SINGAPORE : Singapore's legal profession is growing
steadily in numbers, but at the same time, trends indicate that the
number of foreign lawyers is growing faster than local
lawyers.
Newly-appointed president of the Law Society of
Singapore, Lok Vi Ming, made the point at the opening of the new
legal year on Friday.
The number of lawyers holding practising
certificates in Singapore exceeded the 4,000-mark for the first
time in 2012.
But between 2007 and 2012, the growth in the number of local
lawyers was 27 per cent while that of foreign lawyers was 42 per
cent.
So a call was made by Mr Lok for the profession and the Law Society
to pull even closer together, and for foreign lawyers to lock hands
with their local counterparts in cooperation and integration.
The legal community was also urged to act with dignity and decorum,
especially when corresponding with one another when handling
cases.
Mr Lok said: "We have colleagues and friends who are on the
receiving end of pretty harsh letters and pretty harsh language.
That is not the way we want to practise.
"It helps in the resolution of cases for lawyers to be courteous
with each other and constructive in their approach, and if you
write harsh letters, the effect can be fairly aggressive and
destructive to the resolution of cases."
Newly-appointed Senior Counsel Lionel Yee said: "Sometimes, lay
persons may think that an effective lawyer is aggressive to
witnesses for the other side. But from my experience, when you
treat witnesses, even those from the other side, with respect and
courtesy, you will find you would be able to get much more
effective and valuable testimony from them."
- CNA/ms
