Piala Pala | Inter Professional Games 2001 | 4th Charity Golf Tournament | Joint General Skills Advocacy Workshops | Council Workplan Meeting | Third Legal Seminar for Social Workers | Law Society's Soccer Veterans Outplay Law Students | The Ministry of Law Corporate Planning Conference

'Piala Pala'

Law Society of Singapore's Annual Bowling Tournament 2001

	Bowlers sharing a kodak moment with Mr Goh Phai Cheng, SC, Vice President of the Law Society

The Law Society of Singapore's annual bowling competition has grown to become a major event in the sports calendar of the Law Society.

With participants numbering close to 150 in this year's competition, excluding supporters and family members who were present to cheer on the participants, the annual bowling tournament is one of the most well received and participated sports events organised by the Law Society.

This year's tournament saw a few firsts. It was the first time that a 9-pin tap game format was introduced. Unlike the official 10-pin tournament, the 9-pin tap format allows the bowler to register a strike if his or her first ball knocks down 9 pins or more. Hence, it is easier for a bowler to register high scores. This format was welcomed by the participants as many of them saw their bowling scores increase two or three fold. A bowler from Lee & Lee almost managed a perfect game by rolling ten strikes in a row but was foiled in his quest by two stubborn pins in the following frame. Nevertheless he went home with the highest game score award of 287 points.

The bowling tournament for the first time adopted a challenge trophy kindly sponsored by the Law Society's President, Mr Palakrishnan, SC. Our President duly coined the name 'Piala Pala' for the challenge trophy (a Malay word meaning 'Pala's challenge trophy'). To complement the beautiful 'Piala Pala', the trophies for this year were made of pewter.

A total of 30 teams signed up for the event and the entire bowling alley at SuperBowl Marina was reserved for the tournament. The Law Society's CEO, Mr Naresh Mahtani, gave a welcome speech and duly invited Council members, Mr N Sreenivasan and Mr Montague Choy, to roll off the first ball to commence the tournament.

After five intense hours of friendly competition, the team from William Lai & Alan Wong emerged victorious. This is the second time that the team from this law firm has grabbed the top spot. Thereafter, the contest was for the second and third positions as the teams from Tan SL & Partners and Lee & Lee jostled for the number two spot. Finally, the team from Tan SL & Partners edged out the Lee & Lee team by a mere one pin to clinch the second place. It was indeed the narrowest of victories for the team from Tan SL & Partners.

The overall results for the bowling tournament are as follows:

A lucky draw was also held at the end of the tournament and the lucky winners walked away with numerous prizes, including bowling ball bags, umbrellas, t-shirts, sports towels and more.

The Guest of Honour for the bowling tournament, Mr Goh Phai Cheng, SC, duly presented souvenirs to all participants and the 'Piala Pala' and pewters to the winners.

The Law Society would like to express its appreciation to Mr Palakrishnan, SC, for his kind sponsorship of the challenge trophy. The Law Society also thanks Mr Goh Phai Cheng, SC, for being the Guest of Honour and Mr Naresh Mahtani, Mr N Sreenivasan and Mr Montaque Choy for their support. Last but not least, the Law Society thanks all participants and supporters for taking valuable time off to participate in the event.

Yeow Joo Yun
Law Society of Singapore

Inter Professional Games 2001

A jolly harvest of prizes for the Law Society

The annual Inter Professional Games was held throughout the month of October culminating in a finale and dinner on 27 October 2001. The games sought to foster closer relations among members from the different professional bodies in Singapore. The participants of the games comprised the Singapore Medical Association ('SMA'), Institute of Engineers Singapore ('IES'), Singapore Institute of Architects ('SIA'), Singapore Institute of Surveyors & Valuers ('SISV'), Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Singapore ('ICPAS') and the Law Society of Singapore.

Various sports and games were featured in this year's games. The Law Society emerged champions in the following events:

• bowling;
• chess;
• street soccer;
• soccer; and
• table-tennis.

The Law Society's netball team also came in first runners-up in the netball event.

