Professional Ethics – An Update
Introduction This article distills and summarises the key points of the session on Professional Conduct and Ethics held on 3 November 2020, as part of the Law Society’s Annual CPD Day 2020. It focuses on three areas: Conflicts of interest
Business Transactions Between Solicitors and Their Clients
Law Society of Singapore v Tan Chun Chuen Malcolm [2020] SGHC 166 Introduction It is trite that lawyers owe fiduciary duties to their clients and one such duty is to “[avoid] any financial or personal arrangements with his client or related persons
I, Lawyer and the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
This article examines salient aspects of a recent UK decision on the use of a novel automated facial recognition technology by the police and considers how they may shape or reshape discussions on the ethics of artificial intelligence. In the
Truth Be Told
Navigating the Intricacies of Witness Preparation “A witness, upon hearing the answer of another witness (or observing the other witness’s reaction to the first witness’s answer), may come to doubt, second-guess, and eventually abandon or modify an answer which was actually
Why Etiquette Matters – Inspirations from C C Tan Award Recipients
As a newly called lawyer, the furthest question from your mind now is probably: “How do I want to be remembered within the legal profession?” But beginning your legal career with the end in mind is important, as there is
The Future of Lawyers: An Extraordinary Colloquium
Amidst Singapore’s circuit-breaker period, over 320 members of the Law Society “zoomed in” on 19 May 2020 for a full day online webinar organised by the Law Society. The topic? Not the latest trends in commercial law, or 100 ways
Déjà Vu May Not Mean Disqualification by an Adversary
This article examines and evaluates the underlying circumstances where the lawyer or law firm concerned may be held to owe an equitable duty of confidence to an adversary in Singapore, when acting for different clients in successive claims against the
Acting Against the Same Opponent in Similar Matters
Rebalancing Client Choice and Confidentiality This article examines the competing policy considerations involved where a lawyer acts for different clients against the same opponent in similar claims. With reference to Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and English cases, it suggests that the
The Lawyer’s Duty to Assert Legal Advice Privilege
This article outlines the general contours of a lawyer’s duty to assert legal advice privilege, with reference to English common law cases. Four key issues are examined, including the rationale for and costs of asserting legal advice privilege. Introduction In the 2015
Should Lawyers be Coders?
Introduction Scratch, Python and C++, three of the world’s most well-known coding languages, may not be familiar to many lawyers. In recent years, the coding phenomenon has taken the world by storm with coding being touted not only as “the most