Meeting the Standards of Good Client Care in Difficult Times | Law Society's 2002 Workplan |  Malaysian Young Lawyers Study Visit to Singapore

Meeting the Standards of Good Client Care in Difficult Times

These are difficult times, and for lawyers who have been struggling to meet the challenges of the past few years, the impact is much greater. It was, therefore, heartening to see more than 60 lawyers and their staff attending a lunch seminar on 'Meeting the Standards of Good Client Care in Difficult Times' conducted by the Law Society on 25 January 2002. Other similar sessions will be organised throughout the year.
	Seminar on good client care
The  standards that the profession should meet in terms of client care are set out in the Legal Profession (Professional Conduct) Rules. The Council of the Law Society has also specified 10 circumstances which, when proven, would mean that a lawyer is guilty of inadequate professional service. The 10 circumstances are:
	The Law Society Conference Room barely packs in the crowd

1. failure to provide diligent legal service;
2. failure to ensure that as a lawyer, he is competent to conduct the case;
3. failure to complete the work within a reasonable time;
4. failure to keep client informed on the progress of the case;
5. failure to acknowledge receipt of money or securities on behalf of client;
6. failure to provide statement of accounts to client;
7. failure to respond, without reasonable grounds, to client's telephone calls, or keep appointments;
8. failure to explain to client important developments of their case;
9. failure to explain to client the manner in which he would charge for his services, describe payments that client would be required to make, provide an estimate of fees or deliver bills of costs to client at regular intervals; and
10. failure to discuss with client the possible risks or expense of proceeding with the case.

Although the list may look daunting, it is not difficult to prevent such circumstances from occurring. All that is required is a good workflow system and case management. A typical workflow in a law firm consists of three main stages - taking client's instructions, acting on client's instructions and concluding the matter. Standard procedures can be implemented for most cases at each stage regardless of the type of case.

A standard letter can be used for different types of cases to advise the client of charges for services and the procedures to be adopted. Lawyers can set out the steps to be taken, for example in a probate matter, and attach them as an enclosure to the letter.

At each stage of the matter, lawyers should conscientiously take time to review the client's instructions, the strengths and weaknesses of the case, and compare it with the advice/opinion given initially and explain where it differs. This serves not only to assure the client that his case is being taken care of, but also helps the lawyer to review the case and be sure that he is competent to handle it. At the same time, lawyers should render a bill, if applicable.

Upon conclusion of the matter, the lawyer only has to explain to the client the outcome of the matter, the variation (if any) from the initial advice rendered and how the final bill is derived.

If these steps are adhered to, it will not be difficult for the lawyer to justify his actions. In this way, clients will also have no cause for complaint. If the client is satisfied with the outcome of the matter, he will be satisfied with the lawyer's manner of handling the case as well. In these difficult times, the consequential ripple effect is worth the effort taken in rendering good client care.

Ho Meng Third
Law Society of Singapore

Law Society's 2002 Workplan

Since 1990, the Council of the Law Society has drawn up an annual workplan at the end of each year to map out the key strategies and priorities for the Society for the coming year.

This year's workplan identified the committees, including proposed special ad hoc committees, responsible for the implementation of the policies with specified time frames for implementation where appropriate.

Council's workplan for 2002 identified four key objectives that are to be implemented through specific strategic initiatives. These strategic initiatives were translated into tasks and projects that the Council, committees and Secretariat will work on in order to fulfill the objectives. The four objectives and their accompanying strategies are:

Objective 1
To improve lawyers' business opportunities and structures.

Strategies

• To promote policies to help members adopt and meet the demands of a rapidly changing marketplace.
• To adopt a Multi-disciplinary Practice ('MDP') model to facilitate lawyers' participation in an MDP practice.
• To study new models of practice, such as Limited Liability Practices, and to revive interest in Group Law Practices.
• To introduce voluntary standards of practice.
• To re-examine the ethical rules to ensure that they promote business opportunities for members.
• Run short and reasonably priced courses to teach skills on running a law practice.

