The team from the Law & Management Division, Temasek Polytechnic. From left to right: (seated) Eileen Ng (Section Head), Srila Kurup (Course
Manager), Lim Poh Bee, Annie Gomez, Wendy Yu, Ferlin Jayatissa, Wong-Lim Ting Yin; (standing) Chng Lye Beng, Pok Cheng Sim, Looi Kwok Peng, and Mathavan Devadas (Section  Head). Not in picture: Andrew Chia, Jane Marie Ng, Christina Lim and Cynthia Goh

You are a potential employer who has heard so much about how useful paralegals from Temasek Polytechnic can be. You are considering if you should employ one of them, but you want to find out more before making a decision. Here are answers to some Frequently Asked Questions.

1    Tell us more about the training offered in this course.

Throughout their three years of training in the Diploma in Law and Management, students are trained in substantive and procedural law in a practical and realistic way. From reading cases and statutes, to picking up problem-solving skills to learning office software, the main thrust behind the design of the curriculum and assessment has always been to ensure that the graduates produced are industry-relevant and able to perform on the job immediately. Not only do the teaching staff employ a variety of pedagogically sound programmes to equip students with the necessary knowledge and skills, there is a unified emphasis on developing the right attitude amongst the students to prepare them for the high standards required by the legal industry. Together with a 12-week internship programme under their belt by the time they graduate, these students are ready to be thrust into the dynamic legal profession and to fly from the word ’go’.

One of the distinctive flavours of the course is that students learn both law and management subjects. This grounding in these two areas enables them to not only function effectively as paralegals in a pure legal capacity (research, drafting, interviewing clients) but also in an administrative/management role within a law department or a law firm.

Core law subjects which are covered in this course include Legal Systems and Methods, Legal Communication Skills, Criminal Law, Law of Contract, Law of Tort, Family Law, Company Law, Intellectual Property, Trusts Wills and Probate, Conveyancing Law and Practice, Civil Procedure, Criminal Procedure, Management of Law Office and Court Technology.

Core management subjects include Business Accounting, Company and Partnership Accounts, Organisational Behaviour, Computer Systems and Application, Principles of Management and Basics of Entrepreneurship.

Students are also offered electives ranging from Shipping Law, Company Secretarial Practice, Banking and Finance, Insurance Law and Practice, to Business Finance and Business Calculus.

Besides core and elective subjects, students also take on a wide array of cross-disciplinary subjects ranging from languages (French, Japanese) to arts appreciation to leadership. So the graduates not only graduate with the necessary technical training but they would also have acquired the flexibility and versatility of having studied areas of interest outside their own areas 
of specialisation.

2    What is the learning environment like in Temasek Polytechnic?

It is a common sight in Temasek Polytechnic to see groups of Diploma in Law and Management freshmen smartly dressed in office attire pacing outside classrooms, cue cards in hand, waiting for their turn to make oral presentations for Legal Systems and Methods and Legal Communication Skills. In the library, juniors (as second-year students are called) would be doing independent research, trying to find answers to the issues they identified in their Family Law hypothetical problem. And in iLawchambers (the mock law office specially designed for training paralegals), seniors studying Management of Law Office and Court Technology can be seen organising the workflow and implementing inventory tracking for a simple law office.

While the attitude towards training is serious and uncompromising, the learning environment is lively and vibrant as students engage in active learning. They learn core academic principles and theories through practical, group-based and highly interactive activities which also imbue them with the necessary skills and attitudes that are required of them in the legal profession.

3    How will we know whether these graduates have the linguistic ability to cope with the demands of the legal environment? Will they be able to draft letters and court documents, for example?

The minimum entry requirement for the course is B4 in ‘O’ level English. This ensures a certain level of language competency when they first join the course. Throughout their three years at Temasek Polytechnic, both oral and written communication skills are continually stressed through specialised legal communication subjects as well as integrated into the 
other subjects.

The two core Legal Communication Skills subjects ensure that students are equipped with essential reading skills such as learning to read and interpret statutes, identifying the ratio decidendi of cases, interpreting words and meanings, and applying them to factual scenarios.

