Committee of Supply – Head R (Ministry of Law)

Keeping Singapore Law Relevant

Mr Christopher de Souza (Holland-Bukit Timah):Sir, I beg to move, "That the total sum to be allocated for Head R of the Estimates be reduced by $100".

In the past year, there have been significant developments in Singapore's legal landscape. This has been made possible by the Ministry of Law (MinLaw), which has made it a priority to ensure that we have kept up with international developments and have actively sought new opportunities for the growth of our legal sector.

For example, with the launch of the Singapore International Mediation Centre (SIMC) and the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) in 2015 and the continued development of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), Singapore is now truly able to provide a full suite, a full menu, of dispute resolution options for the amicable resolution of international commercial disputes or to resolve them adversarially.

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A more recent example is the introduction of the Choice of Court Agreements Bill in Parliament this past week, which will further enhance the attractiveness of the Singapore Courts and the SICC as a venue for the resolution of international commercial transactions. With the establishment of these new platforms and further enhancements in the pipeline, Singapore will be well-placed to reinforce our "Singapore" legal brand as a global force in the legal and dispute resolution market, especially now that we are able to provide the full spectrum of dispute resolution options.

Furthermore, the UniSIM School of Law will be matriculating its first batch of students in the coming year, with classes scheduled to start in January 2017. The establishment of Singapore's third law school is an important milestone in the expansion of our legal sector and will ensure that we will be able to further augment our market for legal services. However, there is some concern that the uncertain global economic outlook might dampen growth of our legal sector and would reduce the opportunities available to Singaporean lawyers and law firms to expand further, especially in the region.

Therefore, in light of this, what steps is MinLaw considering to ensure the continued growth and development of the Singapore legal sector in general, especially against the backdrop of a slowing economic growth in Singapore and the region? And very importantly, arising from all of these changes – academic, judicial, policy – how will MinLaw help to ensure that Singapore law stays relevant as the law of choice for disputes, especially in the Singapore Courts or in SIAC, given that Singapore law is growing in jurisprudential depth and quality?

Question proposed.

The Chairman: Mr de Souza, you have your two cuts in two minutes.

Civil and Criminal Justice Reform

Mr Christopher de Souza: Grateful, Mr Chairman. In recent years, as a consequence of globalisation and the growing interconnectedness between countries, we are seeing a shift towards crime becoming increasingly cross-border in nature. Crimes are no longer bound by jurisdictional boundaries and are now being perpetrated by individuals or syndicates over the Internet or through other electronic means.

Therefore, given the increasingly complex nature of cross-border crimes and the need for prompt and accurate justice delivered to the accused person, what further initiatives and reforms does MinLaw envision for the criminal justice system in Singapore? Further, there is also the need for a review of our civil justice system, to ensure the continued relevance of Singapore law and our Courts at an international level.

The introduction of the Choice of Court Agreements Bill this past week is one such example. The introduction of this Bill could pave the way for Singapore to ratify the Hague Convention on the Choice of Court Agreements, which it signed on 25 March 2015. Therefore, as Singapore law continues to grow in jurisprudential depth and geographical reach, how will the Ministry ensure that it is kept relevant to – and at the centre of – any intended reforms to the civil justice system?

Singapore's Design and Intellectual Property Regime

The protection of registered designs, like other types of Intellectual Property (IP), aims to encourage innovation and creativity by granting rights owners the exclusive use of their designs for a limited period, in exchange for disclosing and releasing it for public use at the end of the prescribed period.

I would like to ask the Minister for Law; what feedback had been collated from the public consultations that were conducted on the Registered Design Act (RDA) and, moving forward, what plans does the Ministry have to operationalise these changes?

Strengthening Singapore Law Practices

Ms Rahayu Mahzam (Jurong): As part of the Singapore economy, the legal services sector will need to participate in the transformational exercise called upon by the Finance Minister. The law practices can tap on some of the generic measures rolled out to support businesses, like tax incentives or business grants. Some of the other measures, however, do not appear as relevant and it may not be immediately clear how the law practices will be part of this transformation. I am heartened to note that, as part of the Industry Transformation Programme, there will be a more targeted and sector-focused approach to better meet the needs of specific businesses.

