Singapore wants its lawyers back.

That is the message the Singaporean government wants to send by again simplifying the bar admission process for foreign lawyers. Following a number of changes to Singapore's legal education system announced earlier this year, the government has now made further revisions.

In February, the government announced that lawyers overseas wishing to be admitted to the Singapore bar no longer had to obtain a one year diploma. The Diploma in Singapore Law (Dip Sing) was scrapped in favour of a three stage process - two bar exams (Part A based on knowledge of Singapore law, Part B around a practice law course) and a 12 month training contract with a local firm.

Now, however, lawyers qualified from a common law jurisdiction with at least two years work experience no longer have to do Part B - they will be admitted to practice after completing Part A. Also, graduates from any jurisdiction with at least six months work experience can immediately begin part three, the training contract with a local firm, after passing Part A, instead of after Part B. 

The new qualification framework comes in response to the arrival of six QFLP (Qualifying Foreign Law Practice) firms, and to meet an expected shortfall of lawyers in the coming years.

"We have an opportunity to enhance our position in the global competition for talent and these changes enable us to take full advantage of the window of opportunity," said Singapore's Law Minister, K. Shanmugam. "The return of our experienced lawyers will augment our talent pool and make our legal sector more vibrant."

Drew & Napier's Kelvin Tan agreed that this was good news for local law firms. "It will help us because these are experienced and skilled people," he said. "These people previously thought twice about working for local firms here as they would have been held back many months before they could actually start work. Now because they're free of that impediment, they can join us straight away and that's a good thing for us because they know their way around law and have experience overseas."

Tan however, had doubts as to whether the long-term aim to increase the number of lawyers will be effective. "There's a good chance of getting back certain types of lawyers, particularly those who always intended to resume their careers in Singapore at a later stage. But it obviously won't apply to everyone - some obligations may deter others. It's left to be seen how many lawyers we'll have in terms of absolute numbers, but overall these are practical and good measures because Singapore is seeing a rise in legal work and more of it of an international nature."

The National University of Singapore (NUS), one of the main bodies facilitating and handling admissions, said that interest from lawyers has been good.

"We've indeed received many email and telephone enquiries in the past few days, and we expect the Part A intake to increase as a result," said NUS associate professor, Alan Tan. "There has been very strong interest, judging from the number of applications that we've received so far."

Tan added that since the abolishment of the Dip Sing, NUS expects enquiries to increase. "We're expecting at least 50% more candidates enrolling in the Part A course [since last year]."
 
Several QFLP licensed firms, such as White & Case, have recently transferred a number of foreign-qualified lawyers to their new Singapore offices.