LEGAL PROFESSION SYMPOSIUM:

OPENING REMARKS BY THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE VALERIE THEAN,

CHAIR, ETHICS & PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS COMMITTEE

7 OCTOBER 2024

1               Distinguished guests, good afternoon. 

Introduction

2                It is my great privilege to welcome everyone to the inaugural Legal Profession Symposium. This symposium is a good opportunity for us to come together to think about how we might promote and strengthen the values and professional standards that define the legal profession.

Why are values important?

3              One might ask what place values have in the challenging times we face today. Some of us enjoy the K-drama, “Extraordinary Attorney Woo”. In Episode 5, our Attorney Woo is caught in a dilemma. She is applying for an injunction for a client to restrain the sale of a rival company’s products. These products were said to have infringed her client’s IP rights. In the midst of the work, she suspects that the injunction is merely a commercial tactic to damage its rival’s reputation and to take over its contracts. She ignores those doubts. The rival company’s CEO writes a letter to her, pleading with her to withdraw the unmeritorious application and asking if she “wants to be a competent attorney who only wins in court, or whether she wants to be an honourable attorney who reveals the truth?”

4               This is only a dilemma because the values of justice, integrity and professionalism go to the very heart of our profession.

(a) Being a member of the legal profession means answering the call to participate in a higher cause, the administration of justice.

(b) Trust is reposed in lawyers not just by their clients, but also by society at large, as well as by institutions of justice such as the courts – and lawyers must continually show themselves to be worthy of that trust.

How may we build this trust?

5               We can best meet this trust when we are well equipped to do so. In our Interim Report, the Ethics and Professional Standards Committee set out interim recommendations along the three strands of ‘Ethos’, ‘Learning’ and ‘Mentoring’. Each of these is a “foundational stone” on which ethical and professional standards could be built and reinforced.

6               Ethos is about ways of building up our values. This afternoon you will be discussing A Civil Practice: Good Counsel for Learned Friends, which is an implementation of the Committee’s recommendation to build up codes to reinforce values. It is an important outworking of the mutual respect we have for each other that members of the profession treat each other with due courtesy.

7               Learning is about persistent and pervasive education throughout lawyers’ careers. Our local universities have started incorporating more professional standards content. Continuing Professional Development is even more important, as lawyers need to learn new skills continually, throughout a span of some 40 years. From 2025, there will be an enlarged 3 portfolio of CPD programmes relating to ethics and professional standards that lawyers may choose from. Popular general courses will also incorporate an ethics and professional standards component, because such standards are best understood in their practical context. To support internal private CPD training on ethics and professional standards, SAL has also begun developing curriculum assets for law firms and legal departments to use on their own, for free.

8               I am happy to announce that SAL is making available from today the Ethics Repository, which serves as a one-stop resource on common ethics and professional standards-related matters for lawyers. Stakeholders like the Law Society of Singapore, Singapore Corporate Counsel Association, AGC, the Courts and SAL have all contributed their guidance notes, practice directions, legislation, training assets, journal articles and judgments. This searchable repository addresses the growing need for a centralized source of ethical guidance. The introduction of GenAI-powered search functionality in due course will make it especially useful.

9              Our last strand in the Interim Report was mentoring. The SAL Young Lawyers’ Survey last year reflected that while young lawyers between 2- 10 years’ post-qualification experience had expressed a strong desire for better mentoring and training, only 10% had the benefit of structured mentoring. In our Final Report, mentorship will remain a key aspect. It is mentoring that brings knowledge alive, puts education into practice, and ensures that rules are applied with wisdom where tricky situations arise.

10            An idea that I would like to discuss with lawyers this afternoon, is a broader concept of what the Profession is able to do, as a whole. As a community and a fraternity, the component parts of the profession can support its members. An example is the Ethics Assist Helpline, suggested in our Interim Report, and which Law Society launched on 10 June 2024, a mechanism for lawyers to receive guidance on tough ethical issues. 

11        An important aspect, in the context of the legal community, is law firms. In the SAL Survey last year, young lawyers reflected that the top three issues that affected their ability to practice successfully were harassment, excessive workload and a culture of unethical behaviour. We will discuss law firms this afternoon, and in particular, how they can be productive, sustainable and safe workplaces. This is important because attrition from law firms is a global trend. An IBA 2022 survey of over 3000 young lawyers reflected that within a span of 5 years half of them were likely to leave their current job, and a fifth were likely to leave the legal profession entirely. The local Mass Call 2024 survey showed a similar trend. Out of 234 responses, around two thirds indicated that they were likely to move out of legal practice in the next 5 years. In the same time period, more than one third indicated they were likely to leave the legal profession altogether. Law firms have the opportunity to play a key role in mentoring, training, nurturing, and inspiring, our lawyers.   

12            Even as we work on the issues affecting our ability to practice effectively, we cannot ignore the fact that law is a high-pressure profession. Globally and locally, surveys indicate mental wellness is an issue of concern, and the legal profession is no exception. This afternoon, I am also pleased to launch a particularly interesting initiative of SAL. SAL will be offering a Group Mental Wellness Insurance Package as part of expanded membership benefits for SAL members. This package includes personal accident coverage, behavioural health coaching sessions, clinical counselling sessions, and access to self-care resources, aimed at addressing mental health and well-being in the legal profession.  

13            The launch of this initiative is timely. The Group Mental Wellness Insurance Package will be made available, at no extra charge, to active SAL members simply upon members opting in, starting from January 2025. Members are encouraged to sign up and make full use of the benefits.

14            In addition, professional institutions support law firms and lawyers, and are a crucial part of the fabric. SAL, the Law Society, SILE, the SCCA – have therefore been truly invaluable partners in the Committee’s work. Our professional institutions provide infrastructure for the profession both in the tangible and intangible aspects. They enable the legal profession, as a whole, to multiply the efforts of its individual members. They set the tone, the standards, provide services and platforms. They also facilitate the community within the fraternity by providing opportunities for us to meet and interact; fostering and cultivating meaningful relationships. This Symposium is just one example. 

Conclusion

15            On that happy note, I wish us all a very good Symposium this afternoon.