Admission to the Singapore Bar
Practice Training Period
In view of the current circuit breaker measures in place, the period during which a practice trainee works from home will be recognised as practice training period as long as the practice trainee is able to work from home under supervision, and the supervising solicitor is able and willing to certify that he or she did in fact supervise the work of the practice trainee in the practice of Singapore law during the period that the practice trainee worked from home. This will also apply to relevant legal training in a Singapore law practice. Service of a practice training period is a requirement for admission as an advocate and solicitor. It is the period during which a qualified person is required to receive supervised training in relation to the practice of Singapore law. The requirements relating to the practice training period are set out in Part IV of the Legal Profession (Admission) Rules 2011. |
If a qualified person is required to serve a practice training period, he must obtain approval of the Institute of the manner in which he is to serve his practice training period. Please click here to apply for approval. You may register with a new email address to apply for approval or use the same email address used to apply for registration as a Qualified Person and/or the Part B Bar Examinations and Course In the course of securing a training contract, please be mindful of Part C of Guidance Note 3.9.1 issued by the Law Society of Singapore. Click here to view. |
A qualified person may serve his practice training period by receiving supervised training in relation to the practice of Singapore law under a practice training contract with a Singapore law practice, or through working as a Legal Service Officer, or under the supervision of a qualifying relevant legal officer.
The duration of the practice training period is 6 months. However, if a qualified person receives supervised training through working as a Legal Service Officer or through working under the supervision of a qualifying relevant legal officer, 6 months of such supervised training will only count as 1 month of his practice training period. Therefore if a qualified person serves his entire practice training period through working as a Legal Service Officer or through working under the supervision of a qualifying relevant legal officer, the duration of the training period is 36 months. A person who became a qualified person on or after 9 October 2009 and serves his practice training period under a practice training contract must complete his service of his practice training period within a continuous period of 8 months. However, if a person who became a qualified person on or after 9 October 2009 serves his practice training period or any part thereof through working as a Legal Service Officer or under the supervision of a qualifying relevant legal officer, he must complete his service of his practice training period within a continuous period of 48 months. |
A practice training contract is a formal training arrangement between a qualified person and a Singapore law practice, pursuant to which the qualified person receives, and the Singapore law practice provides, supervised training in relation to the practice of Singapore law. The requirements relating to practice training contracts are set out in Part V of the Legal Profession (Admission) Rules 2011. A qualified person who is serving his practice training period is called a practice trainee. The solicitor who is responsible for the supervision of the practice trainee under a practice training contract is called a supervising solicitor. A supervising solicitor must be in active practice in a Singapore law practice and must have in force a practising certificate for at least 5 of the 7 years immediately before the commencement of his supervision of the practice trainee.
Download the guidelines issued by the Institute pursuant to the Legal Profession (Admission) Rules 2011 here: The Singapore law practice must ensure that the practice trainee is supervised by a supervising solicitor who is in active practice in the Singapore law practice, that the practice trainee is based in Singapore and that the supervising solicitor performs his responsibilities. |
A Singapore law practice which provides a practice trainee with supervised training under a practice training contract must register with the Institute every practice training contract and the particulars of the practice trainee and his supervising solicitor. When registering a practice training contract with the Institute, a Singapore law practice must:
Click here for sample of letter to register practice training contracts - Single. Click here for sample of letter to register practice training contracts - Group. |
The commencement date of the practice training period is stated in the Institute’s letter approving the manner of service of practice training period under Rule 24(1)(d) of the Legal Profession (Admission) Rules 2011. The following apply when computing the statutory 6 months of practice training period under a practice training contract:
The following apply when computing practice training period through working as a Legal Service Officer or working under the supervision of a relevant legal officer (as referred to in Rule 14 of the Legal Profession (Admission) Rules 2011:
Last Updated: 22 April 2020 |