Getting to Know Our New Members

of Council 2006

Meet the new faces of Council 2006 – Michael Hwang, SC (‘MH’), Thio Shen Yi (‘TSY’), Pradeep Kumar Gobind (‘PK’), Lisa Sam (‘LS’) and Laura Liew (‘LL’) and learn what they have to say about themselves, their work and the profession.

Q:         Tell us about yourself.

MH:      I have been in practice since 1968 (except for 19 months as a Judicial Commissioner) and am still enjoying it.

TSY:     I couldn’t be more boring – in practice since 1993, married to my co-joint managing director, Stefanie, and our only social life revolves around the activities of our six-and-a-half-year-old son who is now in primary one. Boring but fulfilled (my wife wrote this bit).
 

PK:       I am married with two young boys aged five and seven. My spouse is a housewife who is also studying to be a homeopath. I was called to the Bar in March 1995.
 

LS:       I was practising at M/s Donaldson & Burkinshaw for three years before moving on to practice at M/s Allen & Gledhill for another four years. Now I have set up my own law practice M/s Lisa Sam & Company.
 

LL:        I have difficulty coming up with a description of myself that would adequately encapsulate who I am. Friends who know me well have described me as a ‘walking contradiction’. I guess I could be described as an interesting and complex individual who has wanderlust and an insatiable curiosity about life’s mysteries.

Q:         What do you like best about legal practice?

MH:      Practice enables us to enlarge or deepen our knowledge of legal principles and to apply them to new and different situations. We learn something new every day.
 

TSY:     Sorry, another boring answer alert – I’m genuinely interested in the law. I love the complexities and intricacies of practice, the constant and concurrent challenge of preparing arguments, managing a practice, training lawyers, developing clients and building a law firm. It is deeply satisfying at many levels.

Moreover, as I work on a wide range of commercial cases, I regularly come into contact with a diversity of intelligent, creative and interesting people. Over the years, I have received from them an eclectic, albeit incomplete education in boardroom dynamics, financial engineering, paint chemistry, wafer fab architecture, derivative markets, cyber-trespass, health food products, resort design, and most importantly, good old human psychology.

Did I say I work with my wife?

PK:       From time to time, genuine opportunities do arise for me to make a difference in a person’s life. That gives me great satisfaction and more often than not, serves as a catalyst for me to want to do even more.
 

LS:       The best part of legal practice is that you get to meet people from all walks of life (including fellow practitioners). Sometimes you hear about their struggles in life and how they overcame their adversities. These stories can be very inspirational and I admire their resilience.
 

LL:        Legal practice is challenging and intellectually stimulating and it affords me the opportunity to assist those in need and provide them with some measure of comfort and assurance.

Q:         What do you dislike about it?

MH:      Clients who pressure us to do an unprofessional job.

TSY:     I believe practice of the law should be upheld as an honourable profession. It is when I have to deal with unnecessarily discourteous opposing counsel, whose uncalled for acrimony actually obscures the issues in the case, that I feel we let the side down.

Did I say I work with my wife?

PK:       We sometimes get so caught up in our work and in trying to please our client(s) that we forget to treat our fellow brethren with due respect and decorum. I was once ‘advised’ by a senior lawyer that legal practice is akin to ‘war’. I disagree. Clients will come and go; the only people who will be left standing to face each other are the lawyers. Like bloodied soldiers on a battlefield.

LS:       Hmm, I’m still looking for a reason.

LL:        Legal practice can be extremely demanding of one’s time and energy. There are periods when I feel it consumes me and leaves me thoroughly exhausted.

Q:         Which area of work in the Law Society would you like to focus on during your term in Council?

MH:      I have been appointed Chairman of the Ethics Committee so my choices have been pre-empted.

TSY:     I’m chairing the Continuing Professional Development Committee this year, and am the Council representative on the Insolvency Committee. I would also like to involve myself in re-looking at and clarifying professional ethics and professional conduct issues.
 

PK:       I have no particular preference at this point of time. As I have been with the Admissions Committee for almost a decade now, I will continue to serve the Committee and its Chairman as best as I can. I will, in addition, serve the Society in other areas as and when called upon, to the best of my ability.
 

LS:       I think sending out the correct message regarding our legal profession is important. I would like to improve the public image of our profession. I get very concerned when I come across yet another negative media report of our lawyers or of our profession. We can be very easily misunderstood by the public. This area needs quite a bit of attention and tact in handling.
 

LL:        I would like to focus on addressing the challenges faced by young lawyers and to get them more involved in the activities of the Law Society so as to help build a more cohesive and collegiate profession.

Q:         Where would you like to see the profession in five to ten years’ time?

MH:      I would like lawyers to have acquired enough financial knowledge and acumen so as to be regarded as general business advisers in the same way that modern accountants now are.
 