There is a need for MinLaw to create platforms for the dissemination of information, sharing and discussion on two aspects of the Budget. One, how local firms, especially the small and medium-sized law practices, can tap on the various benefits rolled out to support businesses; and, two, the emerging trends and developments in the legal services sector and what needs to be done to transform the sector to keep up with the changing economy.

Some support may be needed to cajole the law practitioners, in particular, those in the small and medium-sized firms, to be part of this transformation exercise. This is not because lawyers do not think it is important. The reality is that these firms face issues of having the capabilities and capacity to spend time in developing their businesses, not to mention transform them. Often, lawyers are busy with the actual legal work of meeting clients and going to Court and may not have the expertise or connections to develop their businesses.

I would, therefore, like to enquire about the Ministry's plans for the legal services sector. What are the specific efforts that will be carried out to create awareness, disseminate information and support the Singapore law practices to transform and be future-ready? In particular, what measures are in place to specifically address near-term issues faced by the small and medium-sized practices so that they can be part of the growing legal services sector? I note that there is currently a Legal Industry Needs Study being coordinated by The Law Society. What are the Ministry's role and plans following from this study?

The Chairman: Mr Dennis Tan, you may take your two cuts together.

External Law Degree Holders

Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong (Non-Constituency Member): The Fourth Committee on the Supply of Lawyers had, in 2013, recommended that the third law school at UniSIM offer a conversion course for external law degree holders or holders of law degrees which are not on the list of approved overseas universities. I understand that UniSIM will now not offer that course. I understand that these graduates may have to take the JD course instead. However, the JD course may take a much longer time. Past graduates with similar external law degrees who are qualified to practise as Singapore lawyers can probably testify that they did not need such a lengthy course to make them worthy practitioners. Many are doing well. Moreover, some external law degree holders who have yet been allowed to qualify as lawyers in Singapore are doing well as legal counsel or even practising successfully under a different jurisdiction.

I would like to know what is MinLaw's position on this issue. I would also like to ask the Minister to update the House on the Government's present position on the prospect of these graduates qualifying as advocates and solicitors.

New Law School and Employment Issue

My second cut. As we know, in the past few years, there has been an over-supply of law graduates and a shortage of trainee positions. Recently, it was announced that the third law school – UniSIM Law School – is being set up and will focus on Community Law. I would like to ask the Minister, what is MinLaw's position on the likely implication of the additional number of graduates in the labour market, arising from the new law school. I would also like to ask the Minister whether MinLaw expects that the graduates of UniSIM Law School will only practise community law and that they are discouraged from pursuing other areas of law after they graduate.

The reason why I am asking this question is that, as a practising lawyer myself, I find that many law graduates only choose their area of work after they start training or with their first job after they qualify as lawyers. In fact, many switch areas of work after training or after their initial job. My next question is: what if, say, a large number of students at UniSIM decide, in the course of studying Community Law subjects or having done attachments at law firms, decide that Community Law – whether Family, Probate or Criminal Law – is not their cup tea? Is it realistic to expect people to stay in the field at this early stage of their legal career or education?

Finally, notwithstanding that UniSIM Law School will focus on Community Law, I would also like to seek the Minister's assurance that better efforts can be made to persuade more students of NUS and SMU to pursue Community Law in their career options. How the law schools communicate their expectation of their graduates may have a positive influence on their views towards different areas of practice.

Legal Convergence

Asst Prof Mahdev Mohan (Nominated Member): Mr Chair, with your permission, may I display some slides on the LED screens, please?

The Chairman: Yes, please go ahead. [Slides were shown to hon Members.]

Asst Prof Mahdev Mohan: Mr Chair and Members of the House, it has been said by Minister Heng Swee Keat and others that changes are upon us. In particular, in this region, which is the Asia Pacific region, we have the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), we also have the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which, hopefully, will see fruit very soon. We have the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, with which negotiations are also underway. I have shown here a Venn diagram of how and where we are placed. There are about three or four huge international trade and investment agreements. And Singapore, as Minister Heng has rightly said, is "at the centre of the Asian growth story". If we look at this diagram, we, together with a few other Asian neighbours, are smack in the middle.

If ASEAN, the 10 countries that make it the regional block, were a single economy, it would already be the seventh largest economy in the world. It has a combined GDP of over US$2.4 trillion as of 2014 and, if we are to add, India, China and other Asian partners, it is estimated that by 2050, Asia could account for half of the global GDP, trade and investment of the world.

