Financial & Other Information

 

NAME OF ORGANIZATION:

 

The Law Society Of Singapore Pro Bono, Learning And Support Services

 

ADDRESS:

 

39 South Bridge Road, Singapore 059724

 

CONTACT INFORMATION:

 

Lim Tanguy Yuteck
Tel No. 65360650
Fax No.: 6534 5237
tanguy@lawsoc.org.sg
www.lawsociety.org.sg

 

CHARITY STATUS:

 

Charity Regn No: T07CC2064L
Charity Regn Date: 01/08/2007
Constitution: Not for profit corporate established under the Legal Profession Act.
Date of establishment: 1967
ROS/RCB Regn No: N/A

 

IPC STATUS:

 

IPC Regn No: IPC000571

 

OBJECTIVES:

 

The Law Society of Singapore is a not-for-profit body corporate established under the Legal Profession Act and its purposes and powers are subject to the provisions of the Legal Profession Act. The purposes of the Law Society are set out in section 38 of the Legal Profession Act. The affairs of the Law Society are managed by the Council of the Law Society. The composition of the Council are expressly set out in sections 48 and 49 Legal Profession Act and the powers of the Council are set out in sections 58, 59, 60, 61 and 62 of the Legal Profession Act. The purposes and powers of the Law Society and Council are set out in Appendix PBS1-LSC. The objects for which the initiative, the Law Society of Singapore Pro Bono, Learning And Support Services is established are: (1) To implement the Law Society's vision and initiatives as to the provision of pro bono legal services in Singapore; (2) To coordinate the provision of civil, criminal and community pro bono work between the Law Society and other agencies; (3) To conduct and coordinate, on an ongoing basis, volunteer recruitment drives for pro bono services, manage and monitor activities of volunteers, and organize and implement training initiatives for volunteers; (4) To identify pro bono opportunities and oversee all pro bono initiatives of the Law Society including without limiting the foregoing: (4a) Criminal Legal Aid Scheme: To implement, establish, manage, administer and/or make provision for a scheme to provide legal representation and/or assistance to impecunious persons on non-capital charges; (4b) Law Awareness initiative: To implement, establish, promote, manage, administer and/or make provision for public education programs aimed at raising public awareness of the law, which shall include without limiting the foregoing: (i) organizing public education seminars, forums, exhibitions and other events and activities; and (ii) publishing basic legal information; (4c) Project Law Help initiative: To implement, establish, promote, manage, administer, and/or make provision for a scheme to provide non-litigation legal advice to charities, not-for-profit organizations, social enterprises, voluntary welfare organizations, and any institution of a public character approved under the Charities Act; (4d) Community Legal Clinics: To implement, establish, promote, manage, administer, and/or make provision for legal clinics in Singapore to provide legal advice and information to impecunious persons on matters where they are not represented by advocates and solicitors; (5) To facilitate the acquisition of legal knowledge by members of legal profession and members of public, including without limiting the foregoing, establishing a library; (6) To grant prizes and scholarships and to establish and subsidise lectureships in educational institutions in subjects of study relating to law; (7) To protect and assist the public in Singapore in all matters touching or ancillary or incidental to the law.

 

VISION/MISSION:

 

The vision of the Law Society is the provision of pro bono services is to ensure access to justice for all in Singapore.

 

Its initiatives currently comprise of programmes to ensure public awareness of their legal rights and duties, the provision of general legal advice to individuals and voluntary welfare organisations and charities, the provision of legal assistance and representation to impecunious persons in non-capital criminal proceedings and schemes to encourage all lawyers to pledge their support and commitment in undertaking the Society's pro bono initiatives.

 

NO. OF BENEFICIARIES:

 

Community Legal Clinics (September 2007 – September 2008)

No. of enquiries: 3,230
No. of registered applicants: 2,924
No. of applicants who received legal advice: 2,414
No. of volunteer lawyers: 379
No. of student volunteers: 342

 

Criminal Legal Aid Scheme (January – December 2008)

 

No. of applications received: 969
No. of applications accepted: 223
No. of volunteer lawyers: 342

 

Project Law Help (January – December 2008)

 

No. of applications received: 11
No. of volunteer law practices: 19

 

PROGRAMS/ACTIVITIES:

 

The Law Society of Singapore is strongly committed to its mission of sustaining a competent and independent bar which upholds the rule of law and ensures access to justice. It is intended for the initiative, The Law Society of Singapore Pro Bono, Learning & Support Services, (the "PLS Services") to fulfil the Law Society's vision and mission of facilitating access to justice, including raising public awareness of the law and facilitating the acquisition of legal knowledge. Over the years, the scope and range of pro bono work undertaken by the legal profession and the Law Society has been steadily expanding. Initiatives undertaken over the past years include: (1) the establishment of the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme in 1985 to provide legal aid to the poor; and (2) the establishment of the Law Awareness initiative in 1997, an initiative aimed at raising awareness of the law by conducting public education seminars, forums and exhibitions regularly and the publication of basic legal information; and (3) the establishment of the Project Law Help initiative in 2004 to provide free non-litigation commercial legal advice to charities, non-profit organizations and voluntary welfare organizations to assist the public in Singapore. A fourth major initiative on an unprecedented scale undertaken by the Law Society is the establishment and running of free legal clinics 4 nights a week every week of the year at the North-West and South-East Community Development Councils. These community legal clinics, which commenced operation on 10 September 2007, provide basic legal advice and information to needy Singaporeans and permanent residents across Singapore. It is hoped that in time, there will be legal clinics in all the Community Development Councils across Singapore. All the above key pro bono initiatives of the Law Society and all other new pro bono schemes to be developed and implemented by the Law Society are now administered through the newly set up Pro Bono Services Office of the Law Society. The Pro Bono Services Office is an initiative established with the funding support of the Ministry of Law and the Singapore Academy of Law, following a comprehensive review conducted in 2006 by the Law Society on the provision of legal aid in Singapore to facilitate access to justice. It is proposed that the PLS Services administers the work of the Pro Bono Services Office and all other matters relating to the facilitation of access to justice, including raising public awareness of the law; and facilitating the acquisition of legal knowledge and the study of law; and generally assisting the public in matters relating to the law. It is anticipated that the range and scope of the PLS Services will continue to expand and grow in time to come.

