On 20/05/2013,
you requested for the version in force on 20/05/2013
incorporating all amendments published on or before 20/05/2013.
The closest version currently available is that of 30/12/2000.
11.
—(1) The court may, in its discretion and subject to the provisions of this Act, admit as an advocate and solicitor of the Supreme Court —
(a)
any qualified person under the provisions of this Part; or
(b)
(2) No person who is a qualified person by reason of his having passed the final examination for the degree of Bachelor of Laws in the National University of Singapore shall be admitted as an advocate and solicitor before the degree of Bachelor of Laws is conferred upon him.
(3) A person shall not be disqualified by sex from being admitted and enrolled as an advocate and solicitor.
12.
—(1) Subject to section 15, no qualified person shall be admitted as an advocate and solicitor unless he —
(a)
has attained the age of 21 years;
(b)
is of good character;
(c)
has satisfactorily served the prescribed period of pupillage for qualified persons;
(d)
has attended such courses of instructionas may be prescribed by the Board; and
(e)
has passed such examinations as may be prescribed by the Board.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1)(d) and (e), the Board may, in its discretion, exempt a qualified person from attending such courses of instructionand passing such examinations as may be prescribed by the Board if it is of the opinion that that qualified person is, by reason of his experience or for other cause, a fit and proper person to be so exempted.
13.
—(1) For the purposes of this Part, a qualified person shall, during his period of pupillage, be known as a pupil and a person with whom a pupil serves his period of pupillage or any part thereof shall be known as a master.
(2) Subject to this section and section 14, the prescribed period of pupillage shall be 6 months.
[10/91]
(3) A pupil shall, before his petition is heard, attend and satisfactorily complete a course of instruction organised or recognised by the Board for the purposes of this section unless exempted therefrom under section 12(2).
(4) No person shall, without the special leave in writing of the Board, hold any office or engage in any employment of whatsoever kind and whether full-time or part-time during his period of pupillage.
(5) Subsection (4) shall not —
(a)
apply to a legal officer; or
(b)
preclude a pupil receiving remuneration from his master.
(6) Where a pupil attends the course of instruction referred to in subsection (3) concurrently with his period of pupillage, the period spent in attendance at such course of instruction shall not be counted for the purpose of subsection (2).
14.
—(1) A pupil shall, subject to the approval of the Board, serve his prescribed period of pupillage —
(a)
with an advocate and solicitor in active practice in Singapore of not less than 5 years’ standing who, for a total of not less than 5 out of the 7 years immediately preceding the relevant date, has been in such practice or has been a legal officer or both;
(b)
with any legal officer in Singapore who is an advocate and solicitor of not less than 5 years’ standing who, for 5 out of the 7 years immediately preceding the relevant date, has been a legal officer or has been in active practice in Singapore or both;
(c)
with an advocate and solicitor who has at any time held office as the Attorney-General or as a Judge of the Supreme Court; or
(d)
partly with an advocate and solicitor under paragraph (a) or (c) and partly with a legal officer under paragraph (b).
[10/91; 40/96]
(2) In any case where subsection (1)(b) or (d) applies, 6 months’ pupillage with a legal officer shall count as one month’s period of pupillage with an advocate and solicitor.
[10/91; 41/93; 40/96]
(3) For the purposes of this section and section 13(5), “legal officer” includes a legal officer of the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore.
[41/93]
(4) The Board may approve a request that a qualified person serve different parts of his period of pupillage with different masters.
(5) The Board may, in its discretion, exempt a qualified person from a maximum of 3 months’ pupillageupon application made supported by satisfactory evidence that the applicant —
(a)
has been a pupil or read in the chambers of a practising barrister of the United Kingdom or of a member of the Faculty of Advocates in Scotland of more than 7 years’ standing;
(b)
is a solicitor in England or Northern Ireland or a writer to the Signet, law agent or solicitor in Scotland;
(c)
has been engaged in active practice as a legal practitioner by whatever name called in any part of the Commonwealth; or
(d)
has attended such course of instruction and successfully passed such examination as may be approved by the Board for the purposes of this section.
[15/89]
15.
—(1) A Malayan practitioner who does not qualify under subsection (2) may be admitted as an advocate and solicitor without being required to serve any period of pupillage or to attend any courses of instruction, but he shall not be admitted unless he has satisfied the Board in such examinations as may be prescribed by the Board.
(2) A Malayan practitioner who has been in active practice in any part of Malaysia for a continuous period of not less than 3 years in the 4 years immediately preceding his petition for admission may be admitted as an advocate and solicitor without being required to serve any period of pupillage or to attend any course of instruction or to pass any examination.
16.
