The Singapore Mandarin broadsheet, Lianhe Zaobao has reported? that all members of the pioneer batch of graduates from the SMU School of Law who intend to become lawyers have already received practice training contracts three months before graduation.
The report goes on to say that he SMU School of Law expects to see its inaugural batch of 106 graduates this year. Apart from four in the cohort who have said that they do not intend to become lawyers following graduation, the remaining graduating students have all received training contracts from law firms. Rajah & Tann will take in the most number of law graduates from SMU, recruiting 27 people in all.
Here's the report in full
Lee Eng Beng, Senior Counsel with Rajah & Tann, said that his firm had gotten to know many of the law students after working with the SMU School of Law on internship programmes and through collaborating with the students on various activities. The competency and dynamism of the students left a deep impression on the firm.
Kelvin Low, associate dean (external relations) at the SMU School of Law, revealed that the biggest challenge facing students pursuing training opportunities is the fact that law firms do not have an in-depth understanding about the programmes being offered by the SMU Law School. SMU emphasises putting theory into practice. Therefore, it strives to help its law students obtain internship opportunities at major law firms in Singapore. This also allows the students to prove their worth to their potential employers.
Internship opportunities can allow law firms to develop a good impression of the students. This is evidenced by real-life cases and the high success rate among SMU graduates in getting training contracts. In addition, participating in internship programmes can also help law students find good opportunities in the highly competitive job market.
Students from the SMU School of Law are required to participate in a ten-week internship programme at local law firms, or the legal departments of government-linked companies, multinational corporations or law-related public organisations. They also need to do 80 hours of volunteering at voluntary welfare organisations or institutions offering pro bono legal or paralegal services.
A spokesperson for the NUS Faculty of Law said that the school's students rely on themselves to obtain training contracts and the school administration does not keep track of how many students get training contracts. According to what the school understands, the majority of the graduating students who want to practice law in Singapore already obtained their training contracts in their third year. Those who have not obtained training contracts are those who have decided to work in other sectors or who have made the decision to take a break of one year following graduation. The undergraduate law degree at the NUS law school involves a four-year programme.
According to the Legal Profession (Amendment) Act 2009, the requirement for law graduates to apply for pupillage at law firms has been replaced by the training contract system. Under this system, law firms will take up the responsibility of providing interns with training that is more systematic rather than leaving individual supervising lawyers to carry out this task.
All law graduates who intend to become a qualified lawyer in Singapore are required to complete training contracts of six months.
The NUS Faculty of Law expects to award undergraduate degrees to 223 graduates this year and they will be the second batch of graduates following the introduction of the training contract system. Among the pioneer batch of students enrolled in the SMU?School of Law, ten will only graduate next year at the earliest as they are pursuing double degrees or double majors. As a result, there will be a total of 106 graduates this year.
