Meeting with Ms Dianna Kempe, QC, President of the International Bar Association | 'Thank You' Tea for Volunteer Family Service Centre Legal Counsellors | Wine Tasting - South African Wines
The President of the International
Bar Association, Ms Dianna Kempe, QC, met with members of the Law Society on
Monday, 12 March 2001. She gave a briefing on the various activities which the
IBA is involved in, with regard to human rights and the support of the rule of
law. In particular, she referred to the work being done by the IBA's Human
Rights Institute and International Legal Assistance Consortium.
Ms Kempe also spoke about the work being done under the auspices of the IBA's Twinning Program for bar associations, a topic of particular interest to the Law Society, as our International Relations Committee is currently looking into twinning with another bar association in the Southeast Asian region. This programme aims to assist developing bar associations by 'twinning' them with a more established bar association, in order to assist the developing bar in projects such as setting up legal aid schemes, continuing legal education programmes, and even very basic matters such as provision of office equipment or the establishment of a law library.
Ms Kempe encouraged all Singapore lawyers to join the IBA and participate in its various activities, and especially the various public service programmes which are run by the IBA.
Ms Adeline Ang
Director, Public Relations
The Law Society of Singapore
The Law Awareness Committee,
together with representatives from the Council, hosted a tea reception on
Friday, 30 March 2001, for lawyers who have been volunteering their time to
provide free legal counselling services at Family Service Centres around
Singapore. Social workers at Family Service Centres refer their clients who need
legal advice to these volunteer lawyers. These clients cannot afford to hire a
lawyer, so the volunteer lawyers perform a very useful service in giving these
members of the public some basic legal information and presenting them with the
options available to them under law.
Mr N Sreenivasan, Council Representative to the Law Awareness Committee, thanked the volunteers for contributing their time and their expertise to help out in the Family Service Centres. Special thanks were expressed to Madam Yang Bisuen, a long-serving volunteer legal counsellor. Madam Yang is the co-ordinator for the legal counselling services provided by Law Society volunteers to the Family Service Centres, and the Law Society is grateful for her tireless effort and dedication in co-ordinating the work, as well as personally conducting numerous counselling sessions every week (please see The Singapore Law Gazette's December 2000 issue, for an article on Madam Yang's counselling work).
If you would like to be a volunteer legal counsellor, please contact the Law Awareness Committee at:
| E-mail: | Sarinah@lawsoc.org.sg |
| Tel: | 530-0238 |
| Fax: | 533-5700 |
Ms Adeline Ang
Director, Public Relations
The Law Society of Singapore
 |
L-R: Mr Nigel Bogaars and guest, Mr Kirpal Singh Sharma, Mr Leong Why Kong, Mr Dara Singh, Mr Savliwala Fakhruddin & Mr S Sharma |
The Social and Welfare Committee organised an evening of wine-tasting at Mama Africa on Friday, 30 March 2001. The evening served a dual purpose: to give our lawyers an excellent evening out and also to raise money for the Law Society's Welfare Fund.
In the spirit (no pun intended) of fund-raising, the Committee decided to lift its usual 'lawyers only' restriction for Law Society social events and opened the invitation to 'significant others' and friends as well.
Available for our delectation that evening was a selection of wines, all from South Africa. The wines were:
Bottles were also available at a special 'cellar door' discounted rate for the evening.
Spotted at the event was a sizeable delegation from Messrs Bogaars & Din, led by Mr Kirpal Singh Sharma, a loyal member of the Social and Welfare Committee who was enthusiastically participating in the fund-raising effort.
Ms Adeline Ang
Director, Public Relations
The Law Society of Singapore