Registered foreign lawyers

In July 2009, there were 95 foreign firms with offices in Singapore, and 840 foreign lawyers, up from 576 in 2000.^[4][5] Six international firms were given a licence to practice local corporate law for the first time in December 2008.^[6]

Ranking by scale

The following table ranks, by size, the largest 20 domestic and international law firms with at least one office situated in Singapore in 2022.^[11]

Replacement of pupillage system

In 2009, Parliament approved changes to replace the 'pupillage' system with structured training, and to make it easier for lawyers to return to practice.^[12]

Decoupling admission to the Bar from practising certificate

In August 2016, Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon established a Committee for the Professional Training of Lawyers (CPTL) to conduct a "root-and-branch" review of the professional training regime for lawyers in Singapore and to make recommendations on how it might be improved to raise the quality and consistency of training standards.^[13]

On 29 March 2018, the CPTL released its report, which included three key recommendations: (a) decouple admission to the Bar from the right to practise law; (b) raise the standard and stringency of the Part B examinations; and (c) lengthen the practice training period from six months to a year. The CTPL also made various other specific recommendations.^[14]

In August 2018, MinLaw announced that it had accepted the CTPL's recommendations in principle and that the changes would be implemented from the 2023 session of the Part B examinations onwards.^[15]

MinLaw conducted a public consultation on the CTPL's proposals from 15 November 2019 to 27 December 2019.^[13]

On 27 February 2023, it was announced that the implementation of the new professional training regime based on the CTPL's recommendations would be deferred and would only apply from the 2024 session of the Part B examinations onwards. According to MinLaw, the deferment was on account of feedback from the legal industry to the effect that more time was required to adapt to the recommended changes, taking into account the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[16] For example, according to Gregory Vijayendran, the doubling of the practice training period would in effect double the cumulative allowance that needed to be paid to trainees. Ng Wai King also explained that law firms needed more time to review their human capital needs and rethink their training requirements.^[17]

On 3 October 2023, the Ministry of Law introduced the Legal Profession (Amendment) Bill in Parliament to implement the changes.^[18]

In November 2023, the Legal Profession (Amendment) Act was passed by Parliament.

Admission to the Bar

A person seeking to be admitted to the Singapore Bar will generally need to meet the requirements to be a 'qualified person' (QP) and complete the Part B examinations (a practical course of instruction, culminating in practical and written examinations).^[21]

To be considered a QP, a person will need to obtain an approved law degree. A list of approved law degrees is set out in the Legal Profession (Qualified Persons) Rules, which includes Bachelor of Laws and Juris Doctor degrees from various universities in Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, England, and the United States.^[22][23]

Persons seeking to be QPs solely on the basis of an approved law degree conferred by a university outside Singapore will generally need to fulfil additional requirements to qualify as a QP, namely:^[23]

1. They must be a Singapore citizen or permanent resident
2. They must graduate with at least a Second Class Honours or be in the top 70% of their cohort
3. Their degree programme must have been undertaken on a full-time basis, they must have been an internal candidate, and the course of study must have been for at least 3 academic years
4. The degree must not have been conferred as part of a twinning programme, must not be a combined or dual degree, external degree, or accelerated degree
5. They must complete six months of relevant legal training (RLT) in Singapore or overseas
6. They must pass the Part A examinations