TechLaw.Fest 2022
20 – 22 July 2022
The metaverse, its applications and implications for the legal profession and regulatory frameworks were some of the topics deliberated at the event, cementing its position as the region’s premeier law and tech conference.
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SAL Appreciation Dinner
and Awards Night
31 August 2022
Hugs and warm handshakes were aplenty, as members of the profession gathered for the first SAL Appreciation Dinner & Awards Night held since the pandemic. The dinner was a chance to thank the many members who contribute tirelessly to the various activities of the Academy.
Singapore Mediation Lecture 2022
6 September 2022
This year’s edition, co-organised with Harry Elias Partnership, attracted more than 500 participants. It featured Professor Wang Gangwu, Chairman of East Asia Institute, National University of Singapore as its distinguished speaker and provided a historical perspective of dispute resolution in the region and the lessons the profession could adopt for today.
SAL Annual Lecture
17 November 2022
The Right Honourable Richard Wagner PC became the third Chief Justice of Canada to grace the SAL Annual Lecture rostrum. His Honour's lecture provided a Canadian perspective on the concept of judicial independence, and was both insightful and engaging.
Senior Counsel reception
12 January 2023
To mark 25 years of the Senior Counsel scheme, SAL organised the first-ever SC reception. The exclusive community gathered to explore ways they could uplift and support the development of the wider profession.
Imprints 2023
7 February 2023
Imprints, Academy Publishing (AP)’s annual “thank you” event to its authors and contributors, returned following the pandemic, in time to mark AP’s 15th anniversary. Three new titles were launched at the event, bringing the total number of AP publications to 75.
Operationalisation of
LawNet Technology Services
1 April 2023
LawNet Technology Services (“LTS”) is helmed by a team of technology professionals and governed by a board of directors who will provide expert guidance on IT governance, including the procurement and development of IT projects. Mr Kenta Kusano, who joined the SAL Group in 2022 as its Chief Technology & Innovation Officer, will head LTS as its Chief Executive.
Appointment of Mr Yeong Zee Kin as SAL CE
1 April 2023
In February, SAL announced the appointment of Mr Yeong Zee Kin as its Chief Executive . Mr Yeong succeeds Mr Rama Tiwari, who stepped down earlier in the year.
Nurturing leaders
Grooming the next generation of leaders is key to realising SAL’s vision of making Singapore the legal hub of Asia. In line with this, SAL makes leadership training a priority for mid-level members, with flagship programmes like the SAL-INSEAD Legal Leadership Programme enjoying record attendance last year.
Going global
To equip members with a global perspective, SAL regularly organises training sessions that expose members to legal trends and developments in overseas jurisdictions.
Cutting-edge topics
Members can make sense of dicey and complex issues and their impact on practice at SAL’s topical learning sessions. Over the past year, these sessions covered topics as diverse as the metaverse and ESG.
Recognising excellence
Every year, SAL presents scholarships, prizes and awards to expand access to the legal profession and recognise excellence within it:
Senior Counsel
Two new Senior Counsel were appointed:
- Mr Kelvin Poon SC
- Mr Wong Woon Kwong SC
Specialist Accreditation
As the sole specialist accreditation body for the legal profession, SAL’s accreditation matters. This past year, 11 Data and Digital Economy Law and 12 Building and Construction Law practitioners were accredited as specialists in their respective fields:
Christopher Bathurst Prize
Ms Magdalene Ong received the Christopher Bathurst Prize 2022, which is an essay-writing competition for young lawyers.
ECC-SAL Mooting Competition
Ms Ayana Ki and Ms Melody Lau won the ECC-SAL International Mooting Competition, which challenges young lawyers and law students to showcase their advocacy skills.
SAL Scholarships
Three scholars were awarded the SAL Undergraduate Scholarship 2022:
- Ang Boon Jie – National University of Singapore
- Bernice Ng – Singapore Management University
- Manpreet Kaur D/O Kulwant Singh – Singapore University of Social Sciences
The Singapore Law Merit Award
This year’s awardee is Professor Simon Chesterman, who has drawn attention to scholarship in Singapore in the areas of data protection and AI governance. Learn more here.
The SAL Merit Awards
These are presented to members for their service in promoting and advancing the objectives of the Academy. This year’s awardees are:
- Mr Ng Jern-Fei KC for helping to raise the profile of foreign lawyers in Singapore and engage them in SAL’s work. Learn more here.
