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Local, global factors will force aspiring lawyers to change mindset

I refer to the report “Spike in overseas grads ‘the reason S’pore faces lawyer glut’” (Aug 21), and the letter “An avoidable glut of lawyers?” (Aug 22).

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Michael Yap Gim Chuan

I refer to the report “Spike in overseas grads ‘the reason S’pore faces lawyer glut’” (Aug 21), and the letter “An avoidable glut of lawyers?” (Aug 22).

Apart from factors in the potential oversupply of lawyers mentioned by the Law Minister and Mr Fong Wei Kurk, three trends will impact the legal industry.

The first is the increasing use of dispute-prevention processes such as mediation, which is being promoted by the Singapore Mediation Centre and encouraged in the State Courts and the community.

This is positive, as it means that many disputes would be resolved at their early stages. Only a small percentage of cases will likely be fully ventilated and fought in open court.

The second trend, which is happening in the West, is that more in-house counsel and chief executives are under corporate governance pressure to manage legal risks.

They are expected to deliver good outcomes, reduce costs and enhance the corporation’s reputation.

It is good corporate governance that no disproportionate amount of resources is allocated to fight court battles when the disputes can be resolved by mediation, with lots of cost savings.

Many corporations would have their dispute prevention process to handle internal and external disputes. I think this will be an increasing corporate practice in Singapore as more in-house counsel and chief executives become aware of this new corporate governance.

The third trend is that information and communication technology is eroding traditional legal work. Some legal work is now being commoditised; document assembly systems and e-discovery will create cost-saving opportunities.

Other players will do a better and less costly job than those in the legal industry. Online dispute resolution, Internet-based global legal businesses, outsourcing and liberalised markets will reduce the work of lawyers.

Tomorrow’s lawyers, legal educators and policymakers should read Professor Richard Susskind’s book, Tomorrow’s Lawyers: An Introduction To Your Future, to get a different perspective on the issue of Singapore facing a lawyer glut.

Local and global factors will force aspiring lawyers to change their mindset in order to practise. I hope they take heed of his advice to plot the future.

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