If Singaporeans, businesses and professionals are at the centre, smack in the middle, lawyers, certainly, are no exception. As our Chief Justice said earlier this year, "the law is indispensable to business. Business actors transact in the shadow of the law and they depend on the law and they depend on the legal system to ensure their bargains are enforceable."

In January this year, the Minister for Law at the first Legal Convergence Conference, which was organised by the Academy of Law and the Ministry, unveiled an exciting new initiative. The conference, which was supported by EDB, as well as top international law firms and large local law firms, including Drew & Napier and Rajah & Tann, unveiled the Asian Business and Law Institute.

At this conference, we saw high-level representatives from Australia, China and India join Singapore's top policymakers and members of the judiciary to unveil this initiative or institute. My point is that as new initiatives and institutes are unveiled to lead to the convergence, as they say, of Asia's business laws, to give confidence to Asian investors and multinational investors, that are investing both in Asia and in ASEAN, in light of the trade and investment agreements that we are signing on to, they would necessarily look to Singapore.

If we are at the centre, Singaporean lawyers or foreign lawyers based in Singapore will be advising both corporate businesses and advising on disputes and arbitrations. In light of this, may I propose a few questions to the Minister and the Ministry, please?

First, what is the role of the legal sector in the Industry Transformation Programme that Minister Heng has outlined? How can the legal fraternity be supported by MinLaw to advance the goal of industry transformation? Are there targeted approaches the Ministry has in mind? As businesses "build deeper capabilities, develop their people, scale up and internationalise", how can legal services and legal service providers be incentivised to do the same? How can our Attorney General's Chambers (AGC), Judiciary, Legal Service Commission (LSC) and other stakeholders be engaged further to entrench a possible industry transformation which sees possibly lawyers providing services to the countries and businesses in the region?

What are the Ministry's plans, if any, to enhance "innovation" in the legal industry? What might be the possible interactions, for example, between the legal industry and SG-Innovate? Could the Skills Future opportunities assist the legal profession as well, to "adapt and grow", because "adapt and grow" we must?

What about the smaller law firms and boutique practices? What are their roles and what are the opportunities for them for continued commercial, corporate and arbitration work? If we were to emulate the ICT sector, would the Ministry, the Academy of Law, and other stakeholders consider, perhaps, a "Law Skills Accelerator" or a "Law Laboratory" which is designed specifically for the legal fraternity and what role do the three law schools – SMU, NUS and, most recently, UniSIM – have to play in this?

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Finally, with resilience comes the need for social innovation and civic mindedness. What are the Ministry's plans, if any, to enhance the current pro bono and CSR efforts that the law firms, the Ministry and the Academy of Law have in mind to give better opportunities for the underserved amongst us to have access to justice?

Legal Aid and Awareness of Legal Leg Support

Dr Tan Wu Meng (Jurong): Mr Chairman, many of our fellow Singaporeans do not give much thought in their daily life to legal issues, especially because very few of us have formal legal training. It is not something we think about automatically.

Yet, throughout the course of our life, we can easily encounter situations where legal advice and guidance may be needed: (a) an elderly resident, seriously ill, now thinking about writing up a will; (b) a young parent, with a serious disease, wanting to arrange Lasting Power of Attorney, planning for the unthinkable; (c) a fellow Singaporean in legal difficulty; it could be a tort, a contract dispute, a criminal matter.

Can the Minister share how we can continue improving access to legal aid, including building awareness about how to apply?

The Chairman: Mr Patrick Tay, you can take your three cuts together.

Enhancing the Small Claims Tribunal's Jurisdiction

Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan (West Coast): Mr Chairman, I have spoken on this before and am raising this again. I hope MinLaw will seriously look into reviewing the jurisdiction of the Small Claims Tribunal in raising the limits, so that more people can have economical and expedient orders and judgment to their contractual claims. In particular, I know many professional freelancers who are on a contract for service and they use the Small Claims Tribunal when they are not paid or when their payments are delayed, especially for their work rendered. A raising of the claims limits will be a boon for claimants and freelance workers alike.

