News


From left: Ms Yasho Dhoraisingam, CEO; Mrs Arfat Selvam, President; and Mr Philip Jeyaretnam, SC, Vice President	Committee chairpersons and members hear what is in store for this year's Workplan

On 25 January 2003, over 90 members who serve as chairs and members of our 27 standing committees attended a briefing on the Law Society’s workplan for 2003.

Our President, Mrs Arfat Selvam, in her opening address, highlighted that this briefing was not only to inform committee members of the Society’s corporate workplan for the year, but an hour had also been set aside to hear feedback on the workplan. The Society’s corporate plan was not a static document, but something the Council reviewed regularly.

The one hour feedback session was so insightful that Mrs Selvam, in her closing remarks, said that Council may consider inviting committee chairs and members to attend its mid-year review of the workplan.

The focus of the Law Society’s workplan for 2003 was to anticipate change, help members meet and cope with change and champion the legal profession.

The Council was determined not to merely fire-fight problems, and would, at its twice-monthly meetings, ensure that at least one major policy initiative planned for the year be discussed.

Mrs Arfat Selvam announced that since 20 January, a weekly ‘Council Listens’ session had been initiated with a member of Council available each week to hear members’ views and feedback and offer help at the Society’s secretariat.

Mr Philip Jeyaretnam, as Chair of the Council’s Workplan Committee of 2003, briefly described two main external objectives of the workplan. The Council planned to drive change. The Law Society was looking at a domestic MDP model for the profession and the feasibility of a Solicitors’ Real Estate Scheme model. Modernising our ethical framework was key to driving change within the profession, a task assigned to the Ethics Committee.

To help members cope with the changing legal landscape, an array of continuing professional development initiatives was essential to impart a variety of legal and practice skills. This included continuing the work of the Advocacy Committee which teaches advocacy in a personal and innovative manner and developing the Society’s E-learning Portal.

To champion the profession, the Society would ensure that the press and other media accurately report any information on the profession. The Social and Welfare Committee was tasked to organise more programmes to build camaraderie amongst the profession.

The Law Society was committed to improving its mode of communication with all members, to ensure that the initiatives of the Society for the profession and the community were communicated and understood.

The Law Society’s weekly newsletter, eJus News, has been modified to be more reader friendly from the start of the new year. The contents of The Singapore Law Gazette have also been modified this year. The welfare initiatives of the Law Society such as LawCare and Welfare Fund would be highlighted to members on a regular basis. For the public, the Society’s mediation scheme to settle dispute of legal costs would be reviewed and publicised more widely.

During the feedback session, concern was expressed on the cost of information technology and its impact on legal practice. Mr Jim Lim, Chair of the Information Technology (‘IT’) committee, advised that for the first time, a sub-committee had been set up to help collate and help members know of the various schemes available to give financial support for IT upgrades.

Another point of concern expressed at the session was the lack of professional courtesy and respect shown by members of the Bar to each other, be they young or old. It was accepted that every member of the Bar had to lead by example as regards conduct and senior members of the Bar and each practice had a duty to lead the way for young lawyers to learn good habits of practice.

The session concluded with a presentation by the Chair of the Continuing Professional Development (‘CPD’) Committee formerly known as the Continuing Legal Education Committee. Mr Thio Shen Yi, in his presentation, said that the CPD Committee was working to ensure that relevant, cost effective and convenient ways of learning in a wide spectrum of subjects was available for the profession. The CPD Committee would target retraining for certain core areas through ‘nuts and bolts’ type seminars and conduct best practice and case management type seminars to improve professional standards.

It was truly a day when we all came together to chart a new course for the profession and the Society. As Mrs Arfat Selvam stated in her opening address, 225 members in 27 standing committees was a record and gives hope for the future.


From left: Mr Gan Hiang Chye and Mrs Arfat Selvam	Eager member speaking up

The Law Society organised a conveyancing dialogue on 27 January 2003 for members to give feedback or comments on the future of conveyancing fees after the abolition of scale fees from 1 February 2003.

The dialogue saw an attendance of more than 100 lawyers. The President, Mrs Arfat Selvam, chaired the session and Mr Gan Hiang Chye, Chairman of the Conveyancing Practice Committee, walked the audience through the history of the scale fees and the schedules before touching briefly on the relevant provisions of the Legal Profession (Solicitors’ Remuneration) Order 2003. He also introduced a draft guideline that had not been presented to the Council but was at a preliminary stage of discussion by the Conveyancing Practice Committee. For the purpose of eliciting feedback, he presented the draft at the session.

At the end of the dialogue, members who attended were asked to complete a simple survey form on whether they wished the Law Society to set fee guidelines. From the responses received, 94% of the members present at the dialogue were in favour of having recommended fee guidelines issued by the Law Society upon the abolition of scale fees.