Objective 2
To improve budgetary planning and controls and increase revenue.

Strategies

• To adopt a financial protocol on budgetary controls drafted by the Finance Committee of Council.
• To implement programmes that can help raise the revenue of the Society.

Objective 3
To maintain and further members' interest in the activities of the Law Society.

Strategy

• To increase communication with members via the Society's Web portal, specialised dialogue sessions and publication of executive summaries of strategic papers.

Objective 4
To strengthen the Law Society's role in professional development and training.

Strategies

• To study the concept of mandatory continuing professional education for the legal profession.
• To develop a model for advocacy training for the Board of Legal Education ('BLE') for the Practical Law Course ('PLC').
• To adopt a business plan for the Society's e-learning portal.

In order to help the chairpersons and committee members understand the workplan and be committed in fulfilling the stated objectives, the Law Society organised a workplan briefing session for all committee chairpersons and members on 26 January 2002 at the Raffles City Convention Centre.

Some of the targets set by the workplan have already been achieved. A financial protocol for the Law Society has been passed and adopted by Council in January and circulated to each committee member of the Law Society.

The MDP Committee has begun, in earnest, its work on developing a model MDP for consideration for Council. The Practice Management Committee has commenced discussions with the Law Society of England on the possible purchase of its voluntary practice management standards franchise called Lexcel. The Advocacy Committee's proposal to teach advocacy at this year's PLC course has been accepted and this year's students will be the first group to benefit from the specialised advocacy teaching programmes run by the Law Society.

Since February 2002, various specialised dialogue sessions have been organised by Council.

The first session was with all directors of law corporations to obtain feedback on their experience of corporatising their law practices. A dialogue session with sole proprietors and the managing partners and directors of the 10 largest legal practices was being organised. Other smaller dialogue sessions with individual members who practice various areas of law are in the pipeline. These small, specialised dialogue sessions give Council an opportunity to obtain feedback and hear members' concerns.

The Continuing Legal Education, Practice Management and other committees of the Law Society have focused on seminars to impart to law firms the skills required to run a practice in changing and difficult times. The first two seminars on client care and credit management were held in January and March respectively, and the response and feedback from members to these seminars were positive and encouraging. A comprehensive risk management seminar programme and conveyancing pitfalls seminar are also being planned for the later part of the year.

Council, committees and members all have a role in the 2002 workplan to help the legal profession re-tool and re-model itself for the new century.

Yasho Dhoraisingam
Law Society of Singapore

Malaysian Young Lawyers Study Visit to Singapore

A delegation of 40 Malaysian lawyers, led by the National Young Lawyers Committee of the Malaysian Bar Council, visited Singapore, from Friday, 1 February to Saturday, 2 February 2002, to find out more about our local law firms' forays into joint ventures and formal alliances with foreign law firms.

In the course of their visit, they met with joint venture firm White & Case, Colin Ng & Partners and Rajah & Tann (which has a strategic alliance with international law firm, Weil Gotshal & Manges), for a first-hand insight into the experiences of these firms.

The Law Society's Young Lawyers Committee, headed by Co-chairpersons, Mr Montague Choy and Ms Helen Chia, hosted a lunch for the delegation. This provided an ideal opportunity for an exchange of views regarding the needs and concerns of junior practitioners in both Singapore and Malaysia. Much common ground was discovered, and in addition to the delectable buffet lunch spread at our Re:Lex Lounge, there was also much food for thought arising from this meeting.

The last stop of the delegation's visit was a tour of the Supreme Court, encompassing a briefing on EFS and the Supreme Court's case management system, as well as an introduction to the Singapore Academy of Law and the Singapore Mediation Centre.

Our Young Lawyers Committee is planning a reciprocal visit to Malaysia later this year. Watch out for further details in the coming months - akan datang!

Adeline Ang
Law Society of Singapore