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Dinner Hosted by the Judiciary for the Forum of Senior Counsel

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Dinner Hosted by the Judiciary for the Forum of Senior Counsel DINNER HOSTED BY THE JUDICIARY FOR THE FORUM OF SENIOR COUNSEL FRIDAY, 14 MAY 2010 REMARKS BY CHIEF JUSTICE CHAN SEK KEONG Ladies and Gentlemen: My colleagues and I warmly welcome you to tonight’s dinner, the second that the Judiciary is hosting for the Forum of Senior Counsel. In particular, I would welcome my predecessor as AG, Mr Tan Boon Teik who, instead of relaxing at home, has taken the trouble to join us tonight. The presence of so many Judges of the Supreme Court and Senior Counsel augurs well for this annual series of dinners evolving into a tradition that will continue to strengthen the bonds between the Bar and the Judiciary. 2. This dinner is not meant to be an occasion for long boring speeches, so I will keep my remarks short and make only three points. First, the Institute of Legal Education is in the process of developing a framework for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in Singapore. Justice V K Rajah and his committee have been working very hard to set up a CPD programme that will be effective and meaningful to the Bar. It will be a serious programme, under which we will drag unwilling horses to the trough to drink. But we hope that the CPD programme will provide a true learning experience and not be a wasteful imposition on the Bar. It will be a great achievement if members of the Bar welcome this programme and not dismiss it as being a PR exercise. 2 3. When the CPD programme is finalised, we will need Senior Counsel and leading members of the corporate Bar to become lecturers, instructors and mentors. Each of them will be a thought-leader and teacher in his or her respective area of practice, with the responsibility to maintain the professional standards of the Bar. I would like to call upon all Senior Counsel to support the CPD programme by volunteering their services when the call goes out. 4. My second point is linked to the renewal of our litigation Bar. The Bench can only thrive and develop the law with the assistance of counsel. It is a fact that in every case, counsel know more about the facts than the Judge, although on matters of law the Judge sometimes knows more, or pretends to, anyhow. English judges regard themselves as the crème-de-la- crème of the judiciary in the Commonwealth, but even they rely on counsel’s submissions on what the law is or should be. More often than not, the law is developed through the Bench accepting counsel’s arguments. It is counsel who bring out the brilliant argument or the outrageous one that gets the notice of the Judge. We need more Senior Counsel who can do that (the former I mean). We also need more Senior Counsel to inspire young lawyers so that each generation will preserve the ethos and skills of the litigation Bar. 5. The Litigation Internship Programme organised by the Professional Development & Practice Chapter (PDPC) of the Singapore Academy of Law’s Professional Affairs Committee is one avenue through which Senior Counsel can leave their mark on future generations of lawyers. This exclusive Programme exposes aspiring law undergraduates to different aspects of litigation work in Singapore and counts among its highlights an 8-day attachment to a Senior Counsel. 3 6. This year, some 30 students from NUS and SMU benefited from the Programme and had the opportunity to be attached to 22 Senior Counsel whose names I now mention, viz., Michael Khoo, Davinder Singh, Kenneth Tan, Chelva Rajah, Sarjit Singh Gill, Molly Lim, Jimmy Yim, Deborah Barker, Indranee Rajah, Philip Jeyaretnam, Vinodh Coomaraswamy, Tan Chee Meng, Harpreet Singh, Hri Kumar, Thio Shen Yi, Cavinder Bull, Lee Eng Beng, Francis Xavier, Ang Cheng Hock, George Lim, Andre Maniam and Dr Stanley Lai. I wish to thank them for committing their time to this worthwhile enterprise. The PDPC hopes to expand the Programme to more undergraduates as there is a clear demand for this Programme. We hope other Senior Counsel will contribute to the success of this Programme. 7. My last point deals with improvements in litigation which is a continuing exercise. In recent months, the Supreme Court introduced a number of initiatives to improve the litigation process, including the launch of the e- Practice Directions and the introduction of Lead Counsel Statements. These initiatives came from the Registry of the Supreme Court and the Bench. We need the Bar to alert us to defects and inadequacies in the entire litigation process. If any of you have an idea, please drop a line to Justice V K Rajah. If you have any complaints, drop a line to me. 8. To conclude, let me repeat the suggestion I made last year that before we begin our dinner, we should drink a toast to the President of the Republic of Singapore, and that the toast be proposed by the most junior Senior Counsel present tonight. I call upon “Junior” to identify himself, and do the honours. Thank you. -------- Postscript: A note of thanks to Justice Choo Han Teck for his generous sponsorship of wine and champagne at the dinner is placed on record. .
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