Will a tougher training scheme hurt lawyer headcount?

Practice trainees should be conferred with limited rights after six months of training and focus on a single law practice for a year.

Allen and Gledhill is once again ranked as the largest law firm for Singapore Business Review’s legal industry survey 2018 with 378 legal professionals onboard. They were followed by Rajah & Tann Singapore with 366 legal professionals and clinching the third spot is Wong Partnership with 302 legal professionals. Meanwhile, Drew & Napier LLC clinched the fourth spot with 253 legal professionals whilst Dentons and Rodyk also retained its fifth spot with 204 Singapore-based legal professionals. The total number of lawyers in Singapore’s largest law firms inched up 1.46% to 2,923 in 2018 from 2,881 in 2017.

Tougher training scheme
Despite the rosy figures, a looming threat is in the horizon that can potentially hurt the headcount of lawyers in Singapore. A recommendation was lodged by the Committee for the Professional Training of Lawyers that requires those who are newly admitted to the Bar to complete their training first before practising law in Singapore.

The said training programme has been stretched from six months to a one-year training contract. In order to make the training more stringent, the body also recommended that practice trainees should be conferred with limited rights after six months of training and they should also be required topractice the training contract in just a single law practice, subject to limited expectations. “Indeed, those who are attracted to the practise of law purely for the perceived financial rewards or prestige are unlikely to stay in the course because of the inevitable struggle they will face to find fulfillment in their work amidst the sacrifices they will have to make,” the committee said in its report.

According to the ministry, the key recommendations shall take effect from the 2023 session of Part B of the Singapore Bar examinations onwards so as to give leeway for the industry to adjust. For Shashi Nathan, partner at Withers KhattarWong, stringent training measures are necessary to keep the city-state’s legal sector competitive. “With the enhanced exams and extended training, law firms can ensure that new lawyers hoping to practice are better prepared and equipped to handle how the nature of the practice has evolved over time,” Nathan told Singapore Business Review.

This was also echoed by Azman Jaafar, Deputy Managing Partner at RHTLaw Taylor Wessing LLP.

“The market is brutal,” Jaafar said. “Tighter lawyer training, over time, will translate to better candidates for the broader legal market, including the non-law services sector.”

Despite the stringent measures, some recommendations also provide leeways for those undertaking the training as the committee recommended to permit up to three months of the practice training contract to be completed at approved in-house legal departments of pre-qualified corporations. They also wanted to encourage the rotation of the practice trainees in contrasting practice areas.

An international legal hub
The Ministry of Law also initiated the expansion of the Maxwell Chambers to further boost Singapore’s position as an international dispute resolution centre. The said expansion will triple Maxwell Chambers through an additional 120,000 sqft of floor space. With this, the ministry expects that the new development poised for completion by 2019 could help lure more international institutions, arbitration chambers and law firms to Singapore.

“One of Singapore’s key strengths as an international dispute resolution centre is our legal system which is neutral, stable, has high quality jurisprudence and is trusted by businesses,” Indranee Rajah, Senior Minister of State for Law said. “We will build on this and strengthen our eco-system of laws, lawyers, institutions and infrastructure, so that we can better serve the needs of businesses and take our international dispute resolution services to the next level.”

Maxwell Chambers is said to be the world’s first integrated dispute resolution complex housing both best-in-class hearing facilities and top international dispute resolution institutions.

“Amidst greater uncertainty in the global outlook, the stable legal system and the strong emphasis on the rule of law will ensure that Singapore remains an attractive international legal hub,” Nathan commented.

Nathan also narrated that Singapore’s position in international commercial dispute resolution and its prominence in international trade and investment spurred their legal firm to grow both their corporate and dispute resolution practices.

“We are seeing more work coming through as Singapore continues to strengthen its position as a leading dispute resolution hub in the region, particularly with the development of third-party funding for international dispute resolution, the new omnibus bill to update and strengthen Singapore’s insolvency and debt restructuring laws, and the upcoming amendments to the Employment Act,” the partner explained. “In 2018, we have been successful in attracting and hiring talents to join our growing dispute resolution team.”

Meanwhile, Jaafar believes that Singapore has one of the more open and transparent legal systems in Asia.

“This makes Singapore an ideal destination not only for dispute resolution but also for the promotion of new non-legal support services for clients in the region,” Jaafar said. Moreover, Jaafar believes that the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018 will have a positive effect on the disput resolution scene in Singapore (story on page 50).

Keeping up with the tech waves
Firms have continually been immersing themselves to amp up their tech solutions in the midst of the rise of legaltech. In fact, the paradigm shift has presented clients to seek legal assistance from a growing pool of options that include non-lawyer professionals.

“As technology continues to change the way lawyers work, and with the Internet as a key legal research tool for clients, it is increasingly important for the modern lawyer to develop into business advisors to clients – not only should they be well versed in law, they need to have the soft skills to understand the clients’ needs as well as the business acumen to provide value added advice/services to clients,” Nathan said.

Jaafar also noticed the strong push for technology in the industry. “Clients today are more demanding and discerning. They want to see efficiency and the same level of client engagement. The new “RightLaw” paradigm will require a strong technology platform. We believe that hiring activities will be strong for lawyers who understand technology,” Jaafar noted.

Joining the move is Clifford Chance which unveiled its first innovation lab called Create+65 to aid in identifying and piloting new legal technology solutions that will bolster the firm’s service offerings.“In line with Singapore’s aspiration to be at the forefront of technology and innovation in the legal sector, Create+65 builds on our ongoing commitment to contribute to an ecosystem of collaboration and innovation,” Singapore managing partner Kai Niklas Schneider said.

The lab eyes to assemble venture capitalists, startups, product owners and developers and academic institutions to share knowledge and develop new legal service tools and solutions for business challenges.

Participants of Create+65 will gain insights from Clifford Chance and their clients regarding problem areas where new technology solutions could be used, feedback and mentoring from the firm, data sets to help develop test solutions as well as a network of potential investors and funding vehicles.