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Chief Justice appoints team to address 'degradation of ethics, professional standards' among lawyers

SINGAPORE — The last few years have seen a “troubling rise” in breaches of professional standards among lawyers and an increase in disciplinary tribunals, said Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon on Monday (Jan 9).

Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon (right) at the opening of the legal year on Jan 9, 2023.

Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon (right) at the opening of the legal year on Jan 9, 2023.

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  • Chief Justice Menon has asked for a team to be put together to develop a strategy aimed at "re-establishing the moral centre and the values" of the profession
  • This came in the wake of the rising number of disciplinary tribunals appointed from 2018 to 2021
  • Chief Justice Menon said three trends can be discerned from the cases: A drop in client care standards, poor professional standards, and a disregard for the court process

SINGAPORE — The last few years have seen a “troubling rise” in breaches of professional standards among lawyers and an increase in disciplinary tribunals, said Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon on Monday (Jan 9).

In his speech to mark the opening of the legal year at the Supreme Court auditorium, Chief Justice Menon spoke about how the pandemic meant that there had inevitably been the loss of some mentoring opportunities.

He added that any diminution of mentoring opportunities, whether remotely or in person, could have some serious and lasting ramifications, including "a degradation in ethics and professional standards".

Hence, he said he has asked two legal figures to develop a strategy aimed at "re-establishing the moral centre and the values of our profession” for existing practitioners and fostering this among new entrants.

This came in the wake of the rising number of disciplinary tribunals appointed from 2018 to 2021: 12 were appointed in 2018, 13 in 2019, 16 in 2020 and 25 in 2022.

Last April, 11 trainee lawyers were found to have cheated in the Part B Bar exams in 2020, which graduates have to pass in order to be qualified to practise law in Singapore.

In his speech, Chief Justice Menon made reference to the cheating case when speaking about how being a lawyer was not just a way to earn a living but rather "a calling to participate in the administration of justice".

He added that being a lawyer was about character first and competence second.

Referring to the rise in disciplinary tribunals, he said that three trends can be discerned from the cases: A drop in client care standards, poor professional standards, and a disregard for the court process, he added. 

“In many cases, counsel have acted contrary to their clients’ instructions, failed to keep their clients reasonably informed of proceedings, or have been disloyal to their clients' interests,” he said. 

One such case is of veteran lawyer G B Vasudeven, who was struck off the rolls after he lied to his client about having started bankruptcy proceedings against another man as requested, and forged court documents to offer proof.

Chief Justice Menon said poor professional standards have also been seen in cases where lawyers failed to comply with regulations for running a practice or falsely attested to the execution of documents, among others.  

Some lawyers showed disregard for the court process, most notably in the criminal justice sphere, where they have sought repeatedly to reopen capital cases “on spurious grounds at the eleventh hour", he added. 

This was in the case involving drug trafficker Syed Suhail Syed Zin who was in 2016 sentenced to death for trafficking at least 38.84g of heroin in 2011.

Applications filed by his lawyer M Ravi to the Court of Appeal were dismissed as they lacked merit. Mr Ravi was also warned against abusing court processes and in May last year ordered to pay the prosecution personal costs of S$5,000 over the application he made. 

Chief Justice Menon on Monday noted a point made by Law Society president Adrian Tan, who in a separate speech referenced surveys that suggested that the attractiveness of the legal profession was diminishing in part due to the lack of community and mentorship brought by remote working during the pandemic. 

“I do not attribute these trends to the shift to working remotely," Chief Justice Menon said.

"My point is that a looming issue with a decline in ethical and professional standards is likely to be exacerbated if we do not actively apply ourselves to fostering the sort of values that must characterise our profession, and a drop in standards cannot, and will not be tolerated," he said.

"We must therefore act together to guard against this.”

Chief Justice Menon said the team, being spearheaded by Justice Valerie Thean and Senior Counsel Jimmy Yim, will look at the impact of the changes arising from events in the last three years ‘from the perspective of the professional and ethical well-being of the profession’, and the findings will be delivered in due course. 

Mr Tan told TODAY on the sidelines of the event on Monday that the Law Society will look into how it can improve professional standards among members. 