Protection from Harassment Act

My second cut is on the Protection from Harassment Act (POHA). And since the Act has come into force in 2015, can Ministry of Law provide an update on the number of cases filed and mediated and orders given? Among all the cases filed, what is the breakdown on the types, that is, how many involved community neighbours, how many are online harassment, how many are sexual harassment and how many are workplace harassment cases?

Community Disputes Resolution Tribunal

My third cut is on the Community Disputes Resolution Tribunal (CDRT). Since the set-up of CDRT, I wish to ask the Minister how many cases have been filed, how many heard, how many cases mediated and how many resolved. And also what actions, if any, have the Courts or complainants taken when offending parties, after the tribunal order, still continue to perpetrate and breach the order?

Ex-gratia Payment for Workers

Mr Desmond Choo (Tampines): Mr Chair, Sir, in land-scarce Singapore, land acquisition is necessary for national development. The Government compensates landowners for the land based on valuations. Fairness is a key principle. Since 1998, the ex-gratia scheme recognises the financial and social consequences faced by landowners. When businesses are forced to close or relocate, workers lose their jobs. They are third parties but their livelihoods are most affected. This is especially so when they are older. Retraining and job placements become significantly more difficult.

I note the need to avoid situations where employers pass on responsibilities to the State. Yet, there are many genuine hardship cases where employers would not and could not undertake. Could the Minister consider extending the ex-gratia payment scheme to include affected workers? The payment, especially training support and absentee payroll, could be made via the Labour Movement. It will go a long way in helping the workers cope or to seek a new job.

The Minister for Law (Mr K Shanmugam): Mr Chairman, I thank the Members who spoke.

As I deal with the questions, I would like to put some context to it. We have a strong reputation for upholding the rule of law. Can I ask for the distribution of the first handout from the Clerks, please?

The Chairman: Yes. [A handout was distributed to hon Members.]

Mr K Shanmugam: Essentially, in the recent survey, Members will see: (a) 92% of Singaporeans stated they had trust and confidence in our legal system; (b) 96% agreed that Singapore is governed by the rule of law; (c) 92% agreed that we have a fair legal system; (d) 92% agreed that we have an efficient legal system; (e) 75% agreed that legal aid is accessible to those of limited means; and (f) 62% agreed that our legal system is affordable.

These results reflect the collective hard work put in by the Government, the Courts, the Attorney-General's Chambers and the various agencies in the legal industry. We thank them for their efforts. We must continue to improve our legal system for the good of all.

Members have touched on some areas where they think we can do more. I will cover three areas in my speech: first, what we are doing to try and grow the legal industry; second, how we are helping small- and medium-sized Singapore law practices; and third, how we are trying to improve the civil and criminal justice systems.

Senior Minister of State Indranee Rajah will cover the other points.

First, on growing the legal industry. Mr de Souza and Asst Prof Mahdev asked how we plan to do this.

There are always two aspects to issues like these. First, on the Government's part, we have to make sure we have a framework that is conducive for the business environment. This includes upholding the rule of law; updating and making sure our laws and legal frameworks are relevant; providing the necessary support or incentives; and, fundamentally, ensuring good governance as a whole. If we had poor governance, or if we were not successful as a country, then it is a pipe dream to talk about the legal industry growing.

But at the same time, it is not just the Government. There is a part for the Government, but there is also a part for the private sector and the profession. The profession must ensure that it is in a position to attract and handle high-value work; and be entrepreneurial, competitive and innovative in identifying and capturing opportunities, because they are competing.

The legal sector's prospects are, ultimately, dependent on the economy. It will be impacted by the rate of economic growth. If economic growth slows, then the legal industry, as a support industry, will be affected.

But even when the economy slows down, lawyers will have some opportunities. The world's economic centre of gravity is shifting towards Asia. I have said this very frequently when I was the Minister for Foreign Affairs. As Asst Prof Mahdev mentioned just now, ASEAN is the seventh largest economy in the world. ASEAN economies have grown significantly over the years and, by 2020, on current projections, it will have a GDP of US$4 trillion.

International trade flows will increase and international investment will increase. Establishing AEC to allow a freer movement of goods, services, investments, skilled labour and capital will help. If we have agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) or the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), that can help, too, to increase economic activities.