The Law Society emerged the overall champions again this year. The awards for the winners and the challenge trophy for the games were presented to the Law Society's Sports Committee chairman, Mr Godwin Campos, at the prize presentation ceremony held during the dinner at the close of the games. When quizzed by the other professional bodies on the secret of the success behind the Law Society's sports teams, Mr Campos credited the success to the convenors of the different sports for organising regular competitions, such as the annual Law Society Shield Games and other competitions, that help keep the players in competitive shape.

The Law Society would like to thank all members who participated in the games and hopes that the teams' great performances in their respective games will continue for years to come.

Yeow Joo Yun
Law Society of Singapore

4th Charity Golf Tournament

	Golfers enjoying a walk around the greens
The hole-in-one prize that remained safe with the sponsors
	Mr Wee Pan Lee, Chairman of CLAS, giving away the prizes

With the active encouragement of the Honourable Minister for Law and Foreign Affairs, Professor S Jayakumar, the Law Society of Singapore organised its 4th Charity Golf Tournament, to raise funds for the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme. The event was held on 28 October 2001, at the Tampines Course, Tanah Merah Country Club.

We were honoured to have, once again, the Honourable Minister as our Guest-of-Honour and are deeply grateful for his untiring support in our fund-raising efforts.

Although the economy was not as buoyant as last year, our donors, sponsors and participants continued to give their support generously and whole-heartedly and helped us to raise an estimated sum of $150,000. This sum will certainly go a long way towards the operation of the scheme.

The committee would like to thank all donors, sponsors and participants for their generous donations and continuous support in making the event a great success.

Christina Goh Siok Leng
Law Society of Singapore

Joint General Skills Advocacy Workshops

	All seasoned litigators in their own right, Mr Philip Jeyaretnam
	Mr Leslie Chew, SC
	Mr Sant Singh impress participants with their skills

The Law Society's Advocacy Committee had a very busy past few months and, in September 2001, the committee flew to Sabah to train 25 advocacy teachers. In addition, a total of 110 lawyers have participated in two workshops - one held in Sabah, in conjunction with the Australian Advocacy Institute, and the other in Singapore, jointly organised with Khattar Wong & Partners.

The Sabah Teacher Training and General Skills Workshops took place on 27 to 29 September 2001. While initially the number of participants to be trained appeared daunting, the Sabah Law Association and the Advocacy Committee swung into action to ensure that the workshop was a great success. The High Court of Sabah agreed to close all eight of its courts on Thursday, Friday and Saturday to allow them to be used as mock courts! Not only that, retired judges, barristers and court staff assisted as camera operators and organisers!

The teaching staff comprised members of the Advocacy Committee of the Law Society of Singapore: Mr Sant Singh, Mr Leslie Chew, SC, Mr N Sreenivasan, Mr Francis Xavier, Mr Madan Assomull and Mr Tan Chuan Thye. Professor Felicity Hampel, SC, and Professor George Hampel, SC, of the Australian Advocacy Institute led the team and provided their usual high standards of teaching to the workshop.

Many of you will recall that the Professors Hampel have been actively involved in advocacy training in Singapore for many years and have personally trained many of our teachers.

The legendary Sabahan hospitality continued in a most impressive fashion with the only downside of the entire trip being the fact that the mock courts (at the High Court of Sabah) were only accessible via stairs. Given that the High Court is four-storeys high, it is no wonder our team came back in a fitter state than when they left!

Following the success of the Sabah workshops, the Advocacy Committee ran a General Skills Workshop for Khattar Wong & Partners on the weekend of 23 to 25 November 2001, this time at the Beaufort Hotel, Sentosa. Twenty-five of Khattar Wong & Partners' lawyers and five CLAS' lawyers were trained at this workshop by members of the Advocacy Committee, including Chairman Mr Chelva Rajah, SC, Mr SantSingh, Mr Philip Jeyaretnam, Mr Leslie Chew, SC, Mr N Sreenivasanand Mr Francis Xavier.

The aim of the workshop was to help Khattar Wong & Partners' young lawyers brush up on their advocacy skills, although the teachers agreed the standard was high enough already.

Notwithstanding the sound preparations for the 'ZoukOut' concert (which provided participants with the chance to shout at a judge with impunity for the first and, hopefully, last time in their lives), the workshop was another successful one for the Advocacy Committee. Partners from Khattar Wong & Partners attended the workshop as observers and expressed their great satisfaction with the course.

