An Honourable Profession

The President of the Law Society wrote a letter on 30 August 2005 to the editor of the Forum Page, Straits Times, in response to a news report of the errant conduct of lawyers published on 26 August 2005 of the Straits Times. The letter was published on 
1 September 2005. Following that, the President of the Association of Women for Action and Research (‘AWARE’) also wrote a letter to the Straits Times. We reproduce the two letters.

30 August 2005
To the Editor
Forum Page

AN HONOURABLE PROFESSION 

I refer to the article ‘Punished for lying, cheating, stealing ... and they are all lawyers’ (ST, 26.8.05). It might be said that every disciplinary case is one too many. Unfortunately, there is no litmus test for character that can be administered at the time when people apply for admission as advocates and solicitors. Consequently, a profession that imposes upon itself high standards of conduct – as the legal profession in Singapore does – inevitably finds that from time to time members of the profession must be disciplined – including the ultimate sanction of being struck off the roll. The Law Society seeks to maintain these high standards not just through prosecuting and disciplining those who err, but also by preventive measures such as education and counselling. Nonetheless, the fact that individual lawyers are disciplined in truth demonstrates that the legal profession insists on integrity in its members and is intolerant of any misconduct. While the whole profession feels shame when one member errs, this does not mean that other members of the profession lack integrity. By disciplining errant members, integrity is restored. 

All three lawyers whose cases are mentioned in the article were prosecuted by the Law Society.

Consider two countries. In one, there are laws against corruption, but they are not enforced. In the other, the laws against corruption are strictly enforced. Consequently, every year there are some convictions, which are covered in the press. Which of those countries would we rate more highly in terms of whether there is corruption, or whether their public servants have integrity? Plainly, the one in which the law is enforced.

It would be wrong to conclude that the legal profession in Singapore maintains standards that are not as high as any legal profession in the world, or not as high as other professions in Singapore.

The profession plays a vital role in upholding the rule of law and ensuring access to justice, and for the performance of that role it has been granted privileges of audience and access in its dealings with the courts and with investigative and regulatory agencies. With these privileges come responsibilities of probity, integrity, competence and conscientiousness that every lawyer must fulfill. The vast majority of lawyers live up to these responsibilities every day of their 
professional lives.

Yours faithfully,

Philip Jeyaretnam, SC
President
The Law Society of Singapore 

2 September 2005

To:        The Forum Page Editor

             The Straits Times

Dear Sir,

I refer to the letter ‘Law honourable profession despite some black sheep’ from Mr Philip Jeyaretnam (ST Forum 
Sep 1).

The Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) would like to add to the current discussion on the state of the legal profession. Simply put, AWARE would not have been able to help women without our volunteer-lawyers.

In our 20-year history these volunteers from the legal profession have contributed enormously in various sub-committees by giving legal advice, helping with research on current laws and also in areas such as organising events, quite unrelated to the law. One instance of their total dedication to both the law and their sense of justice is when AWARE’s volunteer-lawyers gave many, many hours to craft the Family Violence Bill that former Nominated Member of Parliament, Dr Kanwaljit Soin, tabled in Parliament. The bill was later defeated.

We are impressed with the high level of professionalism the lawyers show when they deal with distressed women and their families who seek legal aid at our monthly free legal clinics. And in between shuttling from one court to another or ‘seeing’ clients, they have willingly clarified legal matters at very short notices for our staff to give accurate information to women who call our helpline.

AWARE would like to salute the many outstanding lawyers who have contributed and continue to contribute to our society and also say that let not a few bad hats take away so much of the good that many others do both in and out of court. And, of course, AWARE also appreciates the dedicated work done by male lawyers too!

Best wishes,

Braema Mathi (Ms)
President, Aware