“It's important to note that by and large lawyers in Singapore are ethical, have high integrity and provide good quality service. 

“But there will always be black sheep — we will identify them and we will look at the wider picture of how we can improve standards in general, and inspire our young lawyers to do the same.”

Mr Tan in his opening address said that membership for the Law Society had shrunk for the first time in five years after growing year-on-year from 2017 to 2021. 

It reached a peak of 6,333 in 2021 before dipping about 1 per cent to 6,273 last year. The drop came from junior lawyers in practice for fewer than five years, he said. 

2 new Senior Counsels

SINGAPORE — Having considered himself a “relative delinquent” in law school, frequently hanging out in the campus lounge and playing computer games, Mr Wong Woon Kwong, 40, never thought that he would one day appear before the Court of Appeal as a lawyer, let alone be appointed Senior Counsel.

Mr Wong, who leads prosecutions on serious sexual crimes, homicide and capital drug offences as a senior director in the Attorney-General’s Chambers’ (AGC) crime division, spoke to the media ahead of his appointment on Monday (Jan 9).

“There are different types of people in law school. There are those who are very studious and they’re the great students, and I wasn’t a great student,” he said.

“But I always had a sense of what I wanted to do, which was some form of advocacy.”

It was indeed his advocacy work in the legal service, which he joined in 2009, that led him to be one of the two lawyers appointed to join the elite ranks of Singapore's equivalent of Britain's King's Counsel.

Also appointed on Monday was Mr Kelvin Poon, 47, deputy managing partner and head of international arbitration at law firm Rajah & Tann Singapore. 

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Newly appointed Senior Counsels Wong Woon Kwong (left) and Kelvin Poon.

Senior Counsel, or SCs for short, are an elite group of lawyers regarded as outstanding advocates, who are learned in the law and hold the highest professional standing.

To date, 98 people out of some 6,250 legal practitioners have been appointed Senior Counsel, including the pair.

Mr Wong, who entered the legal practice with Baker & McKenzie Wong & Leow, specialising in intellectual property, before becoming deputy public prosecutor in 2009, said that in his time in the legal service, there were cases which struck a nerve with him, especially homicides that involved very young victims. 

The father of three boys aged between two and five said: “When you look at the files, the photo (evidence), it’s very hard not to let it get to you. I don't think that is humanly possible, at least not for me."

But he added that in seeking justice in such cases, a prosecutor has to be balanced and not let emotions affect his decisions. 

"They have to be founded on the facts, on the evidence and ultimately what's in the public interest.”

Mr Wong, who has been heavily involved in law reform projects in the AGC, including the changes to the mandatory death penalty regime in 2012, will be appointed Deputy Chief Prosecutor from April 1.

Like Mr Wong, Mr Poon also has his fair share of memorable cases, with one involving the diet pill Slim 10. In 2002, Singaporean actress Andrea De Cruz sued the importers and distributors of the diet pills after she nearly died of liver failure from taking them. 

Mr Poon said the case not only garnered wide public attention, but it was also his first case before the High Court. 

Described as a “standout arbitration practitioner”, Mr Poon has represented clients in a broad range of construction, commercial and insolvency disputes before the Singapore courts and numerous arbitrations. 

The two newly-minted Senior Counsel also spoke of their interest in mentoring young legal practitioners and aspiring lawyers, especially given the increasing number of young lawyers leaving the profession.

Mr Wong said it is undoubtedly challenging for young lawyers, who may find themselves working long hours, adding that he has had to frequently tap his support network at home.

“If young lawyers can recognise that not every day will be the same — some days can be tougher than others and at the end of the day, if you are active and deliberate in trying to carve out some time for yourself and still be able to find time to do your work within your own space — then you can try to make it work for you." 

Mr Wong added that there are many different paths in the profession, as well. 

Agreeing, Mr Poon said there is this tendency among young practitioners to follow a certain track and be on par with peers, despite their priorities changing. But this is not realistic anymore, he said.

“As we grow, our priorities change. We need to be courageous to accept that at some stage in our lives, we need to maybe put a young child first ahead of our work and accept that we can slow down a bit," he added.

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