NEWS

Plaque of Appreciation and Friend of the Law Society Awards
During the course of the year, the Law Society has been very privileged to have the generous support of both members and non-members in carrying out the Society's work. They have made significant contributions to the Society's activities and the Society is very grateful for their support.

President, Mr Michael Hwang, SC, presented the Plaque of Appreciation Award to volunteer members, and the Friends of the Law Society Award to the non-members.

Plaques of Appreciation
(In no particular order):

Mr Andrew Ong

Mr Andrew Ong was the Vice Chairman of the Advocacy Committee from 2005 to the middle of 2008, when he left practice. Andrew was a dedicated teacher, clocking in maximum hours and helped write materials for both the Basic and Appellate advocacy courses.

During his tour of duty, Andrew was instrumental in recruiting new blood in the teaching cadre and in the proper running of the various programmes. Andrew never waited for directions or decisions but always went in straight and fixed problems, even before the Chairman or Committee knew there was a problem!

Mr Peter Low

Mr Peter Low is a past Law Society President with more than 30 years of experience in both civil and criminal litigation in various areas of law. He currently heads Colin Ng & Partners' Dispute Resolution Practice Group. Over the years, Peter has chaired and/or served on numerous committees and sub committees of the Law Society including the Code of Conduct Committee, Restructuring of the Legal Practice Committee and Group Practice Committee. However, tonight we remember in particular his service for many years on the Criminal Practice Committee. Besides serving as Chair, Peter was instrumental in reviews of several vital aspects of criminal practice and was a key member of reviews carried out in relation to criminal discovery, the death penalty and amendments to the Penal Code.

Mr Chandra Mohan K. Nair

Mr Chandra Mohan is also a past Law Society President and chaired the Society's International Relations Committee ('IRC') from 1997 to 2007. During his tenure as Chairman, Chandra was instrumental in the organisation of the various activities undertaken by the IRC, including overseas missions to India, Indonesia and China and the Inaugural Law Society Biennial Lecture in 2007.We honour him this evening for his many years of contribution towards the IRC as well as to the Law Society.

Mr B. Ganeshamoorthy

Ganesh is a stalwart of the Practice Management Committee having served as its Vice Chairman from 1999 to 2002 and as its Chairman from 2004 to 2007. He has guided the Committee for many years with wisdom and the typical 'Ganesh' sense of humour. He is always prepared to adopt into his own practice the many practice tips that seminars and talks organised by the Committee discloses. As a solo practitioner, he was among the pioneer batch of law firms who committed themselves to adopting the PrimeLaw standards.

Mr Vinodh Coomaraswamy, SC

Vinodh is known for his passion for advocacy and has co-published a book Modern Advocacy: Perspectives from Singapore. He has also been moderator of the PLC Advocacy Course for a number of years. Vinodh has contributed to law reform of the Legal Profession (Professional Conduct) Rules through his involvement as Chairman of the ad hoc committee set up by Council to look into these Rules and as Chairman of the Ethics Committee.

We honour him this evening for his longstanding commitment to the Civil Practice Committee as a member over a period of 10 years and as Chairman of the Committee from 2000 to 2003. The highlight of his achievement in the Civil Practice Committee has been the close working relationship that the Committee has established with the Subordinate Courts during his chairmanship.

Ms Shamim Dhilawala

Shamim is a loyal member of the Practice Management Committee, having served more than 10 years in the Committee, since 1997 to date. Leaving private practice and going inhouse did not stop her from continued service as an associate member of the Law Society. She can be relied on to help with, and support, the annual seminars organised by the Committee every year. She also chairs sub-committees of the main Committee, notably that concerning paralegals.

Friends of the Law Society Award
(In no particular order):

Ms Audrey Kow

Audrey is a talented graphic designer with LexisNexis and is responsible every month for the eye-catching design of the Singapore Law Gazette. Her most memorable work was the October 2007 commemorative issue of the Law Gazette, which stood out for its unique and outstanding design which drew praise from readers. Audrey is also very dedicated to her work. She has been known to visit the printing company in a secluded corner of Singapore after office hours just to make sure that the Law Gazette gets published on time.

Professor Jeffrey Pinsler, SC

Professor Pinsler, SC specialises in the areas of civil justice, civil and criminal evidence, procedure and dispute resolution. He is a member of a number of professional committees of legal and governmental institutions including the Singapore Academy of Law and the Supreme Court. He was invited by the Society to sit on the Ethics Committee this year. Apart from speaking at conferences and seminars, he has also produced 14 major works to date in his capacity as a writer and several of his works are considered core references by practitioners and are regularly cited by the courts.

We honour him this evening for undertaking the work of writing Ethics and Responsibility: A Code for the Advocate and Solicitor which was specially commissioned by The Honourable The Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong. His book serves as a general code governing professional conduct and explains the fundamental principles governing ethical behaviour in everyday practice. It is now a recommended text for all PLC students and an important reference for practitioners.

Mr Ashok Chablani

Ashok is an Associate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales and a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Singapore. He has worked with the accounting firm of Foo Kon Tan Grant Thornton for over 10 years and has been involved in various Rule 12 inspections on behalf of the Law Society. He has also been teaching, free of fees, at our Mandatory Book-keeper's Course since its inception and the Legal Practice Management Course for quite a number for years. For his numerous contributions, the Society is pleased to present him with the Award.