Building the Future

The Society purchased its premises at 39 South Bridge Road on 19 December 1997. We moved in to the building on 19 May 1999. It has served us well. In order to purchase it, we convinced members of the benefits of a permanent home. There were some who wondered why they should pay when much of the benefit would go to future generations of lawyers. But they were in the minority. To pay for the building, a special building fund was established. Every lawyer pays $300 per year as contribution to the building fund.

These contributions will end in the practice year commencing 1 April 2007. After that, what should we do? The ambitious would like the fund to continue, so that we can purchase bigger premises. Imagine if we house all our continuing professional development programmes in our own premises. What a wonderful platform on which the profession can build! Even if we just consider Council and committee meetings, the present building is in constant use, and at times there aren’t enough meeting rooms to go round. It is certainly important that each generation invests for the future, and in this way the profession will prosper and grow.

Others may feel that we should be content with what we have. We are not a large profession. Who knows whether the profession will ever grow much beyond its current numbers? While demand for legal services in Asia is rapidly growing, we really can’t be sure that it will be met by the expansion of Singapore law firms. Moreover, it is not, after all, as if we do not have our own building. We do, and surely it is good enough. In addition, not only is the profession not a large one, but it has also seen the income of many members drop over the past few years. Every dollar counts and many members will be glad to have the money in their pockets instead of in the form of bricks and mortar for the profession.

It’s not exactly a ‘casino or no casino’ question. The profession has long since decided that we must invest in our common future. It’s simply a question of how much is enough, and how we balance aspirations and needs. But still opinions are divided. Council needs to seek the widest consensus possible, but recognises that not everyone will be of the same mind.

To be clear, Council has already concluded that it is not practically possible to remove the building levy completely. The building costs money to maintain. This cost will continue into the future. It will be very difficult to meet this cost from annual subscriptions. Annual subscriptions have remained the same now for 15 years, and we would like to keep them at the same level for as long as possible. Therefore, some part of the levy will have to stay in any case, but perhaps only a relatively small fraction of it will be needed for maintenance. So the real choices are:

1   Continue with the building levy so that we can purchase bigger premises.

2   Reduce the building levy to $50 per year simply to meet maintenance costs.

3   Continue with the building levy for three years only, to build up a surplus fund for the purpose of future maintenance.

Council wants to hear from you. Do send me a note, by e-mail to president@lawsoc.org.sg, or by snail mail to the Secretariat. Or pick up the phone and call me at 6885 3605.

In order to help Council decide on the course of action to propose to members, we are also conducting a survey. When you receive it, please do answer it.

Once the survey results are in, Council will discuss the issues. The survey is important information for this decision, but it is not by itself determinative. After Council decides what to recommend, this recommendation will be put before members. We hope that this can be done at the next annual general meeting.

Please give this issue some thought. Approach it from the perspective of the best interests of the profession, both now and for the future. I am sure that with the profession’s thoughtful participation, we can reach a good decision.

Philip Jeyaretnam, SC

President

The Law Society of Singapore