 

PATRONS:

 

N/A

 

TRUSTEES/BOARD MEMBERS:

 

Mrs Arfat Selvam (Chairperson)
Mr Jimmy Yim SC
Mr George Lim
Mr N Sreenivasan
Mr Gary Pryke
Mr Thio Shen Yi SC
Ms Malathi Das
Mr Christopher Koh

 

KEY EMPLOYEES:

 

Mr Lim Tanguy, Director Pro Bono Services Office
Ms Wong Peck Lin, Director Community Relations

 

AUDITOR
Name of Audit Firm ad	Chan Kum Chee & Co
Full Name*	Lim Poh Suan
Date of Appointment*	14/01/2008
Public Accountants Board (PAB) Registration number*	00305

 

FINANCIAL INFORMATION

 

Income	Year 1 (S$’000)	Year 2 (S$’000)	Year 3 (S$’000)	% Increase/ (Decrease) [Year 3 on Year 2]
Donations in Cash - Tax Deductible - Non-Tax Deductible1	316,625 53,068
Donations in Kind - Tax Deductible - Non-Tax Deductible	--- ---
Grants / Sponsorships	340,000
Investment income	4,797
Investment gains	---
Others (please specify if material)	---
Total Income	714,490

 

Expenses	Year 1 (S$’000)	Year 2 (S$’000)	Year 3 (S$’000)	% Increase/ (Decrease) [Year 3 on Year 2]
Direct Fund-raising Expenses2	98,018
Charitable Activities Expenses3 - Local - Overseas	481,660
Other Operating & Ad ministration Expenses4	134,812

 

¹ These include donations collected through flag days, donations that entail benefits to the donors and donations received for overseas purposes.
² This refers to costs directly incurred and paid for during fund-raising. They include such costs as advertisements, printing, publicity materials, rental of premises, logistics, hiring of commercial third-party fund-raisers, organizing games of chance, etc.
³ These are all resources applied by the charity in undertaking its work to meet its charitable objectives in the delivery of goods and services. Such costs include the direct costs of the charitable activities together with those support costs incurred that enable these activities to be undertaken.
⁴ These are expenses which relate to the general running of the charity that provide the governance infrastructure which allows the charity to operate, to generate the information required for public accountability, and the strategic planning processes that contribute to future development of the charity.

 

Expenses	Year 1 (S$’000)	Year 2 (S$’000)	Year 3 (S$’000)	% Increase/ (Decrease) [Year 3 on Year 2]
Others (please specify if material)	---
Total Expenditure	714,490
Surplus / (Deficit)	---

 

Balance Sheet	Year 1 (S$’000)	Year 2 (S$’000)	Year 3 (S$’000)	% Increase/ (Decrease) [Year 3 on Year 2]
ASSETS
Land and Buildings	143,380
Other Tangible Assets	340,000
Investments	5,636
Inventories
Accounts Receivable
Cash & Deposits	571,205
Others (please specify if material)	---
Total Income	714,490
FUNDS (To breakdown by each fund as suggested below)
Unrestricted Fund5	501,652
Restricted Fund6	---
Endowment Fund7
Total Funds	501,652
LIABILITIES
Long-Term Liabilities	120,000
Current Liabilities	98,569
Total Liabilities	720,221

 

⁵ These are generally unrestricted funds which the IPC is free to use for its programmes and operating costs e.g. General Fund.
⁶ These are special funds held by the IPC that can only be applied for specific purposes, e.g. Building Fund.
⁷ These are funds which the IPC holds in trust for the benefit of the IPC as a capital fund. Generally, only interest income from Endowment Funds are used, and not the capital sum.

 

Balance Sheet	Year 1 (S$’000)	Year 2 (S$’000)	Year 3 (S$’000)	% Increase/ (Decrease) [Year 3 on Year 2]
Total Funds and Liabilities

 

Other Information	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	% Increase/ (Decrease) [Year 3 on Year 2]
Donations/Grants and Sponsorships given to other Charities (S$’000)	316,625 53,068
No. ofNo. of Employees	8
Total Employee Costs (S$’000)	448,531
Total Related Party Transactions8 (S$’000)	---
Fund-raising efficiency9	26.51%
Ratio of reserves to annual operating expenditure 10

 

⁸Related Party Transactions refer to transactions between the IPC and another person where either person could have influence over the other. For example, if a board member of an IPC is related to a certain supplier of services for the IPC, the value of the transactions should be disclosed. Refer to the Financial Reporting Standards for the full definition of Related Party Transactions.
⁹ This is computed according to the formula given in regulation 2 of the Charities (Institutions of a Public Character) (Amendment) 2008 Regulations. Details on the computation of this ratio can also be found on the Charity Portal.
¹⁰This is expressed in the ratio of C to D, where C refers to Unrestricted Funds; and D refers to Charitable Activities Expenses and Other Operating and Administration Expenses.

 

 

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