Tea Reception and Briefing for Members of the Inquiry Panel | LEVEL 69 - An Evening for Young Lawyers | Basic Conflict Management Skills for Lawyers
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Good grub certainly lightens the mood. |
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Mr Giam Chin Toon, SC (at head of table), shares his concerns as Chairman of the Inquiry Panel |
The Law Society held a tea reception cum briefing for the chairpersons of Inquiry Committees ('ICs') and Review Committees ('RCs') on 15 March 2002 at the Law Society's Conference Room.
Satiated after heartily digging into a meal of mee siam, the 15 chairpersons
who attended the session settled down to the briefing. Mrs Arfat Selvam, Vice
President of the Law Society and former Chairman of the Inquiry Panel, opened
the meeting by thanking the members for attending the event organised by the Law
Society. Mrs Selvam went on to highlight three main points. Firstly, the RC,
being the first filtration process for complaints under
s 85 of the Legal Profession Act (Cap 161) ('LPA'), must give specific reasons
for dismissing a complaint. Secondly, if a penalty is recommended to be imposed
after an inquiry, the IC must identify the misconduct for which the penalty is
recommended, as well as specify the quantum of the penalty. Thirdly, whenever a
complaint is dismissed after an inquiry, it must be on an unconditional basis.
Mr Giam Chin Toon, SC, Chairman of the Inquiry Panel, then shared his views on the duties and responsibilities of the chairpersons of ICs and RCs. He highlighted the time limits set to complete inquiries, and if an extension of time was needed for submission of their report under the LPA, the extension had to be applied for within two months of their appointment. Secondly, should members of ICs find themselves in a position of conflict, they must inform the Chairman of the Inquiry Panel as soon as possible so that a replacement can be arranged.
Ms Yasho Dhoraisingam, CEO, walked members through the requirements of the LPA, and highlighted some common errors that the ICs and RCs often made, such as late requests for extension of time for submission of reports. The grounds for extension under the LPA are for the following reasons only:
It was also noted that some IC reports were lacking in critical information, such as the reasons for the IC's decision. It was stressed that an IC had to deal with the issue of whether the complaint should be dismissed or referred for formal investigation by a Disciplinary Committee, or should a penalty be recommended, the quantum sufficient and appropriate for the misconduct committed. Ms Dhoraisingam also reminded the ICs that they have certain powers that they can exercise in the course of an inquiry, such as:
Mr Ho Meng Third, Director of Professional Standards, stressed the distinction between an inquiry for inadequate professional service under s 75B of the LPA - that is not within the purview of a RC or an IC - and an inquiry for misconduct under s 85 of the LPA.
In his closing remarks, Mr Palakrishnan, SC, President of the Law Society, urged the ICs to be mindful of clearly setting out their grounds for dismissing complaints, as these grounds are open to review by complainants and respondent solicitors. Mr Palakrishnan stressed that we must work towards moulding a profession with certain core values that must be maintained at all costs. He expressed his appreciation to the members of the Inquiry Panel for offering their pro bono services to the Law Society and, by so doing, working with the Society to achieve its ideals as a profession with core ethical values.
Sharmaine Lau
Law Society of Singapore
The chic ticket in the fish bowl at the counter of the ballroom stated time of party as 6.30pm. I was there a tad early as the time on my little feelers shouted 6pm sharp. I entered the pizza-quarter size room and was so amazed by the view from Level 69 of Equinox. I was not alone. A few men had already arrived and were sipping their red wine, taking in the view of this Lion City, at sundown. I positioned myself on a pane that had very much been cooled down due to the setting of the sun and had a splendid breathtaking view of the east of Singapore.
Very soon, I heard the voices of the respective chairpersons of the Young Lawyers Committee, Monty and Helen, expressing their anxiety for the evening and hoping that all who attend would enjoy themselves as much as they had enjoyed planning it. They also said that they were pleased with the whole Committee and the people at the Secretariat who had contributed tremendously to the event. Music, I was told, was provided all the way from Ireland?!
Sean Labrooy struts in next to take in the view and wonders about the sale of the tickets to date and was excited that more would be sold at the door as he had friends calling to say that they would get tickets at the door. Next to arrive was Steven Lam, another Committee member, totally taken in by the view. A few young lawyers then started to arrive, highly impressed.
