CEO’s Message
Dear Members,
I would like to wish all members a very blessed New Year, best of health and success at every turn!
Secretariat extends our warmest congratulations to our Law Society President Mr Gregory Vijayendran SC who was bestowed the honour of Senior Counsel at the Opening of the Legal Year this month! President Gregory SC practises at Rajah & Tann LLP and has served on the Law Society Council since 2013, taking on the office of President in 2017. He also served in our Publications Committee from 2001 to 2014, CPD Committee from 2004 to 2007, Advocacy Committee from 2013 to 2016, Insolvency Committee from 2005 to 2016, and was appointed our Pro Bono Ambassador in 2009. In April 2017, he became the first Chair of the Board of our wholly-owned subsidiary, the Law Society Pro Bono Services. He has also been active in volunteering with other organisations, both legal and non-legal. Personally, it has been a real pleasure for me to work with and be mentored by President Gregory SC. He always has a smile for everyone and time for anyone in need of help or just a listening ear. Under his visionary leadership, the Law Society has beefed up its pastoral care for members, formed deeper ties with stakeholders and foreign bar associations and strengthened the internal capabilities of Secretariat.
We would like to extend a warm welcome to our new Council Member Mr Md Noor E Adnaan from TSMP Law Corporation, as well as to convey our deepest appreciation to outgoing Council Member Mr Sui Yi Siong from Eversheds Harry Elias for his tireless and dedicated service to the work of the Law Society. Yi Siong has been with the Law Society’s Criminal Law Practice Committee since 2018 and in 2017 he was part of the sub-committee which reviewed the Criminal Procedure Code. Last year, Yi Siong was pivotal in submitting the Law Society’s feedback on amendments to the Penal Code by pulling together different comments from our members and making the feedback a cogent, coherent whole. In addition, he has been on the Inadequate Professional Services Committee since 2018 and was on the Young Lawyers Committee in 2016.
Our Exco 2019 now comprises Mr Gregory Vijayendran SC as President, Mr Adrian Tan Gim Hai and Mr M Rajaram as Vice-Presidents, Mr Tito Isaac as Treasurer, as well as Mr Daniel Koh, Ms Felicia Tan, Ms Christine Lim and Mr Paul Tan Beng Hwee.
Next month, Council and Secretariat will hold a Strategic Planning meeting to take stock of Law Society’s work hitherto and to discuss the direction Law Society should take over the next few years. We will also finalise our workplan for 2019.
This month, we shared the results of our technology survey conducted between May and August last year via an e-blast to members and the Legal Productivity and Innovation (LPI) department co-organised a SmartLaw event with LexisNexis on 24 January to share with members the various uses of big data as well as ways to search for trusted legal content. We also published a best practices guide (currently available only in soft copy) on family law for members titled The Art of Family Lawyering (2019 Special Edition). The Women in Practice (WIP) taskforce held its 4th event on 16 January at Maxwell Chambers. The event comprised two panel discussions which delved into issues relating to leadership and technology and was attended by some 140 members and guests. We were honoured to have Ms Christina Blacklaws, President of the Law Society of England and Wales, as one of our speakers for the seminar. Ms Blacklaws also chairs the Legal Technology Policy Commission of the Law Society of England and Wales and has been asked by the UK government to chair their Lawtech Delivery Panel.
President Gregory SC led our first Lawyers Go Global mission trip of the year to Beijing from 22 January to 26 January, the objective of which was to connect and network with Chinese lawyers on dispute resolution matters. Mission participants also attended a full day conference organised by Singapore’s Ministry of Law as well as the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT). Seventy per cent of the participation cost (which excludes flights and accommodation) was subsidised by Enterprise Singapore under its International Marketing Activities Programme (iMAP) scheme. If you are interested to join us for other Lawyers Go Global mission trips in the upcoming months, please drop us a note at [email protected].