- Dr Stanley Lai SC for his contributions to TechLaw.Fest. Learn more here.
- Mr Thio Shen Yi SC for his leadership of SAL’s Corporate Social Responsibility Working Group, which has raised over $1 million for the YRF-STAR Bursary. Learn more here.
Your
Singapore Academy of Law
Annual Report 2022-2023
Message from the President
The Honourable the Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon
President, Singapore Academy of Law
The past year has been filled with both challenges and opportunities for the legal services sector.
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About Us
The Singapore Academy of Law (SAL) is on a mission to make Singapore the legal hub of Asia by equipping its members with the insights and tools they need to stay ahead.
Executive Board
as of 1 December 2023
Chief Justice
Sundaresh Menon
President, SAL
Chair, Board of Governors,
Asian Business Law Institute
Attorney-General Lucien Wong SC
Vice-President, SAL
Mr Jason Chan SC
Vice-President, SAL
President of the Law Society of Singapore
Justice Aedit Abdullah
Chair, Promotion of Legal Technology Innovation Committee
Justice Andre Francis Maniam
Representative for Singapore Mediation Centre
Justice Debbie Ong Siew Ling
Chair, Learning and Professional Development Committee
Justice Kannan Ramesh
Chair, Legal Research and Publications Committee
Justice Kwek Mean Luck
Chair, Statutory and Corporate Services Committee
Judicial Commissioner Goh Yihan
Co-Chair, Legal Research and Publications Committee
Co-Chair, Learning and Professional Development Committee
Deputy Attorney-General ANG Cheng Hock SC
Chair, Professional Affairs and Membership Committee
Deputy Attorney-General Lionel Yee SC
Representative for Legal Service Commission
The SAL Senate
The SAL Leadership Team
SAL membership
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Active SAL Members
Including the 430 who were inducted at Mass Call 2023
No Data Found
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Practitioners: 5,665
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In-house legal: 2,038
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Singapore Judiciary/Legal Service Officer: 792
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Legal academics: 112
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Students: 545
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Non-practitioners: 156
The Singapore Academy of Law (SAL) marked its 35th anniversary in 2023 with a renewed dedication to honour and service.
The SAL motto, honor est in honorante, is a reminder that honour lies in honouring: one becomes honourable only through the honour one bestows upon fellow members of the profession, the court and the public.
The motto was introduced by SAL’s first President Chief Justice Wee Chong Jin in 1988, at the address he delivered at that year’s Annual Dinner of the Law Society.
The SAL motto honor est in honorante was central in the design of SAL’s first logo which continues to be used as its ceremonial crest today
More than 430 Advocates and Solicitors who were called to the Bar at Mass Call 2023 were the first the be issued with a custom lapel pin from SAL. Pictured above, new SAL member Mr Matthew Cheng and his parents.
Starting a new tradition
From 2023, a lapel pin in the shape of SAL’s ceremonial crest bearing the motto will be issued to every SAL member. The pin will also bear the member’s unique admission number. The start of this new tradition was announced by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon at the 2023 mass call.
This pin serves not only to identify the wearer as an Advocate and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore, but also serves as a reminder of our obligation to uphold the high standards and ethics of this noble profession. I hope you will wear it with honour and a profound sense of service whenever you discharge your duties as an officer of the court.
Milestones
SAL’s development over the last 35 years has been closely intertwined with that of the legal profession.
Anniversary Dinner &
Conferment Ceremony
Throughout his career in both academia and the Judiciary, the great passion of Justice Phang’s professional life has been Singapore law. In contributing to its development, he has served not just the legal community, but also our nation.
CITATION FOR THE HONOURABLE SENIOR JUDGE JUSTICE ANDREW PHANG
SAL celebrated its 35th anniversary with an appreciation dinner on 22 November 2023 to thank its committee members for their devoted service and contributions. The highlight of the evening was the conferment of Honorary Member for Life and Fellow for Life on Justice Andrew Phang.