In addition, there is also likely to be more work involving regional cross-border debt restructurings, for example. We are well-placed to serve as the lead jurisdiction to manage these sorts of complex work, provided our lawyers are able to do that.

Given Asia's infrastructure needs, for example, China's One Belt One Road initiative, the amount of legal work in the area of projects and infrastructure will increase.

Let me explain what the Government is doing to help our firms to take advantage of these opportunities. In terms of creating a framework, we offer the full suite of dispute resolution services. We are one of the most preferred seats of arbitration in the world. The year2015 was a record for SIAC, with 271 new cases involving S$6.23 billion in disputes. SIAC grew because of a very targeted and focused effort by the Government to make sure it is internationally attractive. We did away with some archaic rules that held it back.

Second, we set up SICC and SIMC to provide for a broader range of dispute resolution services that will address the needs of the commercial users.

And, as Mr de Souza noted, we introduced the Choice of Court Agreements Bill this week, which will help make our Courts more attractive for resolving disputes. And later this year, we plan to introduce a Mediation Bill to strengthen our mediation framework.

We are also studying, more broadly, other areas of potential growth that may be available to the legal industry.

Senior Minister of State Indranee Rajah and Mr Chaly Mah co-chair a Working Group, under the Committee on the Future Economy, to identify key areas of demand and potential growth, strategies and capabilities to ensure that our law firms remain relevant and how we can increase the export of services and seize the opportunities that are available in the region. The Working Group has organised discussions with relevant players to seek their views on how we can grow this sector.

Asst Prof Mahdev specifically asked what is the role of the legal sector in industry transformation. As the industry transforms, there will be a lot of work arising from the transformation. The new transformation will bring around more work and the legal sector has to be prepared for that. We will support the universities and make sure that they train their lawyers for these new fields.

He also asked how legal service providers can be incentivised to help in industry transformation. Well, in a way, you are asking me how we can use taxpayers' money to help lawyers make more money through industry transformation. I am not sure that is a popular subject. The fact is we do also put taxpayers' money to help lawyers in a number of ways. I will come back to this. And we will certainly help in industry transformation, to make sure there are jobs available. We will help in the training of lawyers. We do invest very substantial amounts there.

As the Asst Prof knows, but probably in the other university, we helped set up a number of key centres to make Singapore the thought leader in a number of fields and I will talk about that in a short while.

With all this help, it is now for the lawyers to go and see how they can take advantage of the situation. How can we, you asked, work with the Supreme Court and other institutions? We work very closely to create Singapore as a clear leader in Asia, which we are today, for example, by having the SICC and launching the Asian Business Law Institute with the support of the Supreme Court. It only works in Singapore; it is not possible in other places. This is because the Government works closely with other stakeholders to put these forward and in record time. So, we look at the whole sector and we work with everyone.

How do we help firms innovate? We have a number of schemes and I will talk about this in a while. We are focused more on getting the smaller firms to try and take advantage of IT, but while we have the schemes and we have the money available, the take-up rate is not very high. The Senior Minister of State has written to the law firms. She has tried to engage them. We will continue trying. We can make them available, but people must make use of them.

As for the other questions, I will try to touch on them in the context of my speech.

Our lawyers need to step up against the competition and offer greater value to clients, compared to the region. This will require having stronger overseas knowledge and networks to better serve businesses; building deeper expertise and experience in key practice areas; and forging strong and extensive networks and relationships.

We will help. We want our law firms to be successful, not just internally, but externally. We will create the framework. We are actually putting taxpayers' money into it and we focus more of the money on small and medium law firms. The big firms, we also have some money on the table through a number of schemes and it is for them to decide whether they will take them up. So, we do actually put some money to try and get them to make some money.

On the promotion of Singapore law, Mr de Souza suggested the promotion of the use of Singapore law. Cross-border transactions, for obvious reasons, tend to be governed by New York or English law, as parties prefer to use these laws because of the law firms involved and because the ultimate end-purchasers of these bonds and other instruments tend to be located around the world. And they tend to be more familiar with New York or English law.

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But there are some signs that Singapore law is becoming more popular. A recent survey of those who handle regional work shows that Singapore law is the second most common choice to govern cross-border transactions, after English law.

