Law Society of Singapore

Law Society of Singapore
Formation	1967; 57 years ago
Type	Bar association
Purpose	To serve its members and the public by sustaining an independent bar which upholds the rule of law and ensures access to justice
Headquarters	Maxwell Chambers
Region served	Singapore
Official language	English
President	Lisa Sam Hui Min
Website	https://www.lawsociety.org.sg/

The Law Society of Singapore is an organisation which represents all lawyers in Singapore. The Law Society of Singapore is a law society and is analogous to what is called a Bar Association in many countries and should not be confused with the Singapore Academy of Law.

The society's motto is "An Advocate for the Profession, An Advocate for the Community." The Law Society moved its premises from South Bridge Road to Maxwell Chambers in 2019.^[1]

Activities

The society provides services and support to lawyers in Singapore, does advocacy for issues affecting its members, publishes the Law Gazette, and operates a pro bono scheme to provide access to justice for those who may not be able to afford it.^[2]^[3] Other services that it offers include:

Providing an announcement/notice dissemination service for members' notices, such as notices of a change in the name of a law practice, a change in the composition of the partners/directors in a law practice, change in contact details, and office closures^[4]
From 1 November 2019, it has administered an Unclaimed Money Fund to hold money left in lawyers' client accounts that are unclaimed by clients^[5]^[6]^[7]
It administers various alternative dispute resolution schemes, including an arbitration scheme, mediation scheme, and neutral evaluation and determination scheme^[8]

It also publishes advisories and guidelines for lawyers relating to various matters, including ethics and professional responsibility^[9] and advertising of legal services.^[10]

Committees

The society has various standing committees tasked with managing particular issues or areas of practice, including an advocacy committee, alternative dispute resolution committee, civil practice committee, information technology committee, amongst others.^[11]

Disciplinary proceedings

Under the Legal Profession Act 1967, when the Council of the Law Society receives a complaint against a lawyer, it will refer the complaint to the Chairperson of the society's Inquiry Panel, who may constitute a Review Committee to review the complaint.

The Review Committee will determine whether the complaint is frivolous, vexatious, misconceived, or lacking in substance and should therefore be dismissed, or should be referred to the Chairperson of the Inquiry Panel, who will then constitute an Inquiry Committee to inquire into the complaint.

The Inquiry Committee will report its findings and recommendations to the Council, who will decide if a formal investigation is necessary. If it does so determine, it may apply to the Chief Justice to appoint a Disciplinary Committee to hear and investigate the matter.

If the Disciplinary Committee finds that there has been cause of sufficient gravity for disciplinary action to be taken against the lawyer who is the subject of the complaint, the Law Society will make an application to the Court of Three Judges for an appropriate order against the lawyer, such as an order that the lawyer be censured, fined, suspended, or struck off the roll.^[12]^[13]

Leadership

Year	President	Ref
1963–1964	Tan Chye Cheng	^[14]^[15]
1965	Mr Po Guan Hock
1966	C. F. J. Ess
1967	C. C. Tan
1968	H. P. Godwin
1969–1972	G. Starforth Hill
1973–1974	M. Karthigesu
1975–1977	H. L. Wee
1978	M. Karthigesu
1979	Phyllis P. L. Tan
1980–1983	T. P. B. Menon
1984–1985	Harry Elias SC
1986	Francis Seow
1987–1989	Giam Chin Toon SC
1990–1992	C. R. Rajah SC
1993–1994	Peter Cuthbert Low
1995–1997	Chandra Mohan K. Nair
1998–1999	George Lim Teong Jin SC
2000–2002	Palakrishnan SC
2003	Arfat Selvam
2004–2007	Philip Jeyaretnam SC
2008–July 2010	Michael Hwang SC
August 2010–2012	Wong Meng Meng SC
2013–2014	Lok Vi Ming SC
2015–2016	Thio Shen Yi SC
2017–2021	Gregory Vijayendran SC
2022–July 2023	Adrian Tan Gim Hai	Died while in office^[16]
July 2023 - November 2023	Jason Chan Tai-Hui SC	^[17]
November 2023	Lisa Sam Hui Min	^[18]