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Five full-time lawyers help boost legal aid scheme

SINGAPORE — For the first time, lawyers will be taking up files under the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme (CLAS) full-time, instead of as volunteers, boosting its aim of serving a bigger pool of unrepresented accused persons.

Minister K Shanmugam and president of the law society of singapore Thio Shen Yi unveil a plaque at the official launch of CLAS on May 18, 2015. Photo: Jason Quah

Minister K Shanmugam and president of the law society of singapore Thio Shen Yi unveil a plaque at the official launch of CLAS on May 18, 2015. Photo: Jason Quah

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SINGAPORE — For the first time, lawyers will be taking up files under the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme (CLAS) full-time, instead of as volunteers, boosting its aim of serving a bigger pool of unrepresented accused persons.

As part of enhancements to the scheme, which will receive S$3.5 million in direct funding from the Government every year, a team of five young lawyers from five firms joined the Law Society’s (LawSoc) Pro Bono Services Office in January to exclusively handle criminal legal aid cases. These pioneering CLAS Fellows, who were seconded or sponsored by the firms, handle up to 30 cases at any time.

Separately, 22 firms have pledged to chip in for the 6,000 litigants CLAS aims to serve each year. The companies, including Drew & Napier, Rajah & Tann, Rodyk & Davidson and TSMP Law Corporation, have committed to take on a total of at least 300 pro bono criminal cases a year.

There are about 12,000 unrepresented litigants each year, the State Courts estimated, and about half of these may benefit from some form of legal aid.

Before CLAS was enhanced, the 265 volunteer lawyers under the scheme handled about 400 cases a year, or fewer than two cases each annually.

Despite a growing number of CLAS applications over the years, only a portion could be supported because of limited resources. For example, of the 1,780 applications received last year, only 431 were granted.

Although the number of lawyers volunteering with CLAS has increased to 400, the caseload target of 6,000 under the enhanced scheme is still a 15-fold jump.

The scheme’s reach expanded after the Government decided in 2013 to directly support defendants — a significant departure from its long-held stance against providing criminal legal aid — as Singapore moves towards a more inclusive and compassionate society.

Prior to this, the scheme, first launched in 1985, had been privately funded through the LawSoc and goodwill donations.

The Government has pumped into CLAS a one-off S$800,000 and will continue to commit up to S$3.5 million annually to cover operational costs, disbursements and honorariums for volunteer lawyers.

Speaking at the launch of the enhanced CLAS yesterday, Law and Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said: “The Government decided to play a bigger role and to better assess defendants who cannot afford their own lawyers, but should nevertheless not be left to face the criminal justice system by themselves.”

However, the minister cautioned against the abuse of government-funded legal aid, citing examples in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, where legal aid had been cut to weed out “hugely wealthy people” and unmeritorious cases.

The enhanced CLAS, derived after working with multiple stakeholders including the judiciary and LawSoc, offers a formula buttressed by a proper and rigorous assessment process, he said.

The scope of aid under CLAS has also widened. For example, accused persons who intend to plead guilty can receive legal assistance, unlike in the past, when only those who were below the age of 18 or suffered from mental illnesses were eligible. The list of statutes has also been expanded to include offences under Sections 14 and 28 of the Moneylenders Act.

Criminal lawyer Suresh Damodara, who was conferred the Pro Bono Ambassador Award last year, said the Government’s commitment to legal aid would inspire existing and prospective lawyers to be involved in pro bono work. “I hope this will inject greater consciousness into the legal fraternity (and encourage lawyers) to step forward ... to ensure accused persons are not deprived of legal assistance.”

CLAS Fellow Ng Shi Yang said the fellowship is a “good starting point” to nurture the next generation of pro bono criminal lawyers. “Many of the unrepresented litigants have a lot of difficulty understanding what the system is about, what it means to be charged ... Having legal aid really assures them that they are not entirely helpless,” said the 28-year-old, who is on a six-month secondment from Wong Partnership.

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