My Ministry will continue supporting the adoption of Singapore law through education and promotional efforts. We cannot direct but we can promote. We encourage law firms, both local and foreign, to promote Singapore law to their clients. We work with the agencies to engage companies, the ultimate end-users, on the benefits of adopting Singapore law in their cross-border contracts. We also look at our laws to make sure they are friendly for people to use, in terms of international parties. We support our law schools in their aim to become global thought leaders, not just in Asia.

So, with our strong support, the NUS Faculty of Law has set up four research centres covering areas of business, banking, financial and maritime law, and on Asian Legal Studies. When I say strong support, that includes providing money. This will, we hope, help to produce a steady pipeline of high-quality legal talent and build a strong faculty and a strong core of practitioners. The aim is for us to play a leading role in developing and shaping laws where we have a strategic interest or comparative advantage. So, that is why these areas were chosen.

Specific to small- and medium-sized Singapore law practices, we are aware that they may not be able to compete at this level with the bigger law firms or regional law firms.

Ms Rahayu Mahzam asked how we are supporting these law firms. A number of initiatives and measures are available to help the law firms. Because there is too long a list, I do not want to read it out but I will circulate it. If the Clerks could circulate that to Members, please?

The Chairman: Yes. [A handout was circulated to hon Members.]

Mr K Shanmugam: If you look at the handout, which will come to you in a minute, the schemes provide support to firms seeking to develop new capabilities, to become more productive and to expand to other jurisdictions.

Lawyers can also use their SkillsFuture credit to pay for some of the continuing professional development courses offered by SAL, Law Society and our universities.

SAL and INSEAD recently developed the "Law Firm Leadership Programme" to address the business challenges faced by law firm partners. UniSIM Law School plans to offer courses that are relevant to family and criminal law practitioners when it is up and running.

We are also working with the Law Society more specifically to identify how to strengthen our small- and medium-sized law firms. The Law Society is conducting a six-month study to identify the technology and capability needs of these firms. That will then enable the Ministry to provide support more directly and effectively, for example, how they can access and use technology. We encourage lawyers and law firms to participate in this study actively.

Mr de Souza asked about the reforms to improve the civil and criminal justice systems. My Ministry is undertaking a broad-based review of our civil justice system, from the time a dispute arises until it is resolved in Court or otherwise.

Some of the things that we are considering include reviewing the entire framework of legal costs and fee structures to ensure affordability; and enhancing judicial control over litigation, by managing time and costs. Further details will be announced in due course after we have engaged the stakeholders.

As for the criminal justice system, given how quickly technology has advanced and crimes have evolved, our laws and practices must keep pace. MinLaw and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) regularly review the criminal laws and practices to ensure that our law enforcement agencies have sufficient powers and, at the same time, we have a fair and robust criminal justice system that is fair to all sides.

One area that we are studying specifically is the Community Based Sentencing regime, to consider whether and how it can apply to more persons so that it helps in the rehabilitation process. This review of the criminal law system will be quite extensive. I have asked for it to be very extensive and as I have said something earlier in the speech relating to MHA – we will release details when we are a little bit more down the road on this.

Senior Minister of State Indranee Rajah will take the remaining cuts.

The Senior Minister of State for Law (Ms Indranee Rajah): Mr Chairman, I thank Members for supporting MinLaw's work and for their cuts.

Dr Tan Wu Meng and Asst Prof Mahdev Mohan spoke about access to justice. Access to justice is critical to the rule of law. My Ministry works with the Judiciary, the Law Society and other stakeholders to enhance access to justice, particularly for lower income and vulnerable Singaporeans.

The Legal Aid Bureau provides legal aid and advice on civil matters, such as divorce, estate matters or personal injury. Applicants must satisfy a means and merits test.

The Primary Justice Project launched by the State Courts, the Law Society and the Community Justice Centre provides basic legal services at a fixed low cost, with a view to resolving disputes amicably and expediently.

Since 2015, MinLaw has also provided funding support for the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme (CLAS) run by the Law Society. In 2015, the scheme benefited 2,433 accused persons, of which 1,324 received full legal representation or legal services not involving Court attendance. This is a significant increase from 2014, where only 431 accused persons received full legal representation. Persons facing capital charges are also ensured legal representation under the Legal Assistance Scheme for Capital Offences (LASCO).

