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//Friday, February 13, 2009 8:30 PM

Shanmugam My Hero!

The recent budget 2009 Debate saw a few changes being made to the legal practice in Singapore. Law Minister K Shanmugam announced this afternoon that overseas law students are no longer required to attain a 2nd upper honours degree in order to be exempted from the mandatory 2 year legal experience requirement. (article from The Straits Times: http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_337896.html)

The rationale for the 2:1 requirement was to uphold standards in Singapore's legal practice after Singapore saw itself flooded with a huge numbers of lawyers in '92. This requirement then went on to screw many lives up for about a decade, until my hero, Mr K Shanmugam decided that it was time to retire this long outdated progamme. I guess he finally realised that writing 3 good essays in 3 hours does not necessarily make you a good lawyer. I qoute:

"This brings me to Mr De Souza’s further point that students with Second Lowers should also be allowed to try and qualify for the Bar without additional hurdles.

With the introduction of the new Parts A and B of the Bar Exam and Training Contracts, we will allow students with Second Lowers to take those exams without additional hurdles. They will be treated in the same way as other students.

These new exams should be sufficiently rigorous to ensure the required quality. And the market can be the test of professional ability. The Schedule for Universities will remain, and will serve as an additional safeguard. Changes will be made in time for the new Part A course later this year. "

Along with that, the Law Minister has finally gave the thumbs up towards the abolishment of the DipSing programme; replacing it with an optional 3 month legal conversion course. (did he just said optional???) Also, changes will be made to the existing PLC course in order to better prepare graduates for the legal practice.

Okay, as Ken would have agreed, i think we need some beer to celebrate.

posted by John T at 8:30 PM

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