Amendments to the Legal Profession Act (Cap 161), in April of this year, make it slightly easier for foreign senior counsel to appear in the Singapore courts on an ad hoc basis.
An application to appear has to be made to the requisite court. The grounds of that application were only recently considered in the Singapore High Court decision of Re Andrews Geraldine Mary QC [2012] SGHC 229. The grounds are that the lawyer is a Queen's Counsel or holds an equivalent appointment in any jurisdiction, they do not ordinarily reside in Singapore or Malaysia and that they have special qualifications or experience for the purpose of the case. When considering the application the court held that it shall consider (1) the nature of the factual and legal issues in the case, (2) the necessity for the services of the foreign senior counsel, (3) the availability of any senior counsel or other advocate and solicitor with appropriate experience and (4) whether, having regard to the circumstances of the case, it is reasonable to admit a foreign senior counsel for the purpose of the case.
The court held that it has a "substantial, although not unfettered, discretion in assessing the merits of each ad hoc admission application". From our review of the judgment, it is apparent that each application will be very closely analysed and the facts of the case carefully considered - it will not be a simple process.
In total there are 41 practising Senior Counsel in Singapore. With the rapid development of the Singapore economy over the last 10 years and its status as the leading regional financial hub, more complex and high value claims are emerging. Certain industries in Singapore have exponentially grown including construction, finance, trade and insurance. With such rapid development there has been an increase in the demands on legal services including the assistance of the much revered Singapore Senior Counsel. Just by looking at the limited number of Senior Counsel it is not hard to anticipate that demand will soon outstrip supply, if we are to use a commercial phrase. The legislators appear to have acknowledged the commercial and practical reality of this situation by making this amendment to the law.
The change also comes about because some parties in Singapore have struggled to appoint Senior Counsel, the most common issue being that their preferred Senior Counsel has been instructed by the opposing party or has a potential conflict of interest.
Many clients will welcome this development because it will allow them access to senior counsel for their more complex or high value claims. It may also serve to further develop some limited areas of the law in this region with Queen's Counsel drawing on their English experience. For example data protection laws in England are already in place and are the subject of a number of key judgments whereas Singapore has not passed its Data Protection Bill, but may shortly do so.
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