There is also a heavy emphasis on writing skills: from planning outlines to learning to use Plain English to draft reports, letters (eg letters of demand, without prejudice letters, letters subject to contract), opinions and memos. The tutors of these subjects are not only legally trained but are also qualified to teach communication subjects. This ensures that students’ learning in this area is not only pedagogically sound but also practical and industry-relevant in nature.

Drafting skills are further reinforced in other law subjects such as Civil Procedure, Criminal Procedure, Conveyancing Law and Practice, Trusts, Wills and Probate as well as Company Secretarial Practice. In the course of the curriculum, students would have to produce statements of claim and affidavits, charges and mitigation pleas, completion accounts and caveats, wills and estate duty affidavits, agendas and minutes of meetings.

Speaking skills are honed through oral presentations, as well as the conduct of meetings and client interviews.

Mohammad Zahid, currently a paralegal with Hoh Law Corporation, shares that ‘the countless presentations I had to do in the course really increased my confidence in speaking to people from all walks of life. This is of utmost importance as I found myself often in the frontline, facing clients.’

Another graduate, Kristine Tan, a conveyancing paralegal with 
M/s Lee & Lee also recounts how the communication skills she learned have helped her to communicate more effectively as a paralegal when talking to lawyers and colleagues in the legal environment.

4    Are the graduates trained to conduct legal research?

Legal Research is another key skill which is constantly reinforced throughout the three-year course. Students learn to identify sources of law and retrieve them from the library and the internet using legal research tools, understand and organise the information, apply the law to factual scenarios, and finally present their views orally or in the form of an opinion. An informal poll of graduates showed that most of them found their training in legal research crucial to their success as paralegals.

Choo Lay Teng, a paralegal with Drew & Napier LLC, has this to share: ‘Learning how to use LawNet, using key words to search for cases, reading the case to see if the case is relevant, finding out what the law is in respect to a particular issue, investigating to see whether a case has been overruled – all these research skills which I learned in the polytechnic enable me to assist my lawyer in conducting legal research.’

In fact, some law firms with knowledge management departments have used paralegals specifically for legal research purposes.

5    Can they meet the high standards required for functioning well in an actual legal working environment? Will they be able to meet the demands of being in a law firm?

One unique and innovative approach developed by the lecturers in this course to prepare students for the legal working environment is Real Environment Active Learning (‘REAL’).

REAL is mainly used for procedural subjects like Civil Procedure and Conveyancing Law and Practice where students learn to manage a ‘live’ file as they would in a law firm. In Civil Procedure, this approach involves students assuming the role of firms acting for the plaintiff or the defendant. They would be required to draft the necessary court documents from the writ of summons and statement of claim, to the memorandum of service, the defence and further and better particulars. They ‘serve’ these documents on each other and are penalised accordingly when they fail to adhere to the time lines as required by the Rules of Court. In Conveyancing Law and Practice, they act for a purchaser, and handle the file from the time the option is exercised until completion. Within that time frame, students will have to prepare caveats and transfers, as well as draft letters and completion accounts.

In fact, the skills learned also enable the graduates to function well in other jurisdictions. Muhammad Kamarjazi, currently a Legal Consultant with the Kanoo Group based in Dubai, shares that the legal skills learned in Legal Systems and Methods and Legal Communication Skills have helped him in understanding the local and international laws of Dubai as he negotiates and drafts agreements for the restructuring of companies and as well as for debt recovery work. His wife, Naaz Shireen, also a graduate from the same course and now a Legal and Compliance Officer with Credit Suisse Dubai says that her training in Temasek Polytechnic has enabled her to re-educate herself in the relevant laws required in her work.

Over the years the polytechnic has received valuable input from external examiners like Mr Chandra Mohan Nair, Professor Andrew Phang (currently Justice Phang) and Ms Molly Wee SC on the quality of its course and its assessment. In addition, the Advisory Committee for the Business School (‘BUSAC’) enjoys the guidance of Mr Chelva Rajah SC who shares his vision for paralegal development in Singapore. The advice and guidance provided by these experienced practitioners and academics help to ensure that the training received by the students is of a standard that enables them to excel in the legal profession.

