Board of Legal Education

MODE OF COMMENCING APPLICATIONS AND PROCEDURE FOR ADMISSION AS ADVOCATE AND SOLICITOR

Filing of originating summons

Applicants seeking admission as an advocate and solicitor of the Supreme Court should file an originating summons in accordance with Form 5 of Appendix A to the Rules of Court at the Supreme Court Registry via the Electronic Filing Service (EFS)ⁱ. The originating summons will not specify the date of hearing. Under the space for “date/time”, the phrase “on a date to be fixed by the Court” will be inserted. The court will notify the applicant of the hearing date after the supporting affidavit is filed.

Together with the originating summons for admission, a notice in accordance with Form B of the Schedule to the Legal Profession Rules must be submitted to the Supreme Court Registry. This notice, which gives notice to the public that the applicant is seeking admission as an advocate and solicitor of the Supreme Court, has to be posted on the notice board of the Supreme Court for 6 months prior to the hearing of the originating summons for admission.ⁱⁱ A letter from the Board of Legal Education approving the applicationⁱⁱⁱ for qualified persons to register of the applicant should also be filed with the Supreme Court Registry along with the originating summons.^iv The originating summons should then be served on the Attorney-General, the Board of Legal Education and the Law Society within 5 days after being filed.

Registrar’s certificate

After a minimum period of 6 months^v following the posting of the notice of application on the notice board of the Supreme Court, the applicant must extract a Registrar’s Certificate stating that no caveat has been lodged against the application. Applicants may refer to paragraph 131 and Form 31 of the Appendix A of the Supreme Court’s Practice Directions (2007 Edition) for more information on filing the Registrar’s Certificate.

Supporting affidavit

The applicant who has fulfilled all the requirements to be admitted as an advocate and solicitor should then file an affidavit in support of his originating summons. This affidavit has to be filed at least 12 days before the hearing of the originating summons: section 17(4) of the Legal Profession Act. The affidavit, like the originating summons, should be served on the Attorney-General, the Board of Legal Education and the Law Society within 5 days of being filed. When the applicant is unable to file the supporting affidavit within the stipulated time, he should apply for an abridgment of time by way of summons. Paragraph 131 of the Supreme Court Practice Directions (2007 Edition) provides that the application for abridgment will be heard at the hearing of the application for admission as advocate and solicitor.^vi It also advises applicants to ascertain from the Attorney-General, the Law Society and the Board of Legal Education whether any objections to the abridgment will be raised.

Form C of the Schedule to the Legal Profession Rules sets out the information to be inserted into the affidavit.

Payment of prescribed fee

According to paragraph 131 of the Supreme Court Practice Directions (2007 Edition), the applicant should pay a prescribed fee and file a Request for Instrument of Admission together with the supporting affidavit. This affidavit, together with true copies of exhibits, should then be served on the Attorney-General, the Board of Legal Education and the Law Society within 5 days of the document being filed.

Declaration

At least 7 days prior to the hearing of the originating summons, the applicant is required to file a declaration according to section 24(2) of the Legal Profession Act. The form of this declaration is prescribed in Form 32 of the Appendix A of the Supreme Court Practice Directions (2007 Edition).

To facilitate smooth processing of applications, applicants may file all four documents - Registrar’s Certificate, supporting affidavit, Request for Instrument of Admission and the declaration - together. The Court will then notify the applicant of the hearing date of the originating summons.

Amendments to application

Any errors in the originating summons or notice that have already been filed should be corrected through a summons application to amend the document under Order 20 of the Rules of Court. The consent of the Attorney-General, the Board of Legal Education and the Law Society should be obtained before any such application is made. As in any application to amend, the proposed amendments to the document have to be annexed to the summons and the amendments are to be underlined or deleted in “strikethrough” mode. The amended documents should then be filed and served on the relevant parties after the court grants approval to amend.

THE HEARING

According to section 23(1) of the Legal Profession Act, applications for admission as advocate and solicitor are heard on the second Wednesday of every month unless ordered otherwise by the Chief Justice. A “mass call” is usually held once a year, on a Saturday. A Registrar’s Circular will be issued annually to notify applicants of this date.

Applicants are to personally collect their instruments of admission from the Supreme Court Registry after 5 days and within one month of the hearing of the originating summons.^vii

For ease of reference, the following flow chart is provided to summarise the above write-up. Readers should also refer to the amended Legal Profession Act and the Legal Profession Rules, as well as the Supreme Court Practice Directions (2007 Edition). The latter may be accessed at the Supreme Court’s website at http://www.supremecourt.gov.sg.

Submit to the Board of Legal Education (BLE) the “Application for Qualified Persons to Register for purpose of Admission as Advocates & Solicitors” and obtain BLE’s letter of approval.

File

1) Originating Summons (OS);
2) Notice of application; and
3) Letter from BLE

At least 6 months later; and when applicant has fulfilled conditions in s 12 of Legal Profession Act.

File

1) Supporting affidavit with exhibits;
2) Registrar’s Certificate;
3) Request for instrument of admission; and
4) Declaration

Hearing

Collect instrument of admission after 5 days and within one month of hearing of OS

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Serve OS and Notice on Attorney-General, BLE and Law Society within 5 days.

Serve Affidavit and true copies of exhibits on A-G, BLE and Law Society within 5 days.

