Dialogue with the 10 Largest Law Practices | Visit by Delegation from the Vietnam Ministry of Justice | Dialogue with Sole Proprietors | 2nd Law Society Bowling Masters | Legal Service Wins Cross-country in Close Finish

Dialogue with the 10 Largest Law Practices

The large practices have their share of concerns too

On 16 March 2002, the Law Society held a dialogue with the 10 largest law practices. This session was an opportunity for practitioners from these law practices to share their perspective on the challenges faced by the legal profession and to explore how the Council of the Law Society could help members meet these new challenges and problems. Our President, Mr Palakrishnan, SC, chaired the session.

Nine representatives from eight law practices attended the dialogue. Discussions ranged from the increasing costs of running a legal practice - with salaries and rental cited as the highest cost factors - to the competitive legal market for talented legal professionals that had, in recent years, resulted in dramatic increases in the average starting salaries of lawyers who sought employment in larger practices. Other subjects raised included the public's erroneous perception that legal fees had sharply risen for all types of work and the high costs of regionalising and internationalising legal practices. Discussions were also held on the different business models for the profession and feedback was sought on the concept of multi-disciplinary practices as well as the model of a limited liability partnership.

Yasho Dhoraisingam
Law Society of Singapore

Visit by Delegation from the Vietnam Ministry of Justice

	Delegation Head, Mr Nguyen Duy Lam, signs the Law Society's guestbook
	The delegation from the Ministry of Justice, Vietnam, together with members of Council and the International Relations Committee

The Law Society hosted a meeting with a delegation from the Ministry of Justice of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on Wednesday, 24 April 2002, at the Law Society premises.

The delegation's study visit to Singapore from 21-27 April 2002 was conducted pursuant to an agreement by ASEAN Law Ministers to further co-operation and exchange of information between ASEAN countries. This is the second delegation from the Ministry of Justice to visit the Law Society; the first delegation having visited us in May 2000.

The delegation, headed by Mr Nguyen Duy Lam, Director General of the Department of Legal Dissemination and Training of the Ministry of Justice, was here to study the organisation and interaction of local and foreign law firms in Singapore, with particular interest in the conditions for admission to the bar and the various forms of law practices here, eg partnerships, LLCs, joint law ventures and formal law alliances.

Members of the International Relations Committee joined members of Council in hosting this meeting. The managing partners of joint law venture and foreign law alliance firms were also invited to attend this event. Our thanks to Mr Edmund Leow, of Baker & McKenzie.Wong & Leow, for taking time off his busy schedule to meet with the delegation. The delegation was grateful for his perspectives on the integration of a local and a foreign practice in a joint law venture.

Special thanks also to Mr Philip Jeyaretnam for hosting a visit by the delegation to Orrick HelenYeo Pte Ltd on Tuesday, 23 April 2002.

Adeline Ang
Law Society of Singapore

Dialogue with Sole Proprietors

	Sole proprietors sharing their concerns with the Law Society
	Mr Ong Ying Ping (standing) and Mr G Raman (right, seated) leading the discussion

On 20 April 2002, for over two hours, 23 sole proprietors gathered at the Law Society's conference room with members of Council and secretariat to discuss the unique concerns, experiences and joys of practising as a sole proprietor. The dialogue session was held as part of a series of sessions where Council hopes to obtain feedback from members of the profession.

Mr G Raman, a well-respected member of the Bar, who is himself a sole proprietor, chaired the session. Mr Ong Ying Ping, a member of Council, was his co-chair.

In his opening remarks, Mr G Raman gave an overview of the changes to the landscape of our legal practice in recent years, from the advent of information technology to the creation of joint law ventures. He also stressed that at the end of the day, legal practice was service to the society at large.

Mr Ong Ying Ping, in his opening address, raised some questions for discussion, such as how small firms should price their services in order to meet clients' demands for charges that are reasonable and transparent and yet earn fees sufficiently rewarding to the lawyers and their staff. Mr Ong highlighted other issues, such as whether small firms should specialise or be generalists and how they should position their practices in the light of new trends, such as mediation centres, joint law venture practices, relaxation of the monopolies held by the legal profession and the advent of the World Trade Organisation and free trade.

