thread of professionalism into our practice. For too long, ethics has been the orphan of the legal community.

The temptation to fire-fight ethical issues as and when they arise is irresistible. However, the new medium alone should not warrant a different treatment of core values which we, as a profession, must continue to uphold and promote.

The Council in this New Year is committed to taking a holistic approach in developing policy guidelines in the area of ethics, conscious of the implications posed by the general move towards liberalisation of publicity rules, issues such as multi-disciplinary practices, practising law on the Internet, fee-sharing, equity in lieu of fees, employee and firm email policies, client confidentiality and client identification on the Internet.

Quality Career Education

As values of professionalism, judgment and civility are honed, enhanced and rejuvenated over a lifetime of practice, the Law Society will continue to provide affirmative opportunities for growth and development, in particular, in core practice areas, through quality career education and continuing professional development.

As a lawyer gets further into practice, commercial concerns and business management issues often mask or even overwhelm the fundamental values of the profession. On the skills side, rapid developments in the law, a proliferation of regulatory, statutory and decisional law, the explosion of technology and the emergence of more sophisticated methods for legal research and information retrieval can result in even an experienced practitioner feeling left behind or isolated.

Continuing quality career education will provide a reawakening of professionalism and not only rejuvenate the lawyer's own career but also spark the type of mentoring and role modelling that will have a positive influence through the whole profession. A career commitment to skills and values by the more experienced practitioner will in turn serve as an example to the young fledgling lawyer or pupil.

The Law Society's promotion of continuing professional development, incorporating the promotion of advocacy skills in criminal practice, will gain momentum this year, and for those of you who lament time pressures and billable hours, a twilight seminar may be just the answer!

Possiblity: Multi-Disciplinary Practices

Considering the desirability of multi-disciplinary practices (MDPs) is a natural progression for the Law Society after having this past year, grappled with and implemented evolutionary and structural changes in the practice of law in Singapore with the advent of Group Law Practices, Law Corporations, Joint Law Ventures and Formal Law Alliances.

In promoting lawyers as total solution providers, MDPs and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) are new challenges facing legal service regulators and professional associations.

I am glad to see that lawyers have accepted that developing an attitude of resolution advances their clients' cause. However, the general approach to MDPs has been more cautious, conscious of the need to deal with questions of conflict of interest, independence of the profession and solicitor-client privilege.

Neither is the MDP issue only relevant to the big law firms. One can imagine an MDP being set up between a family lawyer, social worker or counsellor in dealing with matrimonial or juvenile cases; a conveyancing lawyer and a real estate agent; a construction lawyer and an engineer. In the absence of ethical rules governing the legal profession and any strictures existing in other professions, the range of potential MDPs will only be regulated by market forces.

Beginning next month, the Law Society will hold dialogue sessions and consultations with our Members as well as other professional bodies, to determine the desirability of MDPs and what changes, if any, need to be made to current rules if new practice structures are allowed for the more effective delivery of services and better public access to the legal system.

Passion: Law Awareness

On projects with a passion and compassion, let me touch on law awareness. Why are lawyers the first port of call when people face problems? It is because they trust us to give them good, honest impartial advice. But what of those who cannot afford the service nor have access to advice until it is just too late?

One core value lawyers have, and which is worth preserving, is a belief in justice and ensuring access to justice. It is why most of us become lawyers in the first place. It is why lawyers do pro bono work, legal aid work, take on assigned cases, volunteer as Court Appointed Counsel and counsel at free legal clinics.

Law awareness is therefore in the forefront of the Society's projects for 2001, and our hitherto successful and well-received law awareness programmes in publications and exhibitions to reach out to heartlanders will gain momentum with a new initiative to reach out to our youths and schoolchildren through multimedia.

Much of the planning is still underway, but I need only say that Project 2001 will witness a whole new approach in bringing the law to the masses with greater mobility.

With the increased visibility of the Law Society in all aspects of practice life, I am pleased also to report that we now see, more than ever, an unprecedented number of Members from a large spectrum of law firms stepping forward to serve on working committees of the Law Society. This can only augur well for a Society largely dependent on the spirit of volunteerism.

Performance: Creating a Client Care Culture

Treating clients well, so that they do not complain, and if they do, handling the complaint properly, only requires common sense. By putting the client first, and by marketing our self-regulated status, we can distinguish our professionalism from the growing band of unqualified competitors who are purporting to offer legal services today with aggressive techniques.

By introducing excellent practice management standards with a view to certification such as Lexcel or ISO, by being transparent about fees, by being available and affordable and by giving value for money, we can easily distinguish ourselves from the competition, and readily cope with the understandable tendency of clients to complain if their reasonable expectations are not met.

The small percentage of time when we do not satisfy our clients has a high business as well as reputation cost. Having a poor complaints record, or worst, a poor claims record serves neither the profession nor the individual well.

In this respect, I am pleased to report a slight reduction in the statistics of complaints, which we shall strive to maintain and improve. However, every complaint is one complaint too many.

Focusing on professional standards of lawyers alone would only take care of part of responsible and responsive provision of legal services.

One initiative which I have spearheaded and hope to gain ground on is in respect of paralegal and support staff. The Law Society is committed to the development of standards for paralegal support as part of our service to Members. Over the past three years, four seminars were held for paralegals and support staff of law firms, with repeat seminars held to accommodate the numbers. The feedback from attendandees has been extremely encouraging and I hope in the New Year to introduce more structured programmes to enable this last frontier in the provision of legal services to upgrade and update its skills.

Conclusion

In hoping to steer the profession, the Law Society has a daunting task. As with any task, when we choose an overview, we may miss the details; when we focus closer to observe the details, we may lose sight of the whole.

Like physicists in search of a Unified Theory or the Theory of Everything, the legal profession is saturated by issues, not the least of which is the legal conundrum of a lawyer as a professional and as a businessperson.

Having individual views and answers purely from our perspective as lawyers may not reflect the general public interest but the profession must reach a consensus, which would form the springboard of the Law Society's approach to these issues. Having an uncertainty principle is not the answer.

At times, there is simply no answer to some of the great pressing questions. You continue to live them out, making your life a worthy expression of a 'leaning into the light'. In this New Year, we shall continue to lead the profession in answering these questions coherently and without losing sight of the big picture. What we have is the opportunity to re-position ourselves as conflict resolvers and be part of the solution, not the problem. In so doing, we shall restore pride in the calling we answered.

I am also confident that the synergy and cooperation between the various branches in the legal and judicial systems namely between the Law Society and the Ministry of Law, the Judiciary, the Attorney-General's Chambers, the Legal Service, the Singapore Academy of Law, the Board of Legal Education and the Faculty of Law, which we enjoyed in the past year, will continue to generate goodwill and progress in the legal fraternity as a whole.

On behalf of the Bar, I renew our pledge to the Bench in the administration of justice and would like to wish you, Chief Justice, all Judges and Judicial Commissioners, the Attorney-General, and all present today a healthy, invigorating, and successful year ahead.

Palakrishnan
President
The Law Society of Singapore

Your President Listens Law Society Members will be able to meet their President, Mr Palakrishnan, at the Law Society's premises on alternate Saturday mornings between 10.30am and 12 noon. These fortnightly sessions will take place next month on 10 and 24 February 2001