SINGAPORE — A regulatory body under the Ministry of Law (MinLaw) has been set up to consolidate licensing matters involving law practices in Singapore under one authority, as the amendments to the Legal Profession Act came into force today (Nov 18).

The Legal Services Regulatory Authority (LSRA) was one of the recommendations made to modernise the regulatory framework for the legal profession here, after amendments to the Act was passed in November last year.

In a press release issued today, a MinLaw spokesperson said the new authority will manage a new integrated licensing regime that brings together certain regulatory functions previously taken on by separate organisations.

For example, the Attorney-General’s Chambers’ Legal Profession Secretariat had handled the licensing of foreign law practices and their collaborations with local law firms here, as well as the registration of foreign-qualified lawyers.

The Law Society of Singapore, in turn, handled the various approvals for Singapore law practices.

These licensing issues will now come under the new regime, which aims to ensure that business criteria, such as the naming of law practices, foreign ownership and profit-sharing will be applied consistently.

But the new body will not handle disciplinary matters — the Law Society will, for example, still handle complaints against lawyers.

An LSRA e-Services portal will also bring all application transactions online. Members of the public can also use the search function on the new authority’s website to search for all practising lawyers, law practices and collaborations registered with it. Searches can be filtered by name, firm or practice area.

In addition, non-lawyer employees can now be registered as Regulated Non-Practitioners under the authority to become partners, directors or shareholders in the law firms. They can also share up to 25 per cent of the profits of their firms.

“This will give law practices greater flexibility to attract and retain non-lawyer talent; for example, those with strong management or finance experience, who can add value to the firm’s legal practice,” said the MinLaw spokesperson.

Family lawyer Rajan Chettiar at Rajan Chettiar LLC said some people have difficulty searching for the appropriate law firms and the integrated search function under the LSRA could make this easier.

With more multinational corporations being set up here, lawyer Amolat Singh, a managing partner at Amolat & Partners, said the search function could help those looking for offshore law firms.

Currently, the Law Society’s website lists only local law firms.

He added that the LSRA could also bring greater uniformity for the foreign and local law practices being set up here.

Among the other amendments passed in Parliament, the Act will also look at streamlining the disciplinary processes for all lawyers, including foreign-qualified lawyers, in Singapore.