Law Fraternity Games 2003 | Annual Bowling Tournament ‘Piala Pala’ 2003 | Law Society’s Dinner and Dance 2003 | Make IT Work!

Law Fraternity Games 2003

The 5th Annual Law Fraternity Games was hosted by the National University of Singapore. It was held at the National University of Singapore’s handball and basketball courts on 4 October 2003, Saturday. The bowling competition was held earlier on 27 September 2003, Saturday.

The Guest of Honour for this year’s games was Professor Beckman, Vice Dean (Academic Matters) of the Law Faculty, National University of Singapore. Professor Beckman declared the games open at 2pm and the various games kicked off shortly. The following games were contested by the 120 participants: Men’s three on three Basketball, Captain’s Ball, Men’s futsal and Ultimate Frisbee.

The games ended at 6pm and the prizes were given away by Mr Patrick Nathan, Head, Board of Legal Education. The team from the Board of Legal Education walked away with the Challenge trophy after posting wins in the Men’s three on three Basketball and Ultimate Frisbee, with the joint team from the Law Society and Judicial and Legal Officers Association who were last year’s champions, coming in second with a mere point separating the two teams.

After the prize giving ceremony, there was a tea reception for all the participants. This year’s Law Fraternity Games ran smoothly and all the participants enjoyed themselves.

Zhan Shanjie
Chairman
Organising Committee

Annual Bowling Tournament ‘Piala Pala’ 2003

The 2003 tournament was held at Superbowl Marina South on Sunday, 16 November 2003. The Guest of Honour was Mrs Arfat Selvam, who was kind enough to grace the occasion and give away the prizes.

Results

The winning team was the team from the Attorney General’s Chambers with an impressive score of 3663 pinfalls for the tournament. ‘We went in with zero expectations and we were really surprised that things went so well for us’, said Mr Christopher Ong from AGC.

Trophies were awarded to the top three teams, the top five individual bowlers in their respective categories and for High Game Scores. All participants were also given a commemorative souvenir.

‘Piala Pala’ Challenge Trophy

The ‘Piala Pala’ Challenge Trophy was a generous gift from the late Mr Palakrishnan SC in 2001. Since then, the Law Society’s Annual Bowling Tournament has been fondly referred to as ‘Piala Pala’ (which means ‘Pala’s Cup’). The handsome trophy is awarded to the winning team of the tournament, who will retain it for a year until the next tournament the following year.

When Mr Palakrishnan passed away most unexpectedly in June 2003, we all felt a great loss.

Perhaps ironically, this gift will now serve as a memorial trophy to remember this remarkable man by. He was a sportsman, a role model and an outstanding lawyer. A friend to us all and someone who is sorely missed.

We dedicate this tournament to him.

 
 Alvin Cheng
Bowling Convenor
The Law Society of Singapore

Law Society’s Dinner and Dance 2003

If this year’s Dinner and Dance (‘D&D’) appeared to have more than its fair share of new faces, it can be attributed to the fact that for the first time in its history the Law Society opened the doors of its Annual D&D to spouses and partners of members.

Despite having to clamour for members’ attention from other worthy events, such as the Rugby World Cup, the event still saw a creditable gathering of some 400 members, spouses and guests at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel on 18 November 2003.

Guests started arriving by 7.30pm and were treated to cocktails in the ballroom foyer as they mingled. Those entering the ballroom were greeted by the sultry voices of the jazz-band specially commissioned for the evening and the night’s activities soon got underway with fellow member of the Bar, Mr Tan Jee Ming emceeing for the evening.

The night opened with heartfelt thanks to our event sponsor, UBS Wealth Management, followed by a video montage documenting the Law Society’s law awareness initiatives over the last ten years.

The then Vice-President, Mr Ronnie Quek proposed the traditional toast to the health of the President of the Republic of Singapore, and the dinner commenced.

Soon after, the President of the Law Society, Mrs Arfat Selvam delivered her President’s Address, after which the Society handed out plaques of appreciation in recognition of members’ service to the Society. All the members serve on various Committees of the Law Society and had been nominated by their peers.

In all, seven members were honoured, being:

• Mr KS Rajah, SC,
• Mr Lee Bon Leong,
• Mr Lawrence Goh Eng Yau,
• Mr Gregory Vijayendran,
• Mr Foo Yew Heng,
• Mr Lau Kok Keng, and
• Ms Shamim Dhilawala (associate member).

Other awards handed out in the course of the evening were the Legal Eagle Award, in recognition of the lawyer who fellow members of the Bar vote as exemplifying the best traditions of advocacy at the Bar. This year saw a first with Ms Deborah Barker SC becoming the first female to win the distinguished award. The other nominees for the award were Mr Michael Hwang, SC and Mr Peter Keith Fernando.

The Young Lawyer’s Award sponsored by UBS Wealth Management was awarded to Mr Eugene Thuraisingam who, despite practising commercial law, had contributed as a volunteer lawyer in the Society’s Criminal Legal Aid Scheme (‘CLAS’). Other nominees for the Young Lawyer’s Award were Ms Cho Pei Lin and Mr Rajinder Singh.

The inaugural CCH Technology Awards 2003 (sponsored by CCH Asia Pte Ltd) saw law firms, big and small, being short-listed for making technology an integral part of their legal practice.