The Advocacy Committee anticipates it will have a busy year ahead in 2002 in running more advocacy workshops for the profession.

Monique Ciochetto
Law Society of Singapore

Council Workplan Meeting

Council members deep in the throes of discussion

It was a meeting of minds which saw ideas blooming, views being spouted, opinions flowering and voices raised in a cacophony, as is always the result when a group of lawyers sit together to debate on anything that is, well, worth debating.

The subject of this piece of action was the traditional Council workplan meeting which takes place at the close of each year. The Council-elect of 2002 gathered at the Law Society on the morning of 1 December 2001 to carry out a very important task - to discuss and deliberate on the directions for the Law Society for 2002.

Weeks before, preparations were already underway to propose the strategic objectives and initiatives that would lead the discussions at the workplan meeting. An ad-hoc sub-committee was formed for the purpose of putting up a draft workplan and was chaired by Mr Philip Jeyaretnam. The other members of the sub-committee were Mr Leo Cheng Suan, Ms Malathi Das and Ms Yasho Dhoraisingam.

Four main strategic objectives were identified in the workplan, but it was decided that only two objectives needed to be discussed at the meeting.

The two main proposed objectives for the 2002 workplan that were discussed were:

1. to improve and expand business opportunities and structures for members through various strategic initiatives; and
2. to improve budgetary planning and controls for the Law Society.

To kick off the meeting, the President, Mr Palakrishnan, SC, welcomed the new Council members and expressed his hope that the secretariat would work closely with the Council and members to fulfill the objectives outlined. Mr Palakrishnan also hoped that the committees would conscientiously contribute to the work of the Society.

Next, Mr Philip Jeyaretnam shared his vision on how the workplan should be implemented and guided by two principles:

1. Product, for which he deftly came up with the acronym COAT to describe the concept:

• clarity (to have clear objectives and focused tasks that will help meet the objectives);
• objectivity (to have an objective criteria to measure success);
• accountability (clear lines of accountability); and
• time lines (necessary for checking to see that we've succeeded).

2. Process, for achieving any objective in the workplan, identified through another acronym RICE:

• respect (respect for one another as volunteers working for the good of the Society);
• investment (buying into the vision for the Society so that we can move forward to the next year);
• consensus (debating issues on the basis of respect and well-intentioned motives); and
• energy/engagement (vital for carrying out tasks).

The discussion this year took on a different format where Council and members of the secretariat were divided into three groups to discuss how the objectives and the strategic initiatives under each objective could be fulfilled. Group representatives then took turns to present their group's suggestions and ideas.

Many ideas were bandied about on a range of ways that a law practice could be enhanced and practice structures could be changed to help the profession move forward. The ideas presented would be incorporated into a revised workplan for the Council on 21 December 2001. However, the meeting agreed on the four main strategic objectives of the workplan for 2002.

The discussion flowed freely, and it was a lively and stimulating exchange of views. Overall, it was a very fruitful session as participants did not mince their words nor hesitate to rebut any suggestions that they thought were not feasible. Brainstorming is hard work and uses up plenty of energy. This was amply replenished when the workplan meeting concluded at 2pm and was followed by a delicious lunch. The way forward would be a meeting of the various committees in the new year to constructively translate the workable suggestions into concrete action and activities.

The finalised workplan for the year 2002 will be presented early next year to the chairpersons and members of the Law Society committees.

Sharmaine Lau
Law Society of Singapore

Third Legal Seminar for Social Workers

Law Awareness Talk for Social Workers

The Law Awareness Committee conducted the third in our continuing series of seminars for social workers who work with the various family service centres ('FSCs') around Singapore. 'The Law and You - A Legal Seminar' was held on Saturday, 15 December 2001. The speakers for this session were our Chairperson, Mr Foo Say Tun, Ms Malathi Das, Ms Constance Tay and Mr Steven Lam.

The topics covered issues which social workers are regularly faced with - including the perennial problem areas of custody of children, as well as maintenance for wives and children (during marriage and after a divorce).

