July 18, 2005
More young lawyers quit Bar
Many become in-house counsel for firms or opt for other jobs
By K.C. Vijayan
A GROWING number of young lawyers are turning their hand to other
kinds of work after putting in a handful of years practising.
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More than 400 have stopped practising and left the Bar over the
last four years, figures from the Law Society show. The number of
junior lawyers stood at 1,111 at the end of March this year. There
were 1,537 in March 2001.
This year alone, 325 had not renewed their practising certificates
as at April. In 2001, 280 left the profession.
Those in the business see the drop in the number of young
practitioners as a troubling trend, though the number of senior
lawyers has grown over the same period, rising from 1,987 in 2001
to 2,379 this year.
But they add that it is to be expected considering the pull factors
elsewhere.
Said veteran Amolat Singh: 'They have greater mobility in the
market. Litigation work is less lucrative too now in areas like
criminal law.'
A 27-year-old lawyer, who quit after working for two years in one
of the biggest firms here, said the narrow scope of work prompted
her to leave. 'I looked at my older bosses then and decided that
was not where I wanted to be in 20 years.'
The woman, who asked not to be named, opted to act as in-house
counsel for a multinational corporation. 'In my new job, I got to
know what the business world is like. I am given varied tasks, from
banking to litigation to even debt collection. I feel I'm adding
value to the company through my work now,' she said.
Another lawyer who did not renew his practising certificate this
year said the salary paid by the big firm he worked in was low
compared to the hours he put in. It did not help, said the
29-year-old, that his contemporaries employed as in-house counsel
are paid about the same as he was, without having to slog 12 to 14
hours a day.
'The problem here is that starting salaries are controlled by the
few big law firms which dominate the local market like a
cartel.'
His suggestion: Open up the market and let foreign law firms
operate freely here.
Acknowledging that younger lawyers are 'slipping as a percentage of
the profession', Law Society president Philip Jeyaretnam said they
are leaving largely because of the other opportunities
available.
These pull factors include becoming in-house counsel for firms,
joining foreign law firms here and overseas, and opting to go into
other areas, like the service industry or the arts.
'There's a challenge for the profession to respond and take better
care of young lawyers, not so much from the point of view of pay as
from the point of view of career development.
'Young lawyers need to be given a sense of where they're going and
how they're going to get there,' he said.
The opening up of other opportunities elsewhere underlines the high
value of the Singapore lawyer, he added.
'He is known to be sound in his knowledge of the law, to be a
reasonably good communicator and to be very sensible and practical.
It makes him very popular among recruiters.'
