Lawyers in Singapore

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lawyers in Singapore are part of a fused profession, meaning that they may act as both a solicitor and as an advocate, although lawyers usually specialize in one of litigation, conveyancing or corporate law.[1]

The number of lawyers in Singapore has declined in the first decade of the 21st century.[2] There were 3,300 lawyers in 2006.[3] Parliament approved changes in 2009 to replace the 'pupillage' system with structured training, and to make it easier for lawyers to return to practise.[4]

International law firms are generally limited to corporate, finance and banking law.

In 2007, there were 4200 lawyers practising law in Singapore, up from 4000 in 2002.[5]

In July 2009, there were 95 foreign firms with offices in Singapore, and 840 foreign lawyers, up from 576 in 2000.[6][7] Six international firms were given license to practice local corporate law for the first time in December 2008.[8]

In 2012, there were 5200 lawyers practising in Singapore, according to statistics from the Ministry of Law.[5]

Large firms such as Drew & Napier, Rajah & Tann Asia and Allen & Gledhill constitute about 20% of the law industry's practitioners.[5]

Ranking by Scale[]

The following table ranks, by size, 14 domestic and international law firms with at least one office situated in Singapore.[9] There are 1996 qualified lawyers, comprising 670 partners and 1161 associates, working across these top-14 domestic and international law firms in Singapore.[9]

2018 Rank Name Headquarter(s) Total number of Partners Total number of Associates Total number of Qualified Lawyers Remarks
1 Allen & Gledhill Singapore 154 232 388 Domestic
2 Rajah & Tann Singapore 136 182 318 Domestic
3 Drew & Napier Singapore 69 104 250 Domestic
4 Dentons Rodyk & Davidson LLP Singapore 86 98 204 Domestic
5 Baker & McKenzie Wong & Leow Singapore 29 77 124 Domestic
6 Clifford Chance United Kingdom 23 72 108 Magic Circle
7 Shook Lin & Bok Singapore 35 66 101 Domestic
8 Harry Elias Partnership Singapore 22 75 97 Domestic
9 Withers KhattarWong Singapore 34 47 91 Domestic
10 Norton Rose Fulbright Singapore 19 48 67 International
11 RHTLaw Asia Singapore 24 28 66 Domestic
12 Linklaters United Kingdom 10 47 65 Magic Circle
13 Allen & Overy United Kingdom 15 46 64 Magic Circle
14 Bird & Bird ATMD Singapore 14 39 53 Domestic

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Ewing-Chow, Michael; Aedit Abdullah (1999). "The Structure of the Legal Profession". In Kevin Tan (ed.). The Singapore legal system (2 ed.). NUS Press. p. 531. ISBN 9971-69-213-9.
  2. ^ Nee, Seah Chiang (14 June 2008). "Interest in the professions dropping". Malaysia Star. Retrieved 2009-10-02.
  3. ^ "Number of lawyers in Singapore shrinks". Legalbrief Today. 6 July 2006. Retrieved 2009-10-02.
  4. ^ Lum, Selina (19 August 2009). "Changes to legal profession". Straits Times. Archived from the original on 23 August 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-02.
  5. ^ a b c "Headline: Fresh grads shun smaller law firms" (PDF). Smu.edu.sg. The Straits Times. 12 March 2012. p. B1. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  6. ^ Kong, Loh Chee (7 December 2007). "Carrots for lawyers to stay in S'pore". channelnewsasia.com. Retrieved 2009-10-02.
  7. ^ Tan, Andrea (31 August 2009). "Singapore to Make Billions Handling Cross-Border Arbitrations". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2009-10-02.
  8. ^ Tan, Andrea (11 August 2009). "Singapore Won't 'Turn Back,' Will License New Foreign Law Firms". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2009-10-02.
  9. ^ a b "ALB Asia Top 50 2018: Another Year of Growth and Expansion | Asian Legal Business". www.legalbusinessonline.com. Retrieved 2019-08-04.

External links[]


Stub icon

This Singapore-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

  • v
  • t
Retrieved from ""