The needy can also receive free basic legal advice at legal clinics. These include the Community Legal Clinics network run by the Law Society; the Community Justice Centre at the State Courts; and other legal clinics at Community Centres or run by voluntary welfare organisations, charities and religious organisations.

We have been promoting a strong pro bono culture within the legal fraternity. Since 2015, Singapore lawyers are required to disclose the number of hours spent in each preceding year on pro bono work. This will enable a more holistic appraisal of the pro bono landscape.

I turn now to community justice. MinLaw has put in place affordable and effective mechanisms for resolving community disputes while preserving community bonds. These include: CDRT, POHA and the Small Claims Tribunals. Mr Patrick Tay talked about these initiatives.

The CDRT was established on 1 October 2015, about six months ago. It provides an avenue to resolve community disputes, including through Court-ordered mediation. As at 31 January 2016, 32 claims were filed. These typically involve complaints about excessive noise, littering, obstruction or interference with movable property. Out of 13 claims referred by the CDRT for mediation, four were successfully settled; five are pending mediation. In total, 11 claims have been disposed of and 21 remain pending. These are early results but they are positive. Victims may enforce CDRT orders by applying for Special Directions upon default of the orders. As at 31 March 2016, no such applications have been filed.

POHA took effect on 15 November 2014. As at 31 January 2016, 171 applications for Protection Orders were filed, including by victims of online, sexual, workplace and debt collection-related harassment. In total, 54 Protection Orders and 45 Expedited Protection Orders were granted. Some of these were granted by consent. A number of applications were also withdrawn. This suggests that some disputes are being resolved amicably. 799 Magistrate's Complaints have also been lodged under the Act.

Mr Patrick Tay asked if the claim limits of the Small Claims Tribunals would be increased. This is being reviewed by my Ministry and the State Courts as part of the review of the Small Claims Tribunals Act.

MinLaw will continue to monitor these community justice platforms to ensure efficient and affordable resolution of community disputes.

Mr Dennis Tan asked about the implications of the UniSIM Law School (ULS) graduates entering the market. The ULS intake will be relatively small – 60 in the first batch and around 75 students in steady state. It will thus not have a significant implication in terms of overall numbers. Moreover, its first batch of students will graduate in or around 2020, by which time, the current situation should have resolved itself. However, what ULS will do is to provide a steady pipeline of family and criminal lawyers. These are areas in which there is an impending shortage if nothing is done.

Mr Chairman, before I proceed, I would like to seek your indulgence to continue past the 30 seconds remaining to me. Otherwise, MinLaw would not be able to do justice to Mr Dennis Tan's questions, as well as to Mr Desmond Choo's and Mr Patrick Tay's.

The Chairman: Six minutes, please.

Ms Indranee Rajah: Thank you. Fresh graduates from local universities and overseas scheduled universities (OSU) generally choose not to practise in the areas of criminal and family law. There is a high attrition rate amongst those who do, due to the stresses and emotional demands. The current oversupply thus does not meet this very real need.

The ULS programme, however, is designed to do so and will, in fact, help the smaller law firms who are short of lawyers. While the ULS law degree will qualify its graduates for general practice, it is expected that they will practise family and criminal law. Its entire design – from admission and selection criteria and curriculum – is geared to encourage this outcome. ULS is targeted at mature individuals with relevant work experience who would be better placed to decide at the outset if they want to practise in these areas.

Mr Tan also asked about MinLaw's position on external law degrees and degrees from non-scheduled universities. The Government's position is that we must have high standards and a high quality of education for the practice of Singapore law. This is because the practice of law has widespread impact – it affects the lives of people, society and the economy.

External law degree holders and non-OSU graduates who wish to practise can now seek admission to the Singapore Bar via the ULS JD programme.

The Fourth Committee had suggested that one should look at a conversion programme to allow them to practise. But after much consideration, the Steering Committee for the Third Law School felt that the JD programme would be a better route to practice for these people rather than a conversion programme. This is because the ULS is a specialist law school. Its raison d'etre is actually to produce good family and criminal lawyers. The content and curriculum are designed specifically with Singapore law in mind. It is not just a matter of converting something that you have learnt overseas. The content will focus on things like the Women's Charter, Criminal Procedure Code, Penal Code, Misuse of Drugs Act, the Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act – all of which are not taught by overseas universities.