Justice Phang joins the ranks of seven others who have been bestowed this honour:
- Mr Lee Kuan Yew (1990)
- Former Chief Justice Dr Wee Chong Jin (1992)
- Dr David Marshall (1992)
- Former Chief Justice Mr Yong Pung How (2007)
- Former Deputy Prime Minister Professor S Jayakumar (2008)
- Former Chief Justice Mr Chan Sek Keong (2013)
- Justice Chao Hick Tin (2018)
Key Highlights of 2022 – 2023
Exploring the metaverse
TechLaw.Fest 2022
Appreciation Dinner and Awards Night
SAL Appreciation Dinner and Awards Night
A history of ADR in Asia
Singapore Mediation Lecture 2022
A Canadian perspective
SAL Annual Lecture
Senior Counsel reception
Senior Counsel reception
Academy Publishing’s 15th anniversary
Imprints 2023
LTS, a new subsidiary
Operationalisation of LawNet Technology Services
Yeong Zee Kin, SAL’s new chief executive
Appointment of Mr Yeong Zee Kin as SAL CE
Cutting-Edge Content
The content developed by SAL continues to be a standards-bearer in the industry, raising the profile of Singapore law and helping members make sense of it in a clear and accessible manner. The content is developed by dedicated teams at Academy Publishing and the Asian Business Law Institute (“ABLI”), a subsidiary of SAL.
While Covid might have cloistered us in our home offices for most part of the past three years, Academy Publishing’s work did not abate. In total, 16 volumes of law reports, 17 new books, 27 journals, 83 SAL Practitioner articles and the monthly Civil Litigation Update were published in (the pandemic) period.
Did You Know?
Almost of SAL’s content is distributed through LawNet, which is continually improved to support new content forms. This past year, Academy Library, SAL’s e-reading service, was enhanced with better search, cross-referencing and footnoting features. A subscription service was also launched in August 2023. This follows a similar improvement to LawNet Asian Insights, which was enhanced with summaries of key Asian news, content-specific access control, and previews of latest articles in April 2022.
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- 20,119 pages of Supreme Court cases and 13,710 pages of State Courts cases published as unreported judgments on LawNet.
- The SLR (State Courts, Family Courts and Youth Courts) series was launched in January 2023. As at 31 March 2023, 17 SLR State Courts (SLR(StC)) cases, amounting to 336 pages, were published on LawNet.
- As of 31 March 2023, the following resources were available on LawNet:
- 85 of the 138 precedents in the database were reviewed, updated and republished.
- 857 pieces of commissioned content and 38 pieces of original content in the form of interviews with subject matter experts and commentary were published on LawNet Asian Insights.
- 263 sets of pleadings uploaded in the Pleadings database.
- 3,471 items were published on LawNet Legal Research
- OpenLaw was further updated with judgments from 2000
- The second tranche of Venture Capital Investment Model Agreement (“VIMA”) documents was released in September 2022.
- An advocacy guide on civil commercial litigation was launched in September 2022 to provide developmental milestones and areas of exposure that junior litigators should progressively seek to unlock.
A Learning and Development
Institute of Choice
The learning and professional development of the legal profession has been the raison d’être for SAL since day one. In the years since, it has emerged as learning and development institute of choice for the profession, with a blend of standard-setting signature events, structured training and topical discussions on pertinent topics. More than 6,500 members attended an SAL training programmes last year. Areas we make an impact in include:
ATTENDING THE SAL – INSEAD LEGAL LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME MADE ME RETHINK MY APPROACH TO WORK TRIPS, TO BE MORE STRUCTURED AND STRATEGIC. I NOW MAP OUT WHAT SECTORS INTEREST ME AND POTENTIAL CLIENTS IN THAT JURISDICTION AND THINK ABOUT HOW TO CONNECT WITH THEM.
Providing Trust Services
SAL remains SAL’s a trusted custodian of confidential information and documents, with several statutory functions.
The appointment of Commissioners for Oaths and Notaries Public
Authentication of notarial certificates and legalisation of public documents.
SAL provides stakeholding services for sale and purchase transactions
For newly developed private residential properties, commercial properties and executive condominiums under certain statutory schemes
SAL manages the national Wills Registry
Through which the public can deposit and enquire about wills deposited in the registry.
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Commissioner for Oaths
Appointed from 1 October 2022 to 30 September 2023
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Commissioner for Oaths
Appointed from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023
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Notaries Public
Appointed from 1 October 2022 to 30 September 2023
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Notaries Public
Appointed from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023
Sharing Beyond Borders
As a symbol of its excellence, SAL has been invited to share its experience in managing and digitalising public trust services with global partners.
The SAL team with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Malaysia, during the latter’s study visit to Singapore in August 2022.
SAL’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer Mr Paul Neo introducing the e-Register system at the HCCH Conference in Manila in October 2022.
