 
1. The forging of another partnership |
The following is the address by Mr Palakrishnan, SC, President of the
Law Society of Singapore on 10 June 2002 at the Grand Copthorne
Waterfront Hotel.
Introductory Remarks |
It is indeed a pleasure for the Law Society to partner with like-minded organisations to develop specific solutions for the advancement of the legal profession and the way the law is practised.
Background
Technology continues to develop at a pace far beyond the grasp of mortal men. I
have often advocated that lawyers, both young and old, must keep up with the
developments and utilise such advances to improve their practice management and
service to their clients.
Earlier this year, when I addressed the Honourable Chief Justice and Judges of Appeal, judges and Judicial Commissioners of the Supreme Court and the Honourable Attorney General at the Opening of the Legal Year, I highlighted that the challenge ahead was to look beyond the wonders of technology and recognise the importance of the human touch in the provision of legal services. The crux, for our lawyers, is to ensure a balance in personal, professional and passionate service, with meeting and surpassing the needs of an increasingly progressive society and demanding judicial system.
The Council of the Law Society, during its discussions at its workplan seminar earlier this year, recognised the need to provide more assistance and training to our smaller law firms. One item which was discussed related to providing small law firms with resources that their larger brothers take for granted, such as online legal research tools. In fact, such online tools are also available on the PCs of legal and judicial officers.
Timely Partnership
Entering into this partnership with LexisNexis, a global leader in providing
information of relevance to legal service providers, is therefore desirable and
timely. We hope that Legal ARMOR will encourage our small law firms to harness
technology to enhance their abilities to access a range of Commonwealth cases to
deliver sound advice to their clients and well-researched submissions in court.
The face of legal services in Singapore is entering a brave new phase. Our lawyers are expected not only to carry the expertise sufficient to advise on local laws and procedures, but also to be familiar with the laws and procedures of countries in and around our region. It is not unusual for contracts, that are entered into with local or global MNCs in and around our region, to state the choice of laws from common law countries, such as England, Australia and Canada. It is imperative that our lawyers have instant access to information on how the courts in these Commonwealth jurisdictions have adjudicated certain terms or laid down specific principles that may well impact on how such contracts should be drafted or negotiated.
Advantage for the Legal Profession
It is often said that a man does not know what he is missing until he has
found it. Well, for those who have not had the benefit of legal resources
provided by LexisNexis, we now bring it to you, on a platter, for a reasonable
fee. Try it for a year and I am confident you will wonder how you have managed
your practice without it.
The flexibility that is offered by having an online library of cases cannot be understated. Legal research, which is often limited by the library a lawyer has access to, has the added constraint of inflexible operating hours. With ARMOR, the lawyer can access cases reported under over a hundred law reports which include the All England Reports, Butterworths Company Law Cases, Canadian Patent Reporter, Law Times Reports, Lloyd's Reports, MLJ, SLR, Probate and Family reports (in the AC, QB and Chancery), selected QB admiralty and commercial cases, Tax Cases, Simon's Tax Cases, and the Weekly Law Reports. The convenience of having access to this gamut of cases, is the ease in which the lawyer can search the entire database.
LexisNexis, with the support and assistance of the Law Society, will conduct training sessions to subscribers of Legal ARMOR, at least once each month.
Conclusion
I hope that our small law firms will take full advantage of Legal ARMOR and
use it actively in their case and advice preparations. In time, such tools will
be as common as using e-mail or the handphone. And, if Legal ARMOR is well
utilised, we expect to deepen our partnership with LexisNexis and roll out more
from their abundant cache of online resources.
Thank you.
[Postscript: The President, in concluding his speech, declared that his law firm would be the first to sign up for Legal ARMOR.]