—(1) Subject to this section, a Hong Kong practitioner who, for a continuous period of not less than 3 years immediately preceding his petition for admission, has been in active practice in Hong Kong as a barrister or solicitor may be admitted as an advocate and solicitor without being required to serve any period of pupillage or to attend any course of instruction or to pass any examination.
[17/84]
(2) A Hong Kong practitioner shall not be admitted as an advocate and solicitor under subsection (1) unless the Board or the Attorney-General certifies that by reason of his qualifications and experience he is a fit and proper person to be admitted as an advocate and solicitor.
[17/84]
(3) Section 18 shall apply, with the necessary modifications, to any petition for admission under this section as it applies to a petition for admission under section 15(2).
[17/84]
(4) The following provisions shall apply to a Hong Kong practitioner who is admitted as an advocate and solicitor under this section:
(a)
he shall not practise as an advocate and solicitor unless he is a partner or associate of or is employed by an advocate and solicitor of at least 12 years’ standing;
(b)
if he has practised as an advocate and solicitor in accordance with the restriction under paragraph (a) for a period of at least 2 years and has during that period resided in Singapore for at least 12 months in the aggregate, he shall be entitled to practise as an advocate and solicitor without being subject to that restriction.
[17/84]
(5) The Minister may exempt any Hong Kong practitioner from subsection (4)(a) where he is of the opinion that the Hong Kong practitioner is of sufficient standing and experience to be so exempted.
[17/84]
(6) In this section —
“associate”, in relation to an advocate and solicitor, means a person who is neither a partner nor an employee of that advocate and solicitor but carries on practice in the same office and maintains separate accounts;
“Hong Kong practitioner” means any person who is entitled to practise as a barrister or solicitor in Hong Kong.
[17/84]
(7) Subsection (1) shall cease to have effect from 1st January 1995, and no Hong Kong practitioner shall be admitted as an advocate and solicitor under that subsection unless he has filed his petition for admission before that date.
[41/93]
17.
—(1) This section shall apply to every person who proposes to apply to be admitted as an advocate and solicitor by virtue of section 11(1)(a) or 15(1).
(2) An application for admission by such person shall be by a petition to the court and the petition shall be verified by affidavit.
(3) The petitioner shall file his petition in the Registrar’s office accompanied by a notice intimating that he has so applied, which notice shall be posted and continue to be posted at the Supreme Court for 6 months before the petitioner is admitted as an advocate and solicitor.
(4) Every petitioner shall, not less than 12 days before his petition is to be heard, file an affidavit exhibiting to that affidavit —
(a)
true copies of any documentary evidence showing that he is a qualified person or a Malayan practitioner, as the case may be;
(b)
2 recent certificates as to his good character;
(c)
a certificate of diligence from each master with whom the petitioner served his pupillage in cases where the petitioner is required to serve a period of pupillage or in the absence thereof such other evidence as the court may require that he has served the pupillage with diligence; and
(d)
a certificate signed by the Secretary of the Board that the petitioner has satisfactorily served the period of pupillage or articles, has attended the courses of instruction (or has been exempted therefrom under section 12(2)) and has passed any examinations that may be required in his case under the provisions of this Act.
(5) The petition, notice, affidavit and certificates referred to in this section shall be in the form prescribed by the Board.
18.
—(1) This section shall apply to every person who applies to be admitted as an advocate and solicitor by virtue of section 15(2).
(2) An application for admission by such a person shall be by a petition to the court and the petition shall be verified by affidavit.
(3) The petitioner shall file his petition in the Registrar’s office not less than one month before it is to be heard.
(4) The petition shall have exhibited to it —
(a)
a true copy of the order of court admitting and enrolling the petitioner as a Malayan practitioner;
(b)
a certificate issued by another Malayan practitioner who shall be of not less than 7 years’ standing that to his personal knowledge the petitioner has been in active practice in Malaysia for a continuous period of not less than 3 years in the 4 years immediately preceding the petition; and
(c)
a recent certificate issued by the secretary or other officer of the body charged with responsibility for investigating allegations of professional misconduct or breaches of professional discipline in those parts of Malaysia where the petitioner has practised that at the date of the certificate no disciplinary proceedings are pending or contemplated against the petitioner and that his professional conduct is not under investigation.
(5) The petition and certificates referred to in this section shall be in the form prescribed by the Board.
19.
—(1) A copy each of every petition and affidavit required to be filed under section 17 or 18 together with true copies of each document exhibited thereto shall, within 5 days of the document being filed in the Registrar’s office, be served on the Attorney-General, the Board and the Society.
(2) If the Attorney-General, the Board or the Society intends to object to any petition, there shall be served on the petitioner not less than 3 clear days or such shorter period as the court may allow a notice of objection in which shall be set out in brief terms the grounds of objection.
