The legal service is an autonomous part of the Singapore Public Service. The employment of LSOs is the responsibility of the service alone, and is independent of the Civil Service of Singapore. The Legal Service Commission, established under Article 111 of the Singapore Constitution,[2] controls the appointment, dismissal, and disciplinary action of members of the Service.[3]
There were 307 Legal Service Officers as of 31 December 2008[4]—about 10% of Singapore's practising lawyers.[5] The current President of the Legal Service is Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon.
A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to practise there as such. For example, in England and Wales a solicitor is admitted to practise under the provisions of the Solicitors Act 1974. With some exceptions, practising solicitors must possess a practising certificate. There are many more solicitors than barristers in England; they undertake the general aspects of giving legal advice and conducting legal proceedings.
A bar examination is an examination administered by the bar association of a jurisdiction that a lawyer must pass in order to be admitted to the bar of that jurisdiction.
A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Hungary and Singapore, and some states of Australia. Brazil is the only country in which an office of government-paid lawyers with the specific purpose of providing full legal assistance and representation to the needy free of charge is established in the constitution. The Sixth Amendment of the US Constitution has been interpreted to require the US government to provide free legal counsel to indigent defendants in criminal cases, and public defenders in the United States are full-time lawyers employed by or under contract with the state or federal governments.
Walter Woon Cheong Ming is a Singaporean lawyer, academic, diplomat and politician. He is currently professor of law at the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law and the Dean of the Singapore Institute of Legal Education. His expertise is in company law and securities regulation. Educated at NUS and St. John's College, Cambridge, he joined the teaching staff of the NUS Faculty of Law in 1981 and later served as Sub-Dean and Vice-Dean. He was Legal Adviser to the President of Singapore and Council of Presidential Advisors from 1995 to 1997, and was appointed as professor of law in 1999.
Philip Antony Jeyaretnam is a Singaporean judge, lawyer and author who has been serving as Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court and Judge of the High Court of Singapore since 2021. Prior to his appointments, he served as ASEAN chief executive officer and global vice-chair at Dentons. He also served as President of the Law Society of Singapore between 2004 and 2007. Jeyaretnam was also one of the youngest lawyers to be appointed Senior Counsel in 2003 at the age of 38.
The Supreme Court of Singapore is one of the two tiers of the court system in Singapore, the other tier being the State Courts.
Christopher de Souza is a Singaporean politician and lawyer who has been serving as Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Singapore since 2020. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Ulu Pandan ward of Holland–Bukit Timah GRC since 2006.
The judicial officers of the Republic of Singapore work in the Supreme Court and the State Courts to hear and determine disputes between litigants in civil cases and, in criminal matters, to determine the liability of accused persons and their sentences if they are convicted.
The attorney-general of Singapore is the public prosecutor of Singapore, and legal adviser to the Government of Singapore. The functions of the attorney-general are carried out with the assistance of the deputy attorney-general and the solicitor-general, through the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC). The attorney-general is appointed by the president in concurrence with the prime minister's advice, under Article 35 of the Constitution of Singapore. Unlike some countries that follow the Westminster parliamentary model, the attorney-general is not a Member of Parliament (MP).
The State Courts of Singapore is one of the two tiers of the court system in Singapore, the other tier being the Supreme Court. The State Courts comprise the District and Magistrate Courts—both of which oversee civil and criminal matters—as well as specialised courts such as the coroner's courts and the Small Claims Tribunals.
Cavinder Bull is a Singaporean lawyer and the chief executive officer of the law firm Drew & Napier. He has an active practice in complex litigation and international arbitration.
Sundaresh Menon is a Singaporean lawyer and jurist who has been serving as the fourth chief justice of Singapore since 2012, appointed by President Tony Tan.
Kasinather SaunthararajahPBMSC, known professionally as K. S. Rajah, was a Senior Counsel and Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court of Singapore. Born in Penang, he came to Singapore in 1950 and worked as a teacher before embarking on part-time law studies at what was later known as the University of Singapore, graduating in 1963 with a Bachelor of Laws with honours. He then spent the next 22 years with the Singapore Legal Service, eventually heading the civil and criminal divisions of the Attorney-General's Chambers and also serving as Director of the Singapore Legal Aid Bureau and head of the Official Assignee and Public Trustee's Office. In 1985 he retired from the Legal Service and went into private practice, establishing the firm of B. Rao & K. S. Rajah.
Sivakant Tiwari, P.P.A.(E.), P.B.S., P.P.A.(E.)(L.), P.J.G., known professionally as S. Tiwari, was a senior legal officer of the Singapore Legal Service. He was educated at the University of Singapore, graduating in law in 1971. He then made the Legal Service his career, serving as head of the Ministry of Defence's legal department (1974), and head of the Attorney-General's Chambers' Civil Division (1987) and International Affairs Division (1995). He was lead counsel in three significant commissions of inquiry arising out of fatal incidents in the 1970s and 1980s. A skilled negotiator, Tiwari was a member of the Singapore delegation which dealt with the United States – Singapore Free Trade Agreement signed in 2003, and served as legal adviser to the delegation which established diplomatic relations between Singapore and the People's Republic of China. He was also on Singapore's legal team in a case concluded in 2003 that had been brought by Malaysia to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea for provisional measures against alleged damage to its territorial waters due to land reclamation by Singapore, and in the territorial dispute with Malaysia over Pedra Branca before the International Court of Justice in 2007.
Judicial independence is protected by Singapore's Constitution, statutes such as the State Courts Act and Supreme Court of Judicature Act, and the common law. Independence of the judiciary is the principle that the judiciary should be separated from legislative and executive power, and shielded from inappropriate pressure from these branches of government, and from private or partisan interests. It is crucial as it serves as a foundation for the rule of law and democracy.
Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP is a law firm headquartered in Singapore, with affiliate offices in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, DUTAMAS Founded in 1976, it is a member firm of Rajah & Tann Asia, a network of law firms in Southeast Asia with over 800 fee earners.
Tan Boon Teik was a Singaporean judge who served as Acting Attorney-General of Singapore between 1967 and 1968, and Attorney-General of Singapore between 1969 and 1992. Tan was appointed Attorney-General at the age 39, he remains the youngest person to have held this post and remains the longest-serving Attorney-General of post-independence Singapore, having held office for just over 25 years.
Desmond Lee Ti-Seng is a Singaporean politician who has been serving as Minister for National Development since 2020. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Boon Lay ward of West Coast GRC since 2020.
Bala Reddy is a veteran Singaporean senior lawyer. He is presently the senior principal district judge and director of the Community Justice and Tribunals division in the State Courts of Singapore. Reddy is an authority in international criminal justice systems and served as a legal expert for the United Nations Development Programme as well as the United Nations Convention against Corruption. Prior to his judicial appointment to the State Courts in 2014, Reddy was the Chief Prosecutor in the Attorney-General's Chambers of Singapore during Justice Steven Chong's tenure as Attorney-General.
Lucien Wong Yuen Kuai is a Singaporean lawyer who has been serving as the ninth attorney-general of Singapore since 2017.
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