Feedback received from our last seminar had indicated that due to the current economic situation, many people who have lost their jobs or whose jobs are threatened are approaching the various FSCs for help and advice. In view of this, introduced for the first time at this seminar was the topic: 'What are my rights as an employee of a company?'

Our thanks to the social workers at Care Corner Family Service Centre (Toa Payoh), who kindly hosted the seminar.

Adeline Ang
Law Society of Singapore

Law Society's Soccer Veterans Outplay Law Students

The Law Society participated in a seven-a-side Soccer Fiesta organised by the NUS Law Faculty on 24 November 2001 at the NUS soccer field. The tournament was held to encourage greater interaction amongst members of the profession and law students. The proceeds from entrance fees were to be donated to the Children's Cancer Foundation.

The Law Society (Veterans) emerged the champions after winning 2-1 in the final, where they met the team from J Koh & Co. The second veterans team, called 'Law Society (XPT)', came in third when they beat the team from Allen & Gledhill in the third and fourth placing match.

The tournament was well organised and everyone had a great time on and off the pitch. The only disappointment was that all the four teams from the Law Faculty's first to fourth year students were knocked out in the preliminary rounds!

K Bala Chandran
Law Society of Singapore

The Ministry of Law Corporate Planning Conference

Keynote Address by Professor S Jayakumar, Minister for Law and Minister for Foreign Affairs on 27 November 2001

The Challenges for Singapore: Re-making Singapore
We are all aware that Singapore is currently going through a very difficult period, in fact, one of the most difficult periods in our history. Singapore faces a two-fold challenge. First, to address immediate difficulties created by the global economic downturn. Second, to address what long-term changes we need to make in response to changes in our global operating environment.

The Prime Minister and other ministers have already spoken at length about these economic challenges which have been further compounded by the events of 11 September in the United States. They have stressed the need to re-make Singapore and the need to re-examine every policy assumption and test its validity in the new international and regional context.

The message is therefore clear: we cannot just afford to do more of the same. We have to re-position ourselves so as to cope with the changing operating environment.

Legal Community and Legal System have to Play Their Role
The question which I wish to pose is: in this urgent exercise of re-making Singapore, what is the role of the legal profession and the legal community, both public and private sectors? The legal system and our legal institutions are an important infrastructure for our country's growth and competitiveness. In a world which is more inter-connected and increasingly reliant on an integrated global legal order, the role of law is likely to increase rather than decrease.

The legal community therefore cannot stay aloof and must play its role in this effort to re-make Singapore. Every part of the community, be it academia, practitioners, the Board of Legal Education, the Singapore Academy of Law, the Attorney General's Chambers or the Ministry of Law, should be involved.

Some Steps Taken: But Not Enough
In fact, in the past two years, we have already taken some important steps; for example:

• We opened up the legal services sector to allow foreign law firms to form joint ventures and formal alliances with local law firms.
• We also allowed our law firms to form limited liability companies to encourage the formation of larger firms and the commitment to longer term development investment by law firms.
• We broadened the list of foreign law degrees recognised for admission to the Singapore Bar in order to widen the range of training and perspectives among our legal talent pool.

Each of these moves may be significant in and of themselves but, in the new difficult context we find ourselves, they are not enough. We must fundamentally re-examine our legal framework to effectively do our part in preparing Singapore to face our longer term challenges.

To aid this process, MinLaw is embarking on a number of comprehensive studies to ensure that we have the necessary data, background knowledge and expertise for this process of critical review; for example, MinLaw, in collaboration with the Law Society and the legal fraternity, is launching a comprehensive survey of the entire legal industry. This survey seeks to gather comprehensive data about various aspects of the legal profession so that better plans and policies can be drawn up to further enhance the competitiveness of the legal profession.

Let me outline some areas which we in the legal fraternity can look at.

Singapore as Legal Services Hub
One strategy outlined by the PM in his National Day speech is to strengthen Singapore's position as a regional services hub. One challenge for our legal industry is to leverage on Singapore's international brand name of efficiency, fairness and impartiality to position Singapore as a hub for legal services and dispute resolution services.

There is immense potential for developing Singapore generally as a legal services hub, provided our legal industry can gear itself up to meet increased international competition.

