NEWS

20th Conference of the Presidents of Law Associations in Asia

The 20th Conference of the Presidents of Law Associations in Asia ("POLA") was held in Seoul, Korea on 3 - 4 July 2009.

POLA was founded by bar associations from the Asia Pacific region, including Japan, Korea and Singapore 20 years ago. It provides a platform for bar associations in Asia to network, interact and share experiences and ideas by holding an annual conference hosted in turns by the member organisations.

This year's Conference was hosted by the Korean Bar Association and was attended by bar leaders and representatives from 20 law associations from around Asia, including Australia, Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore.

Representing the Law Society at the Conference were President Michael Hwang, SC, Vice-President Malathi Das and Chief Executive Officer Chua Lik Teng.

The theme of the Conference was Global Economic Crisis and the Rule of Law.

Kang-Kook Lee, President of the Constitutional Court of Korea and Seong Soo Han, Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea, spoke at the opening ceremony of the Conference. Both speakers emphasised the role of the rule of law in the global economic crisis and how lawyers could play an important part in ensuring the protection of public interest.

Different aspects of the theme of the Conference were discussed at various sessions, including independency and confidentiality; market autonomy and regulation; and economic development and the rule of law.

Participating as panelist at the session on independency and confidentiality was President Michael Hwang, SC, who shared our Singapore experience on the management of client accounts. It was interesting to hear the different approaches adopted by member bar associations in their home jurisdictions in dealing with interest on client moneys and unclaimed moneys in client accounts.

At the session on economic development and the rule of law, member bar associations discussed the relationship between economic development and the rule of law in the Asia Pacific region and the important role that the rule of law played in promoting economic growth and stability.

The Conference concluded with the signing of the Seoul Declaration by the presidents of the 20-member organisations on the final day.

This was a significant milestone for POLA as it signifies the commitment of the 20- member organisations to establish POLA as an effective forum for the exchange of information and mutual cooperation, with the objective of strengthening the legal profession and its institutions, and establishing and advancing the rule of law throughout Asia.

One of the initiatives adopted as part of the Seoul Declaration was the creation of an official POLA website to keep a permanent record of conference papers and activities of POLA. It is hoped that the website would help create greater awareness of the work, activities and achievements of the respective member organisations and facilitate the exchange of information between member organisations.

With the signing of the Seoul Declaration, the Law Society looks forward to developing a stronger relationship and network with other member organisations for mutual benefit and cooperation, and to address issues of common interest and concern to legal professions in the Asia Pacific region.

Chua Lik Teng
Chief Executive Officer
The Law Society of Singapore