Panel did not highlight shortage of lawyers: Ministry

The 4th Committee on the Supply of Lawyers, in its 2013 review, did not find a shortage in the overall number of lawyers ("Not easy to get law grads to enter other fields" by Miss Annia Hsu; Sunday).

Instead, it highlighted a mismatch between supply and demand; specifically, a shortage of family and criminal practitioners. The third law school was recommended as a targeted way to address this.

Many Singaporeans want to pursue a law degree. The third law school can help meet some of this demand, albeit in a very modest way, as it will enrol about 50 to 70 students per year, as otherwise the aspiring students will go overseas anyway. But the third law school will seek to get its students to specialise in areas such as family law and criminal law.

Miss Hsu suggested that the possible glut of lawyers can be dealt with by controlling the number of foreign lawyers. That is not correct. Foreign lawyers can practise only the law of the foreign jurisdiction they are qualified from; they cannot practise Singapore law.

Such foreign lawyers, practising foreign law, contribute to Singapore's role as a leading financial and business centre internationally, and the jobs that are created in those sectors.

The central issue is that within the last three years, the number of Singaporeans enrolling in overseas law schools has more than doubled to 1,500. This represents 30 per cent of the entire profession in Singapore.

The Ministry of Law has highlighted these figures so that students have a better understanding of the market to help them decide whether or not they wish to pursue a law degree.

Praveen Randhawa (Ms)

Press Secretary to Minister, Ministry of Law

This article was published on Aug 28 in The Straits Times.

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