6    Tell us more about the Student Internship Programme. Can I try them out before I formally employ them?

Students are required to go through the Student Internship Programme before they graduate from the course. This is a 12-week internship programme in the final year which gives most students their first taste of the real working world. Seniors are placed in law firms, the courts and legal departments of organisations. During their internship, they not only apply what they have learned at the polytechnic, but they also acquire valuable life lessons on managing workload, coping with stress, and getting along with bosses and colleagues. In addition to local attachment opportunities, selected students are also sent on overseas internships. Such opportunities give the interns an additional global perspective and a chance to learn the law of 
another jurisdiction. 

Employers find the Student Internship Programme a good source of potential future employees. Many of the interns who perform well are offered jobs by their internship firms even before 
they graduate.

To provide support to both interns and internship employers, lecturers are assigned to act as their liaison officers. The lecturers also make use of this opportunity to get feedback and comments from the industry to further improve the quality of the course.

7    Are the graduates only equipped to do legal work? Are there other skills that they can offer to law firms?

Yes. Students learn generic management subjects such as Business Accounting, Computer Systems and Applications and Principles of Management.

In 2003, to further equip students with management skills contextualised to a law office environment, Management of Law Office and Court Technology (‘MLOCT’) was introduced into the curriculum. In this subject, students learn human resource, work flow management, office automation, records and document management, logistical support, electronic filing and litigation support systems. This training enables them to perform the role of an office manager or administrator in a law firm or in a legal department of a business organisation.

The subject also exposes and equips students with the ability to use various software and IT solutions (eg Open Practice, Worlddox and Lawdocs) commonly used by law firms. Students also learn the use of IT-based systems established by the courts. A simulated law office facility called iLawchambers and hands-on projects encourage both creativity as well as practical application of what they learn.

All the above subjects enable graduates to fill a niche in law firms. Employers have tapped on the graduates’ capabilities and have used them to produce web sites, solve IT-related problems, market clients, organise events, manage HR-related issues as well as to do office administration and accounting. The dual knowledge of both law and management enables the graduates to not only do the job well but also be sensitive enough to tailor their solutions to meet the specific needs of lawyers and the law firms.

8    They are so young. Will they be very reliant and need to be spoon-fed all the time? I need someone mature, independent and who has good people skills.

When students graduate, they are generally about 19 to 20 years old. Though youthful, they also come with a commensurate amount of enthusiasm, energy and an entrepreneurial spirit. The three-year training they receive at the polytechnic would also have developed in them problem-solving skills, independent learning abilities and a mature attitude towards working with others.

9    How do they learn problem-solving skills?

Through Problem-Based Learning (‘PBL’), which is one of the main teaching methodologies in Temasek Polytechnic. It is a teaching method that is a marked departure from the traditional methods where students learn topics in a pre-determined sequence during lectures and apply what they learn to problem scenarios in tutorials and projects. In PBL, a realistic problem encompassing the topics to be covered in the syllabus is constructed and presented to the students at the beginning of the learning journey.

Under the guidance of trained facilitators, students dissect the problem in small groups. They start first by identifying facts, developing ideas and learning issues. They then proceed to conduct independent research to answer the learning issues. Through discussion, collaboration and peer teaching, the law is learned and applied, the problem resolved and the solution presented for assessment. They learn to be comfortable with the uncertainty and dynamism which real life problems bring and to be responsible for the learning and the outcome of the problem. Through group work, they mature as they learn how to get along and work with different personalities.

The strength of PBL is that nothing is spoon-fed to the students. Instead it requires them to think independently and creatively when presented with problems. Instead of asking lecturers ‘what is the answer?’, they learn to ask themselves ‘where can I find the answer?’.

Tng Hui Boon, a paralegal at M/s Tito Isaac & Co, recalls that when she learned Company Law using PBL, she had to look for solutions herself by doing her own research and that trained her to be self-reliant when solving work-related problems.