TSY:     A higher professional standard across the board – improvements in the quality of our legal product, and improvements in the standard of professional courtesy. In respect of the latter, senior members of the Bar should be mindful that they set an example. Acrimony in court or across the negotiating table leaves an indelible impression in the minds of junior lawyers. These examples do percolate to observant junior associates, sowing another generation of lawyers who trade in acrimony and discourtesy.
 

PK:       I would like to see the profession more unified with a greater number of members contributing to the profession. I also wish to see the emergence of a more collegiate spirit amongst lawyers.
 

LS:       I hope our profession can be given more time and opportunity to put the ‘human touch’ in what we do. This is especially important with members of the public, our learned friends and in the role we play as officers of the court.
 

LL:        We work extremely hard and take a lot of pride in what we do. Hopefully, in five to ten years’ time, we will be able to garner the same type of work, respect and rewards that offshore law firms currently enjoy.

Q:         How do you handle the stresses that you face at work?

MH:      Outsource my stress to my instructing solicitors.

TSY:     I did say that I work with my wife. We talk and work through our stresses together. It also helps to have good friends in the firm. They help me maintain a sense of balance and perspective.
 

PK:       I meditate every night to clear the accumulated garbage of the day. I also read, exercise, watch my diet and spend as much time as possible with my family. As my sons grow up, I have come to realise that they need me around more often than before. There is no time to worry about tomorrow or the past when I am totally immersed with my boys.
 

LS:       I play quite a bit of badminton for exercise. Usually, I will draw up a schedule for better time management. If this does not work, I will reassess the situation to see the source of the problem. It is not the stress but the problems leading to the stress that need attending to.
 

LL:        I de-stress by being in the company of good friends (which include my colleagues), going to the gym and spending time with the current love of my life, my little doggie Mindy.

Q:         What would it take to make you consider leaving the legal profession?

MH:      When I feel that I can no longer make a contribution to the profession.

TSY:     If I had the ability to win a grand slam event in tennis or golf, I’d consider a change of career. Otherwise, the legal profession is stuck with me as I don’t feel qualified to do anything else.

PK:       When I feel that there is no longer any room for me to make a difference in people’s lives.

LS:       If the legal profession loses its identity and professionalism does not count, that would be very disillusioning.

LL:        When it encroaches far too deeply into my social / personal life.

Q:         Share something about yourself that people who only know you on a professional level don’t know about.

MH:      I used to take part in light operas like Land of Smiles and Rose Marie, and was a member of the ‘Choir of One Thousand’ that performed Messiah at the National Stadium in 1988.

TSY:     I’m a serious foodie. When my family goes on holiday, the itinerary is planned around where we are going to have lunch and dinner.

PK:       I have been a Toastmaster for the last five years. I have achieved the Distinguished Toastmaster Award (‘DTM’) – the highest award conferred by Toastmasters International. I have also been competing in speech contests in the last five years and have been placed at the District level comprising four countries. With a group of like-minded volunteers and friends, I am involved in speech craft sessions for the lads at Changi Prison as part of the yellow ribbon project. I have participated in the Singapore Marathon on four occasions and will continue to do so as long as my health permits.

LS:       I have a soft spot for animals.

LL:        I have a flair for handiwork.

Q:         Which person, event or book has had the greatest impact on your life?

MH:      Apart from my wife, the Headmaster of my boarding school in England (who was also my History and General Paper teacher). He was the first to teach me the power of critical thinking instead of the blind acquisition of knowledge, and that no question could be properly answered without first analysing and understanding it. He was an even better teacher than my tutors at Oxford.

TSY:     The birth of my son Jonathan in 1999. Being a father gives you a radically different perspective on life.

PK:       The person who has had the greatest impact in my life would be my late father. As far as books go, there are far too many to pick just one. The most recent and most inspirational would have to be A Treasury of Kahlil Gibran.

LS:       That would be Mr Henry Mosley Dyne. I was fortunate to have worked with him while at M/s Donaldson & Burkinshaw. He told me, just before his retirement, that one should know when to make an exit, that is, when you can leave people with a good impression of you. It would not be a good idea to insist on staying and to later make an exit otherwise.

LL:        God. His good grace has sustained me through all my trials and tribulations.

Q:         What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?

MH:      If you have to criticise someone, do so without malice. If you don’t know how, it would be better to say nothing than to say something hurtful.

TSY:     That I’m responsible for putting in the time, effort and energy in all that I undertake. Outcomes are up to the Lord.

PK:       During the Practice Law Course sometime in 1994, Mr CR Rajah SC gave a speech to all students. His parting words to them were, ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’.
 

LS:       At the start of my practice, I met a senior lawyer while waiting for my turn in court. He reminded me that I must balance work and play, no matter how challenging the demands of work may be. This applies to litigation work, which can sometimes consume your life. This has turned out to be very true and accurate.
 

LL:        This is something which I read. It is an oft quoted phrase from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, ‘To thine own self be true’. I think this is something to live by in this age where we have an unprecedented number of choices and temptations to face.

Sharmaine Lau

The Law Society of Singapore