Throughout the night, people streamed in; of course all were impressed with the setting and the posh cocktail event planned just for them. I heard one say, 'This is a call party for the last two years' call cum welcome party for all young lawyers' under seven years of practice? Wow! Never has such an event been planned before'. A couple, I noticed, stood all night at one of the round, side tables where the chips and dips were served, devouring the same and guzzling their drinks. Through their crunches, they said, 'this is a good party, good idea'.
For many, it was a reunion with old friends from university and, for others, it was the 'CDR Group' finding another hangout place, by night. One even commented, 'better here than at the CDR Chambers all morning'. If nothing else, it was a chance to meet fellow young members of the Bar.
At a juncture of the evening, Monty, the Chairman, took to the microphone and gave a toast: 'To the newly called lawyers - welcome to the profession. We hope that you will find it rewarding'.
Mr Philip Jeyaretnam, Vice-President of the Law Society, then congratulated the Young Lawyers Committee on the party at Equinox and extended the apologies of Mr Palakrishnan, SC, the President of the Law Society, for not being able to grace the event.
Monty then impressed upon the young lawyers present, and I am sure the message is for all young lawyers alike, that the next generation of lawyers is the young lawyers and they have to claim their stake for their future. The Young Lawyers Committee has planned the calendar of events for 2002 and they intend, through various channels: (a) to unite all young lawyers in Singapore; (b) to inquire into the problems faced by them today; and (c) to be a voice to all stakeholders of the future on the needs of young lawyers in Singapore. The overriding principle in achieving all the above is to have a ball of a time.
A lucky draw was then held for all contributors to the Welfare Fund of the Law Society of Singapore. A total of S$287 was raised with the top prize ensuring that the recipient would return to Equinox for tea.
I thoroughly enjoyed myself at the party, and you should shoot yourself for not joining the 170 persons who had a stake in it that night.
I encourage you to watch that spot for all future events in the coming year.
A Fly on the Wall
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| Dr Joseph Ozawa | Dr Tan Ngoh Tiong and Dr Vicky Tan |
The Family Law Practice Committee of the Law Society of Singapore in conjunction with the Family Resource and Training Centre ('FRTC') held a full-day workshop on 6 April 2002 on Basic Conflict Management Skills for Lawyers. Distinguished speakers Dr Tan Ngoh Tiong and his wife Dr Vicky Tan conducted the workshop.
Dr Tan Ngoh Tiong lectures at the Social Work and Psychology Department of the National University of Singapore ('NUS') and is a teaching fellow of the Harvard-NUS Masters in Public Policy Programme and Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, and had originally been slated as the trainer of the workshop. But we were fortunate to have Dr Vicky Tan as an added bonus trainer and she was indeed not only equally eminently qualified to take us through the aspects of counselling - being Assistant Professor at the Social Work and Psychology Department of NUS as well as a training consultant with the FRTC - but was also on hand to give tips on basic listening skills and how to affirm a client's outpouring of instructions through empathetic listening, focusing and clarifying.
We were also privileged to have the workshop graced by the presence of Dr Joseph Ozawa, who is the Director of Psychological Services of the Criminal, Family & Juvenile Centre of the Subordinate Courts. Dr Ozawa, in his inimitable style and with humorous wit, reminded all present on the important role lawyers can play in managing conflicts and also gave a presentation of the work carried out by the Family and Juvenile Courts in relation to conflict management, while sharing some of his real-life experiences in dealing with these conflicts on a day-to-day basis. His candid sharing was indeed invaluable to the workshop.
During the morning session, participants were educated on the skills and knowledge in counselling clients as well as how to deal with conflicts and the various approaches to conflict management. After a sumptuous lunch, the focus of the workshop moved to mediation, which included skills of a mediator, stages of mediation and the principles of negotiation.
An interesting approach taken by the trainer was to relate the practical skills and strategies of dealing with interpersonal conflicts to worldwide conflicts between nations or even different communities. The observations were, therefore, made more insightful by such practical examples.
Participants were also required in both sessions to participate in role-play and certain groups of participants had the opportunity of being video taped. The workshop was extremely interactive in that the participants shared their personal experiences in mediation and dealing with conflict management.
The feedback given by the participants, who each received a Certificate of Attendance, has been extremely encouraging and the Family Law Practice Committee will consider organising a similar workshop if there are sufficient participants.
The Committee would also like to thank Ms Linda Haverkamp, Executive Director of the Family Resource and Training Centre and the Law Society Secretariat for helping to organise the workshop.
Yap Teong Liang
Salem Ibrahim & Partners