As China develops, especially after entering into the World Trade Organisation, there will be a demand for lawyers and legal services to service this modernisation drive. But this window of opportunity will not last for long as law firms from Europe, the United States and England are already seizing these opportunities.

There is no reason why Singapore cannot take advantage of these opportunities. We have many strengths in our favour. We are one of the few places in Asia where you get good quality, English-speaking lawyers trained in the common law tradition and who understand Chinese cultural traditions and are able also to communicate in the Chinese language. Our law firms have formed a valuable network of relationships worldwide. The top firms in Singapore have tied up with some of the leading law firms in the world through our joint law venture system. Our leading firms have been steadily modernising themselves. They are far advanced in the adoption of information technology and have been diligently building up the depth and breadth of their expertise. In fact, a Singapore law firm is already among the five largest law firms in Asia.

True, most of our local law firms may not yet have the brand name to compete internationally, but they can partner international law firms. We can leverage on our cultural affinity to produce lawyers who add value to these international firms.

Opportunities in the region are not confined to legal services alone, but can also present themselves in the area of legal education. As we seek to upgrade our infrastructure for the training of our lawyers, we can consider extending our legal education services to lawyers from the region, sharing with them the benefits of our training infrastructure. In this way, we can seek to turn Singapore into a legal education hub by getting foreign lawyers and students to come to the National University of Singapore and even the Singapore Management University and getting our lawyers to help impart knowledge and skills to lawyers from the region.

This drive to promote legal services must be integrated with the wider effort to turn Singapore into a services hub. The aim must be to create in Singapore an interlocking array of services to support the growing regional economies with legal service being a part.

Singapore as Hub for International Arbitration Services
The Singapore judiciary enjoys a world class reputation, consistently being highly ranked in various international surveys. Our legal system and the quality of legal services available is also held in high regard.

We must leverage on these strengths to further promote Singapore as a regional hub for international arbitration. We should go beyond looking at dispute resolution services as supporting infrastructure to actively seek out areas, like international arbitration, where we can create additional economic value for Singapore. Our location makes us easily accessible as an avenue for dispute resolution and we have a sound legal infrastructure and progressive arbitration laws.

How may we promote and market Singapore as an attractive venue for international arbitration? How may companies be made aware of the unique advantages Singapore offers? How may we raise our international profile among the arbitration community?

While we address these questions, we must build up our own core of local arbitration expertise to foster a vibrant environment for international arbitration services here. We should identify the impediments which hinder us from offering to clients only the best international arbitration experience.

Singapore as IPR Hub
Intellectual property is increasingly important as a source of future economic competitiveness. According to some estimates, global IP is now valued at US$2.2trn. In the last 40 years, the relative value of manufactured goods has fallen by three-quarters, whereas the prices of knowledge products, such as pharmaceuticals and health products, have risen about three times as fast as inflation. In fact, goods and services that rely extensively on intellectual property rights ('IPR') protection are among the fastest-growing items in Singapore's international trade.

Fortunately, IPR is an area where Singapore has already invested significant resources in for a number of years and further initiatives in this area can be built on the existing foundation formed by our strong technological base and legal framework. We must capitalise on these advantages and seek to make Singapore an IPR hub, where companies and individuals willingly gravitate to for IP creation, protection, commercialisation and management.

In this connection, the challenge for MinLaw and IPOS will be to work with the Ministry of Trade and Industry and economic agencies to review our present IPR policies and develop strategies to establish Singapore as a preferred location for the development, commercialisation and management of intellectual assets. The review will have to be comprehensive and seek to promote our IP industry, strengthen our legislative and enforcement framework and position Singapore as a trend-setter and a thought leader in IP policies. As is the case with the legal industry, a key challenge will be the development of quality manpower in the IP field.

Conclusion
I have outlined only a few ideas. There are other areas which need to be examined to see how the legal system and framework may assist in the national effort of re-making Singapore. To succeed, every segment of the legal fraternity must pull its weight. The government cannot provide all the solutions on its own. I am glad that different sections of the legal fraternity have already begun taking steps in this transformation process. The Singapore Academy of Law has just formed a $5m Legal Development Fund to promote skills development in the legal profession and the NUS Law Faculty has commenced a thorough review of its course structure and content.