“Pay them well,” Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong said in response to the shortage of lawyers in Singapore. “Greed works most of the time, even for the large majority of people in affluent societies.” It is no wonder then that the legal profession is languishing in Singapore when junior lawyers are paid more than double in Hong Kong – about S$11,650 a month compared to about S$4,000 in Singapore. Particularly, the Committee headed by Justice VK Rajah which was tasked to undertake a comprehensive review of our legal services sector has observed that “young lawyers are not attracted to criminal work, especially since this area of practice is not financially rewarding.” While courts are still efficient in leaving no backlog of criminal cases (based on the clearance rate of judicial matters mentioned by Chan CJ at the opening of the legal year) despite the smaller population of lawyers, the pressure to expedite cases can only add to the stressful and demanding nature of litigation work. Another reason which may explain why litigation attracts fewer entrants than its counterpart, corporate practice, is the perception amongst younger lawyers that more career opportunities and options are provided by corporate practice. These push factors, however, ensure that the lawyers who do filter into criminal litigation are truly passionate about their work and, as one of our Deputy Public Prosecutors put it, “appreciate the thrill of going to court”.

Sin Yan is a first year student and an associate editor of SLR.