Kristine Tan, a paralegal at M/s Lee & Lee, finds that learning the law using PBL helps her remember her research better. She recounts, ‘I realised that I could remember many sections of the Penal Code very well. When questioned, I could rattle off the sections without reference. In the working world, sometimes there is very little time for us to sit down and look for information, so having the information in our heads is a plus! These are the little things that make us outstanding.’

Amy Chan, a paralegal at M/s Ong Tan & Nair, reflected, ‘PBL training helped me especially in my first few months as a fresh paralegal. I was completely lost when one of my colleagues left and he handed over to me all his files which were an assortment of probate work, corporate work and litigation work. Instead of panicking, I studied the files, learned everything which I was not familiar with independently, did the necessary research and was soon able to run the files.’

10  How do they learn to be independent learners?

The course has recently introduced e-learning where students learn an entire subject through online work. In today’s information-technology driven and knowledge based economy, there is an even more pressing need to be resourceful and self-motivated. Online learning trains students to be independent learners as they have to acquire new information in the absence of human interface, using only audio lectures and quizzes. Through online forums where they engage in discussions with their facilitators and their peers, students also learn to be articulate in their thinking and writing.

11  How do they learn to be entrepreneurial?

The subject Basics of Entrepreneurship encourages students to develop entrepreneurial instincts by getting them to come up with their own business idea and proposal. During their Student Internship Programme, students are tasked to think of creative and innovative ways to improve and enhance the work environment.

12  How do they learn people skills?

Not only do the students learn people skills through constant interaction with lecturers and peers through group work in all their subjects, they are highly encouraged to participate in co-curricular activities during their time in Temasek Polytechnic. From Law Inc, the Law & Management interest group to other sports, cultural and musical groups to community service projects, these activities equip the students with leadership, organisational and people skills. Students are given plenty of opportunities to develop their interests and to pursue their passion in their three years here, making them well-rounded individuals. Among the law students and graduates are mountaineers, budding playwrights, self-starting entrepreneurs, national pool players, national debaters, national gymnasts and even concert singers!

13  Are there any courses which adults with working experience in the legal profession can take to upgrade themselves?

Besides the full-time course, Temasek Polytechnic also offers part-time programmes to working adults through its Continuing Education Centre. Most popular amongst those who are already working in the legal profession or who want to get into the legal profession is the Diploma in Paralegal Studies. Structured along the same lines as the full-time programme but tailored to suit the needs and demands of the working adult, it is a three-year part-time programme conducted mainly in the evenings and on Saturdays. Students come from the courts, ministries and statutory boards, law firms and private organisations. Many are sponsored by their employers and some graduates have even gone on to managerial positions. For example, Jocelyn Chan and Mohan s/o Somu graduated top of their cohort in 2002 and are now leading their respective departments in M/s Rajah & Tann. 

Other popular law, police and security part-time courses offered by Temasek Polytechnic include the Diploma in Police Studies and Security Management (for the police and security personnel), the Diploma in Correctional and Management Studies (for the prison service), the Diploma in Security and Fire Safety Management (for security and fire safety personnel), Diploma in Management and Police Studies (for the police force) and Certificate in Mediation.

More information about these part-time courses can be found on Temasek Polytechnic’s website at www.tp.edu.sg.

14 Ok. I am convinced. So where do I start? Where can I find these paralegals?

One good way to start is to sign up as an internship employer on the Student Internship Programme. The closing date for the October 2006 attachment is over but interested employers can still sign up to be included in the 2007 internship programme. For enquiries on the Student Internship Programme, please send an e-mail to mathavan@tp.edu.sg.

If you would like to employ a graduate, you can advertise on Temasek Polytechnic’s website or in the usual law-related publications or newspapers. State specifically that you require candidates to hold a Diploma in Legal studies (as the course was previously known) or a Diploma in Law and Management from Temasek Polytechnic. For enquiries on advertising on Temasek Polytechnic’s website, please e-mail ngeileen@tp.edu.sg.

Wendy Yu

Temasek Polytechnic
E-mail: wendyyu@tp.edu.sg