Moreover, it has a unique practice-oriented approach which is embedded in the curriculum. They will have to learn things like the judge-led approach which is part of our family law reforms.

When you take all of these together, we felt that the JD programme would be better in terms of producing family and criminal lawyers of high quality. Although the JD programme will take longer than a conversion course, we felt that it would be better in terms of outcomes.

With respect to NUS and SMU, obviously, criminal and family law modules are taught there. We cannot compel their graduates to take up practice in these areas, but we can and do encourage them to do so. There are pro bono schemes in those universities to expose them to these areas, including, for example, the Innocence Project.

Mr Christopher de Souza asked about developments in the designs and intellectual property regimes. IP gives businesses a competitive edge in today's innovation-driven globalised economy. The 2013 IP Hub Master Plan aims to develop Singapore as a gateway for businesses to protect and use their innovations world-wide. We have done well in our efforts to achieve this goal.

The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) search and examination unit is the only unit in Southeast Asia appointed as an international searching authority under the World Intellectual Property Organisation's Patent Cooperation Treaty. IPOS also has arrangements with other patent offices, to allow businesses to rely on IPOS' search and examination reports in other countries.

My Ministry and IPOS have recently completed a review of the registered designs regime. We will expand the scope of protection for designs in view of technological advances and modern business practices. So, for example, virtual designs, artisanal or handcrafted design items and colours will be protectable. These and other recommendations were positively received in the 2014 and 2015 public consultations. They will support the Design 2025 Master Plan in promoting the creative and innovative use of design as a source of growth and productivity.

6.45 pm

Mr Desmond Choo asked whether ex gratia support could be provided to workers in deserving circumstances in connection with land acquisition. Like Mr Choo, the Government is sympathetic and will provide assistance to retrenched workers. However, it is important not to conflate what are two separate issues: first, compensation for land; and, second, support for retrenched workers.

The Land Acquisition Act compensates property owners by paying market value for land which is acquired. We should continue to maintain that principle. Introducing other elements will distort what is essentially compensation for the market value of the land.

Nevertheless, there is assistance for retrenched workers. This takes the form of: (a) encouraging employers and unions to make provisions in collective agreements for retrenched workers, or, in the case of non-unionised employees, to follow best practices in redundancy situations; (b) helping workers to retrain, re-skill and remain employable through SkillsFuture; (c) providing job-matching assistance through Jobs Bank, e2i and WDA, amongst others; and (d) Budget 2016, which devotes significant attention to how retrenched workers can be helped under the section "Supporting Our People through Change." I also understand the Minister for Manpower will be speaking on how to support retrenched workers.

Mr Chairman, MinLaw will continue to take steps to grow the legal industry, promote the use of law, enhance access to justice and strengthen the rule of law in Singapore.

The Chairman: Mr Patrick Tay, clarifications.

Mr Patrick Tay Teck Guan: I just wish to ask the Senior Minister of State, earlier on, she shared, for POHA claims – since coming into force in November 2014 – a total of 171 orders were given. I just wonder if she can share how many were cases of workplace harassment and, out of these 171, how many were sexual harassment cases?

Ms Indranee Rajah: What I referred to were 171 applications. I do not have the specific breakdown, but if the Member would like to file a question on that, then we can provide relevant information.

The Chairman: If there are no more clarifications, Mr de Souza, would you like to withdraw your amendment?

Mr Christopher de Souza: Chairman, before I withdraw it, I would like to thank the officers of MinLaw for their quiet and instrumental efforts to help ensure the smooth and efficient running of our economy. This includes the protection of the status of the rule of law and its high standing in Singapore, which I know, as an advocate in practice, of which I declare my interest.

The Ministers and their officers cover major initiatives, such as the setting up of SICC, SIAC, SIMC to create Singapore as a major legal hub. These are major initiatives. Access to justice, pro bono at the community level are also under their purview.

Before seeking leave to withdraw my amendment, I would request and encourage MinLaw to promote Singapore law as the choice of law for disputes, given Singapore laws' growing jurisprudential depth and geographic reach.

With that, I speak on behalf of the House by thanking the MinLaw officers and I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

The sum of $218,076,400 for Head R ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates.

The sum of $384,379,000 for Head R ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates.