14 February 2003

Report of the Professional Indemnity Committee on Self-Insurance for the Law Society
The Law Society’s brokers, Alexander Forbes on behalf of the Committee made a presentation before Council on the features of a self-insurance scheme.

Council decided to appoint a task force to study the viability of such a scheme for the Society. The task force would be chaired by Mr Quentin Loh, Chairman of the Professional Indemnity Committee, with two other members, Mr Goh Joon Seng and Mr Lok Vi Ming. Mr VK Rajah would be the Council representative on the task force. The task force would report back to Council in May 2003.

Presentation by the Conveyancing Practice Committee on Voluntary Fee Guidelines for Conveyancing Work
Four members of the Conveyancing Practice Committee appeared before Council. Mr Gan Hiang Chye, Chairman of the Committee, described the draft guidelines drawn up by the Committee that were set by reference to percentage terms of the purchase price. The Committee members present spoke up to give reasons why Council ought to adopt the guidelines.

After a lengthy discussion, Council voted to adopt the guidelines, which were issued on 25 February 2003.

7 March 2003

Report of the Practice Structures Committee 2003 on De-linking PCs
The Practice Structures Committee had identified three issues, namely, allowing lawyers to practice on a part-time basis with several firms simultaneously, professional indemnity cover to cover these locums and ethical guidelines for locums as main issues to be studied. The Council would discuss these issues with the Professional Indemnity and Ethics Committees.

Proposal to Introduce a Scheme under Section 15A of the Subordinate Courts Act (Cap 321) for Selected Lawyers and Their Staff of Law Practices to Act as Bailiffs
Council was informed that following a meeting with the Subordinate Courts, the court had requested for representatives from the Law Society’s Civil, Ethics and Professional Indemnity Committees to serve on their Working Committee.

Council appointed the following representatives to serve on the Working Committee:

1. Mr Vinodh Coomaraswamy from the Civil Practice Committee, and Mr Michael Chia, Council representative;
2. Mr Ganesh Ramachandran from the Professional Indemnity Committee; and
3. Mr Bernard Doray from the Ethics Committee.
   

Practice Information Portal for Support Staff of Law Practices
The Law Society has received feedback requesting the Society to grant support staff access to some information on the Members’ Homepage. Currently, access was granted to members only through assigned passwords.

Council approved the proposal and the same would be implemented by 1 July 2003. A nominal fee of $100 per annum would be levied for two user IDs for support staff per law practice to cover the administrative cost of setting up and running such a portal.

Adoption of the Guidance Note to be Issued Jointly by the Registrar of the Supreme Court and the Law Society for Assigned Counsel in Capital Cases
Council approved the draft guidelines which were jointly drafted by the Society and the Registrar and which is published in this issue of The Singapore Law Gazette (see page 21).

A New Practice Direction on the Number of Pupils a Master May Take
The Board of Legal Education (‘BLE’) requested Council to revoke its Practice Direction (‘PD’) published as paragraph 8(a) in its Practice Directions and Rulings 1989 edition. This allowed a master to have an unlimited number of pupils. The BLE had decided to limit the number of pupils a master may have to two at any one time with effect from 1 June 2003.

Council agreed to revoke its previous PD and issue a new PD following the decision of the BLE.