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COLUMNS |
News Survey by NUS Law Students
Introduction
In his speech delivered at the Welcome Reference for the Chief Justice on
22 April 2006, The Honourable The Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong referred to
a survey conducted in December 2005 of 236 law students in the National University
of Singapore ('NUS') on their practice preferences. The survey demonstrated
that 'more than 50 per cent chose practices in banking, corporate finance
and securities (which are mainly advisory and documentation services), with
only about 10 per cent opting for general litigation.'1
The Civil Practice Committee, a standing committee of the Law Society, conducted a survey of 215 second-year and third-year NUS law students from October to November 2006, comprising seven questions, to obtain their views and gauge their level of interest at this stage in the various areas of legal practice.
In total, 215 NUS law students, comprising 141
second-year law students and 74 third-year law students, were surveyed. The
Law Society thanks Professor Tan Cheng Han, SC, Dean of the NUS Faculty of
Law, for his assistance in conducting the survey.
Executive Summary of Survey Results
1 About 68 per cent of the responses did not choose dispute resolution - long working hours was the top factor influencing their decision.
2 Of the 32 per cent who chose dispute resolution, 'essence of a lawyer's craft' was the top factor influencing their decision.
3 About 32 per cent of the respondents received
their knowledge of dispute resolution practice from their peers, followed
by their own experiences during internship/attachment (24 per cent). Media
(19 per cent) was not as significant.
4 Forty-six per cent of the respondents said that media reports on the dwindling
litigation bar did not have an impact on their future decision as to which
area to practice. Twenty-six per cent said that such reports had an impact.
However, 28 per cent were still undecided.
5 Sixty-eight per cent of the respondents said that they had not done a dispute resolution internship/attachment in a law firm during their holidays.
6 Sixty-three per cent of the respondents said that they would be interested in attending a meeting with civil law practitioners. Twenty-five per cent were undecided.
Details of some of the survey results showing
the practice preferences of the 215 NUS law students are set out below.
Survey Results
Question 1: Upon graduation, what is your
preferred kind of legal work?
| a | Dispute resolution (including criminal, civil/commercial and family litigation, mediation, arbitration etc) |
| b | Commercial/corporate advisory and consultancy |
| c | Real estate (including conveyancing) |
| d | Legal service |
| e | In-house counsel |
| f | Undecided |
| g | Others (please state) |
Summary: Overall, 32 per cent of the total
number of 299 responses voted for Dispute Resolution as their preferred area
of legal work after graduation. Corporate was second with 24 per cent, followed
by In-House Counsel (15 per cent) and Legal Service (11 per cent). Real estate
garnered the least votes (three per cent). A significant percentage of the
respondents (13 per cent) were still undecided.
Question 2: If your answer in Q1 is (a) which
(one) of the following kinds of dispute resolution work appeal to you most?
| a | Civil/commercial litigation |
| b | Criminal litigation |
| c | Family law practice |
| d | Dispute resolution work in foreign law firms |
| e | Undecided |
| f | Others (eg: intellectual property, tax, competition etc) |
Summary: Civil law practice (34 per cent)
was the most appealing to the respondents. Family law practice (20 per cent),
dispute resolution work in foreign law firms (18 per cent) and criminal litigation
(17 per cent) were less popular. Eight per cent were still undecided.
Question 3.1: If your answer in Q1 is not
(a), state whether any of the following perceptions influenced your decision
against choosing (a)? [Please circle and rank the three most relevant
answers.]
| Perceptions | |
| a | Stress of court appearance |
| b | Long working hours (relative to other kinds of legal work) |
| c | Lower remuneration |
| d | Better career prospects (outside of legal practice) |
| e | Lack of interest in dispute resolution work |
General Overview: In total, there were 350 responses for all the factors, irrespective of rank. Twenty-four per cent of the 350 responses ranked 'long working hours' as one of the three most relevant answers which influenced their decision against choosing dispute resolution. The other key factors - stress, lower pay, better prospects outside legal practice and lack of interest in dispute resolution work - accounted for 16 to 20 per cent of the responses.
Summary: Among the first-ranked factors,
'long working hours' was ranked the top factor influencing the respondents'
decision against choosing dispute resolution (34 responses). 'Long working
hours' was also ranked top among the second-ranked factors (33 responses).
The top factor among the third-ranked factors was 'lower remuneration' (24
responses).
Question 3.2: If your answer in Q1 is (a),
state whether your decision is influenced by any of the following? [Please
circle and rank the three most relevant answers.]
| Factors | |
| a | Enjoy advocacy, debating and public speaking |
| b | Opportunity to appear in court |
| c | Enjoy research |
| d | Essence of a lawyer's craft |
| e | Glamorous / high profile |
| f | Others (please state) |
General Overview: In total, there were 243 responses for all the factors, irrespective of rank. Thirty-two per cent of the 243 responses ranked 'essence of a lawyer's craft' as one of the three most relevant answers which influenced their decision to choose dispute resolution. This was followed closely by 'enjoy advocacy, debating and public speaking' (29 per cent). The other factors - opportunity to appear in court, enjoy research and glamorous/high profile - accounted for nine per cent to 13 per cent of the responses.
Summary: Among the first-ranked factors, 'essence of a lawyer's craft' was ranked the top factor influencing the respondents' decision to choose dispute resolution (41 responses). 'Essence of a lawyer's craft' was also ranked top among the second-ranked factors (26 responses). The top factor among the third-ranked factors was 'enjoy advocacy, debating and public speaking' (18 responses).
Going Forward
Following the strong interest expressed by NUS law students in attending a
meeting with civil law practitioners, the Civil Practice Committee is arranging
to host a tea session at NUS in the second half of 2007 to give them a better
understanding of civil litigation work and legal practice generally.
Alvin Chen
The Law Society of Singapore
E-mail: alvin@lawsoc.org.sg
Notes
1 Please refer to the Supreme Court website at
www.supremecourt.gov.sg under 'News & Events' and 'Speeches'.