The CCH Best Implementer Award for the legal practice that had proven a winning solution to implementing a third party application for the benefit of their firm saw two candidates short-listed for this category; Alban Tay Mahtani & de Silva and Guofu. When the winner for this award was announced, a beaming Mr Cheong Kok Fu of Guofu was visibly thrilled to receive the award.

The second award was the CCH Best Developer Award, which recognised law practices that had developed their own proprietary solution for the benefit of the firm and their clients. The two short-listed firms were Rajah & Tann for their eOasis Solution and Colin Ng and Partners, with the latter winning the award. The awards and their candidates certainly showed that lawyers were fast embracing technology to improve their work processes.

Away from the awards and on a lighter note, at exactly 10pm, the Ritz-Carlton ballroom was transformed into a Broadway revue, when none other than local stand-up comedian and cross-dresser, Kumar, took to the stage with his characteristic brand of humour.

Though considered fairly risqué, Kumar entertained members and had many, including the VIP guests, who shall remain unnamed, in stitches. For the many members who had never ventured into the well-known Boom-Boom-Room, where Kumar and company have performed for many years, the Boom-Boom-Room was brought to them, with all the fanfare and the chorus ‘women’ backup singers and dancers.

Apart from the awards, entertainment, good food and company, the evening also saw several members winning lucky draw prizes, including the top prize of a S$2,000 travel voucher sponsored by UBS Wealth Management.

The finale for the evening was the announcement of the inaugural CC Tan Award. This is an award to honour a member of the profession who exemplifies to his peers the highest ideals of the profession — honesty, fair play, courtesy and personal integrity.

Council was unanimous on the award being named after the late Mr CC Tan, who was to his generation of practitioners and would continue to be for generations to come, an example of an honourable and upright man.

Mr Tan Chye Cheng or Mr CC Tan as he was fondly known was the first President of the Law Society in 1966. He was the founding partner of the law practice Tan Rajah & Cheah, which he set up in 1947 with the late Mr AP Rajah and Mr Cheah Heng Sin.

Ironically, but certainly deservingly, the first recipient of the CC Tan award was none other than Mr CR Rajah, SC, (or Chelva, as he is fondly known to members of the Bar). Called to the Bar 31 years ago, he has served the profession, the Society and continues to do so and is an embodiment of the hallmarks of a lawyer: a brilliant advocate, a man of wit and charm, a sportsman and above all, like Mr CC Tan, a true gentleman. And for once, Chelva, known to many for his witty repartee and the popular choice of emcee for many a Law Society event, was moved to uncharacteristic silence by the award.

I would especially like to thank all members of my Committee who have worked so hard in putting the event together and also the Secretariat with a special note of thanks to Rahim who worked quietly and unceasingly to make the entire event a success.

David Nayar
Social & Welfare Committee
The Law Society of Singapore

Make IT Work!

The first CCH Legal Technology Awards Singapore 2003 reveals that both small and large sized firms have a common goal — to use technology to enhance their services to their clients.

The first CCH Legal Technology awards came to a grand finale on 18 October 2003, with the unveiling of the winners at the Law Society’s Annual Dinner and Dance.

The CCH Legal Technology Awards recognise and reward outstanding developers or implementers of legal technology and serve to increase the legal community’s awareness and understanding of the benefits to be gained through the implementation of technology.

The Winners Are ...

Eleven applications were received from various firms, showcasing various outstanding technology solutions that they have implemented within their firms over the past 18 months.

‘What was encouraging was not just the number of law practices stepping forth to participate in this first ever event, but the fact that we had varied practice sizes that have innovated or developed on technology to improve efficiency and client care,’ said Yasho Dhoraisingam, Chief Executive Officer of the Law Society of Singapore.

It was a tough decision, but the judges’ emphasis in evaluating the award entries were placed on innovative technology and tangible client benefits.

In the end, both Guofu, a sole practice law firm and Colin Ng and Partners, a mid-sized law practice, came in first in the categories of Best Implementer and Best Developer respectively at this year’s prestigious awards. Both firms satisfied the judges’ criteria of technology innovation, practical application and efficiency to turn up tops in their respective categories.

Best Implementer

The Best Implementer category looks at law practices or inhouse counsel who have effectively adopted a third party information technology application or solution for the benefit of their practice and clients.

Guofu won the Best Implementer category for its efforts in fully automating the firm, by integrating solutions with practice management programmes. These efforts paid off, as the firm is now able to share collaborative processes and is more productive and efficient in the way it works, from accounting functions, tracking and monitoring case files, to storage of documents. Staff easily retrieve information they need in real time.

Best Developer

The Best Developer category looks for law practices or inhouse counsel who have developed their proprietary solution or application, for the benefit of their practice or company.

Colin Ng and Partners won in the Best Developer category with their web-based document management workflow solution — ClientNet.

ClientNet is an internally developed application by the firm’s IT systems engineers, client care managers and conveyancing lawyers and staff. Through this system, more than 80% of documents or correspondence are prepared online, which helps to reduce operating costs and provides a better file distribution system for management and planning.

‘Every applicant is a winner: they are pioneers in the legal fraternity, in adopting technology and gaining from it,’ said Matthew Sullivan, Managing Director of CCH Asia.

This experience has not only benefited the legal fraternity, but each of the winners has set an example for businesses everywhere. The winning solutions were profiled in a front-page write-up in the Computer Times just after the announcement of the awards.

To read more about the solutions by the winners and applicants, log on to www.cch.com.sg or www.lawsoc.org.sg.

In summary, the winners in the two categories are:

CCH Asia Pte Ltd