The Legal Profession Act will soon be amended to reflect a recent decision of the Government to allow law firms to operate as companies. At present, lawyers operate either as sole proprietorships or partnerships. This not only exposes them to the risk of unlimited claims, it also means that each partner has to contribute to the firm's financial resources to keep it running.
As companies, the most significant advantage would be that law firms will have limited liability against among others, malpractice suits - every legal practitioner's worst nightmare. This will however be balanced by increasing lawyers' insurance cover and other measures.
Law firms would also be able to obtain funds through share offers or government incentives, which can be utilised to modernise their practices. This would elevate local firms to a level where they can effectively compete with foreign lawyers, such as those from Britain and Hongkong.
The change is part of the Government's move to update and improve Singapore's legal framework so that it may stay competitive, said Minister for Law Professor S. Jayakumar at a corporate seminar. To achieve this, a law reform committee headed by Attorney General Chan Sek Keong will be set up to study the "legal landscape" and make the appropriate recommendations to the Government.
Other changes in the pipeline are :
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- (1) Expanding the current list of 15 approved British universities for foreign law degrees, to include perhaps universities from other countries.
- (2) Renaming the Registry of Trade Marks and Patents to "Intellectual Property Office of Singapore". Its present role as an office of records will be expanded to include looking into guidelines to deal with high-tech inventions and other scientific breakthroughs.
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