Creating access to quality legal representation – The queen's counsel (re)appears in Singapore

• Main Author: LAU, Kwan Ho
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2012
• Subjects: Asian Studies; Comparative and Foreign Law
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/2863; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/4821/viewcontent/Creating_access_to_quality_legal_representation___The_queen_s_counsel__re_appears_in_Singapore.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Litigants coming up against a large banking institution or corporation in Singapore have not always been able to procure quality legal representation. The larger law firms there, with their established dispute resolution practices and stables of Senior Counsel, are often unable or unwilling to act in litigation against their institutional clients. This article investigates the extent of the problem and the Ministry of Law’s soluion of easing the criteria for ad hoc admission of Queen’s Counsel in Singapore. The author then looks, in some detail, at the factors that a court might consider in any foreign lawyer’s application for admission. Finally, it is argued that while the Ministry’s solution is a bold one, it is not perfect, and other measures should be considered to ameliorate the litigant’s predicament against the large bank or corporation. Six suggestions are therefore proffered for future discussion.