Learning to Keep Ahead

Part of the Law Society's mission is to sustain a competent Bar. This forms an important aspect of our responsibility to the profession and to the public.

How good lawyers are when they enter practice is principally determined by the efforts of the Faculty of Law at NUS and by the work done by the Board of Legal Education. In general, the Society's role has only been one of advice or assistance. However, the Society did identify some years ago an area in which it felt it could improve training at the entry stage, namely in advocacy. After a period of proving our ability to do so, we now deliver intensive advocacy training to the PLC cohort.

How lawyers develop within practice falls squarely within our remit. Over the past two decades we have built up a large buffet of offerings for continuing professional development, ranging from evening round-table discussions, through traditional lectures to practical skills-training. By our partnership with CrimsonLogic, we even offer eLearning via the Internet.

Good lawyers know they never stop learning. I'm sure this is true of our members. But, unlike most legal professions in developed countries, and unlike most other professions in Singapore, we have yet to develop minimum requirements of continuing professional development. Some have argued that requiring professionals to attend courses or read materials is unnecessary, or even counterproductive. Every professional must simply be responsible for keeping him or herself current and for practising only in fields where he or she has the requisite knowledge, skills and experience. If you make people do things they don't want to do, they'll just pretend. Anecdotal evidence suggests that this does indeed sometimes happen elsewhere - I recently heard that on one occasion an English solicitor based in Hong Kong turned up for a conveyancing seminar conducted in Cantonese because he needed the CPD points. But for every example of this kind there are many others of the benefits that attending CPD brings. Having a point system which rewards teaching courses as well as attending them would also encourage seniors to put back into the profession something of what they have gained.

On Council we have looked at the advantages of introducing minimum requirements for continuing professional development. These include raising standards, enhancing the image of the profession and increasing the supply of suitable and useful courses. We have also considered the likely concerns - including cost and the burden on practitioners' time.

While a decision on whether to implement such a scheme, and if so in what form, has yet to be made, we believe that we should take the next step, which is to begin obtaining sufficient information about the needs and habits of our members so as to structure a proper scheme, one that will not be burdensome but effective. Accordingly, from 1 April 2005 a pilot project will be in place by which we will be able to monitor how much CPD and of what sorts different categories of members attend. From there we will be able to assess whether there should be different requirements for different age groups. In particular, there is a steep learning curve for young practitioners, and it may be this group which most needs practical skills training in the early years of practice. During this pilot stage, known as vMCPD or voluntary Minimum Continuing Professional Development, there will be no minimum requirements to fulfil. However, provisionally and based on experience elsewhere, it is recommended that practitioners aim to achieve at least 10 CPD hours every year. For this purpose, there will be assignment of CPD hours to courses, both for attendance and teaching, and this will be refined as the pilot project proceeds.

The pilot project will also include giving external training providers guidelines in anticipation of their courses being included in the accumulation of CPD hours.

Members will be able to track online their own accumulation of CPD hours. We expect that members will find this a useful tool and record of their own professional development.

We will review the pilot project at the end of the practice year and in consultation with members design the right structure for minimum requirements. A steering committee has been formed, chaired by Mr Harry Elias, SC, to review the findings from the first year and make recommendations going forward. The target date for implementation of a minimum CPD scheme (assuming that we do indeed find that this is the right way to go) is 1 April 2007.

The calendar year is drawing to a close, the Supreme Court and the schools are in recess. It's time to reflect and re-charge. The Society has had a challenging but fruitful year. A new Council is in place for 2005 and has expressed continued confidence in my leadership. I look forward to the new year, and the work that awaits us. But before then, I will consume my share of bubbly, and remember old friends and new. Cheers!

Philip Jeyaretnam, SC
President
The Law Society of Singapore