At the session, it was clear to many sole proprietors that because of their personal relationship with their clients, pricing of legal costs was flexible. The view was expressed that time billing and proper records of how a bill was drawn were necessary in order to justify the amount billed to clients and, if required, to defend allegations of overcharging.

The costs of running a practice, particularly staff, rental and the costs of installing and running the electronic filing system, were also discussed. Running a small practice required an outlay of at least S$6,000 per month, revealed those members who were present.

The sad practice of undercutting scale costs by some practitioners was discussed along with the concern of the impending de-regulation of the scale costs and its impact on revenue.

Law Society representatives present suggested lawyers study the concept of a Group Law Practice as one means of cutting overhead costs, and added that the Society was considering networking sessions to help members network with non-members at seminars.

The Law Society is drafting guidelines for conveyancing costs to address the problem when the scale is abolished. These would be discussed with members in due course. Lawyers present were assured that the Council would act on written information received of lawyers discounting the scale.

The Law Society's representatives also reminded lawyers of the rules in the Professional Conduct Rules that set out strict guidelines on referral of legal work, particularly conveyancing work by a third party to a law practice.

The session ended with a delightful summary by Mr Goh Aik Chew, a senior member of the Bar who has practised as a sole proprietor for over 25 years. He shared the joys and tribulations of running his own firm. His story was an inspiration to all the young sole proprietors present.

Yasho Dhoraisingam
Law Society of Singapore

2nd Law Society Bowling Masters

	In the pervading silence, you can, literally and figuratively hear the pin(s) drop
Tabulating scores is hard work
	After a long hard battle, eight winners emerged victorious

It was that time of the year again for some bowling action! Following up on the tremendous success of last year's event, this year's 2nd Law Society Bowling Masters was held on 20 April 2002 at Planet Bowl and attracted a total of 28 participants comprising both staff and lawyers from over 10 law firms.

An 8-games series where only the top eight bowlers are awarded prizes, the players had to pit themselves against one another not only in terms of skills but stamina as well, and with eight games, anything could have happened! It was an exciting competition in that right up to the very last game, it was still not clear who the ultimate winners would be. With all the players having their fair share of not-too-good-games during the 8-games series, every one of them was kept on their toes throughout the competition.

After a gruelling three hours, the winners finally emerged:

Mohamed Endra Abdul Aziz was the top bowler for this year's Masters with a clear lead, followed by Alvin Cheng. The 3rd, 4th and 5th positions were a close fight, with a 2-pin difference between Teo Cher Hian and Quah Choo Kiong and a 1-pin difference between Quah Choo Kiong and Dorothy Tay. Nevertheless, all the winners were elated as they walked away with a share of the prize money. As for the others, many were asking when the next competition would take place - an indication, I think, that they too had a good time.

The competition ended with the prize presentation conducted by none other than our bowling convenor, Yeow Joo Yun, who painstakingly organised the event. Another job well done, Yeow!

Dorothy Tay
Khattar Wong & Partners

Legal Service Wins Cross-country in Close Finish

In what must be one of the closest finishes ever (only two points separated the top three teams), Legal Service won the annual Law Society Shield Cross-country Run which was held at the MacRitchie Reservoir Park on 28 April 2002. Drew & Napier took second place, with the combined Allen & Gledhill/Linklaters Allen & Gledhill team in third position.

In the individual categories, Wendy Yap (Legal Service), as expected, comfortably won the Ladies (Open) category. She was also responsible for forming the strong Legal Service team, even managing to persuade JC Choo Han Teck to join the team as its guest runner. JC Choo showed that he was not simply there to make up the numbers when he finished a creditable third in the Men's (Veteran) category, a category won by Axel Chan (John, Tan & Chan).

The Men's Senior and Junior categories were won by runners from the combined Allen & Gledhill/Linklaters Allen & Gledhill team. Harold Or repeated his previous year's win in the Men's (Senior) category. Nathan Dodd led from start to finish in the Men's (Junior) category and was the fastest overall runner.

More than 70 lawyers and law firm staff took part in the run. The President of the Law Society, Mr Palakrishnan, SC, flagged off the race whilst the Vice-President, Mr Philip Jeyaretnam, gave away the prizes.

Harold Or
Law Society of Singapore