(3) Any such notice of objection shall be filed in the Registrar’s office at any time before the day fixed for the hearing of the petition.
(4) It shall not be necessary for the Attorney-General, the Board or the Society to be represented at the hearing of any petition unless the Attorney-General, the Board or the Society, as the case may be, intends to object to that petition.
20.
—(1) Any person may enter a caveat against the admission of any petitioner and upon such a caveat being entered, no application for the admission of the petitioner shall be heard except after not less than 3 clear days’ notice has been given to the person entering the caveat.
(2) Every caveat under this section shall be entered in the Registrar’s office and shall contain the full name, occupation and address of the caveator, a brief statement of the grounds of his objection and an address for service.
(3) If at any time after the admission of any petitioner as an advocate and solicitor it is shown to the satisfaction of the court that any petition, affidavit, certificate or other document filed by a petitioner contains any substantially false statement or a suppression of any material fact, the name of the petitioner shall be struck off the roll.
21.
—(1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Act, the court may, for the purpose of any one case where the court is satisfied that it is of sufficient difficulty and complexity and having regard to the circumstances of the case, admit to practise as an advocate and solicitor any person who —
(a)
holds Her Majesty’s Patent as Queen’s Counsel;
(b)
does not ordinarily reside in Singapore or Malaysia but who has come or intends to come to Singapore for the purpose of appearing in the case; and
(c)
has special qualifications or experience for the purpose of the case.
[10/91]
(2) The court shall not admit a person under this section in any criminal case unless the court is satisfied that there is a special reason to do so.
[40/96]
(3) Any person applying to be admitted under this section shall do so by originating motion verified by an affidavit of the applicant or of the advocate and solicitor instructing him stating the names of the parties and brief particulars of the case in which the applicant intends to appear.
(4) The originating motion and affidavit or affidavits shall be served on the Attorney-General, the Society and the other party or parties to the case.
(5) At the time of the service, the applicant shall pay the prescribed fee to the Attorney-General and the Society for their costs incurred in the application.
[41/93]
(6) Before admitting a person under this section, the court shall have regard to the views of each of the persons served with the application.
(7) The Registrar shall, on payment of the prescribed fee, issue to every person admitted under this section a certificate to practise specifying in it the case in which the person is permitted to appear.
(8) Any person to whom a certificate to practise has been issued under subsection (7) shall, for the purpose of his employment in that case, be deemed to be a person to whom a certificate to practise has been issued under section 25.
(9) The Registrar shall not enter the names of persons admitted under this section upon the roll but shall keep a separate roll for persons admitted under this section.
(10) In this section, “case” includes any interlocutory or appeal proceedings connected with a case.
22.
—(1) Any person dissatisfied with any decision of the Board may apply to a Judge for a review of the decision.
(2) If the Board fails to determine any request within 3 months after it has been first submitted to it, the applicant may apply under this section as if the request had been determined adversely to him.
(3) Every application under this section shall be made by summons in chambers in the petition of the appellant if he has filed a petition and otherwise by originating summons.
(4) The Judge hearing the application may, in his discretion, adjourn the application into open court.
(5) Every such summons in chambers or originating summons, as the case may be, shall be supported by evidence on affidavit and shall be served together with the affidavit on the Board and shall not be heard until after the expiry of 12 days after service on the Board.
(6) At or before the hearing of the application, the Board may submit to the Judge a confidential report which shall not be filed in court but a copy thereof shall be furnished to the applicant.
(7) A confidential report under this section shall be absolutely privileged.
(8) At the hearing, the Judge may dismiss the application or may make such order in accordance with the provisions of this Act as he thinks fit.
(9) A Judge who is a member of the Board shall not hear any application under this section.
23.
—(1) Petitions for admission as an advocate and solicitor shall, except during a court vacation, be heard on the second Wednesday of every month unless the Chief Justice otherwise orders for any particular month.
(2) No petition for admission shall be heard by a Judge who is a member of the Board.
24.
—(1) Every person admitted as an advocate and solicitor of the Supreme Court shall make the declaration set out in subsection (2).
(2) Subject to any necessary modification to conform to the religious beliefs of the petitioner, the declaration shall be in the following form:
“I, A.B., do solemnly and sincerely declare (and swear) that I will truly and honestly conduct myself in the practice of an advocate and solicitor according to the best of my knowledge and ability and according to law.
So help me God”.
(3) The Registrar shall keep a roll of advocates and solicitors with the dates of their respective admissions.
(4) The name, with the date of admission, of every person admitted shall be entered upon the roll in order of admission.
(5) Every person admitted as an advocate and solicitor shall pay the prescribed fee and the Registrar shall deliver to him an instrument of admission signed by the Chief Justice or the Judge who admitted the petitioner.
(6) This section shall not apply to persons admitted under section 21.