THE FORMS

Applicants who wish to obtain a complete set of forms required for application for admission as advocate and solicitor must refer to the Legal Profession Rules.

The forms which are to be filed and served must bear original signatures. The forms for admission consist of the following:-

Admission under Section 11(1)(a) of the Act - For qualified persons

Form Type	Form Title	Section of the Act	Where to find
-	Originating Summons	Section 17(2)	Order 7, Rule 2 of the RC
Form B	Notice	Section 17(3)	Rule 15(1) of the Rules
Form C(1)	Affidavit	Section 17(4)	Rule 15(2) of the Rules
Form F(1)	Certificate	Sections 17(4)(a) & (e)	Rule 15(5) of the Rules
Form E(1), E(2), E(3), E(4), E(5) OR E(6) [whichever is applicable to you]	Certificate of Diligence	Section 17(4)(d)	Rules 13A and 15(4) of the Rules
Form D (2 copies)	Certificate of Good Character	Section 17(4)(c)	Rules 13 and 15(3) of the Rules
-	Registrar’s Certificate [To file 6 months after the Notice (Form B) is posted at the Supreme Court]	Section 17(3)	Part XVII of the PD [Para. 131(5) - Form 31]

Admission under Section 11(1)(b) of the Act - For Malayan practitioner under Section 15(1)

Form Type	Form Title	Section of the Act	Where to find
-	Originating Summons	Section 17(2)	Order 7, Rule 2 of the RC
Form B	Notice	Section 17(3)	Rule 15(1) of the Rules
Form C(2)[exhibiting true copies of any documentary evidence showing that you are a Malayan practitioner. Where any of the documents is in a language other than English, a certified true English translation of such document should be exhibited as well.]	Affidavit	Section 17(4)	Rule 15(2) of the Rules
Form F(2)	Certificate	Sections 17(4)(e)	Rule 15(5) of the Rules
Form D (2 copies)	Certificate of Good Character	Section 17(4)(c)	Rules 13 and 15(3) of the Rules
-	Registrar’s Certificate [To file 6 months after the Notice (Form B) is posted at the Supreme Court]	Section 17(3)	Part XVII of the PD [Para. 131(5) - Form 31]

Admission under Section 11(1)(b) of the Act - For Malayan practitioner under Section 15(2)

Form Type	Form Title	Section of the Act	Where to find
-	Originating Summons	Section 18(2)	Order 7, Rule 2 of the RC
Form C(3) [exhibiting a true copy of the order of court admitting and enrolling you as a Malayan practitioner. Where any of the documents is in a language other than English, a certified true English translation of such document should be exhibited as well.]	Affidavit	Section 18(4)	Rule 15(2)
Form G	Certificate of Active Practice in Malaysia	Sections 18(4)(b)	Rule 15(6) of the Rules
Form H	Certificate of Absence of Disciplinary Action	Section 18(4)(c)	Rule 15(7) of the Rules

Applicable to qualified persons for admission under section 11(1)(a) of the Act

Which Certificate of Diligence (Form E) to use?

E1	if pupillage (now known as practice training period) was done partly before 9 October and partly after 9 October under the same pupil master (now known as supervising solicitor) practising as a sole proprietor.
E2	if pupillage was done partly before 9 October and partly after 9 October under the same pupil master (now known as supervising solicitor) practising in a Singapore Law practice (meaning partnerships, LLC or LLP).
E3	for Legal Service Officers with the Legal Service partly before and partly after 9 October 2009.
E4	for legal officers with statutory boards or law office in public service partly before and partly after 9 October 2009 under the same qualifying relevant legal officer.
E5	if entire pupillage was completed before 9 October 2009 under the same pupil master but form was NOT signed before 9 October 2009.
E6	if entire pupillage was completed before 9 October 2009 under the same pupil master AND form was signed before 9 October 2009. E6 is the equivalent of the old Form E.

For those who changed firms or moved from legal service to firms or vice versa, separate forms for the separate periods must be submitted.

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i	According to paragraph 131 of the Supreme Court Practice Directions (2007 Edition), this can be filed either through a law firm Front End System or through the EFS Service Bureau located at Supreme Court.
ii	Since 2001, such notices have been posted on an electronically on the Supreme Court website http://www.supremecourt.gov.sg under “Hearing Lists and Notices” - “Admission of Advocates and Solicitors”. See Registrar’s Circular No. 6 of 2001.
iii	A qualified person who seeks admission as an advocate and solicitor to practise law in Singapore must register his name with the Board. Registration for admission must be made using the Application for Qualified Persons to Register for purpose of Admission as Advocates & Solicitors, which can be downloaded at www.lawsociety.org.sg/ble.
iv	This letter is issued pursuant to section 14 of the Legal Profession Act.
v	Section 17(3) of the Legal Profession Act. Note that the minimum period of six months may not be abridged.
vi	Paragraph 131(2) of the Supreme Court Practice Directions (2007 Edition) should be fulfilled before any application for abridgment may be made. This sub-paragraph states that the Registry will only fix an application for admission as advocate and solicitor for hearing if the applicant is able to file and serve his affidavit on the Attorney-General, the Law Society and the Board of Legal Education 7 days before the date of hearing.
vii	This information will be annotated on the Request for Instrument of Admission and returned to the applicant.