Qualified Person

Relevant Legal Training or Relevant Legal Practice or Relevant Legal Work

Overview

One of the requirements to be a qualified person for graduates from overseas scheduled universities set out in the Schedules to the Legal Profession (Qualified Persons) Rules, they must have, after passing the final examination for the approved degree, received relevant legal training (“RLT”) or having been engaged in relevant legal practice (“RLP”) or relevant legal work (“RLW”).

RLT, RLP or RLW may be undertaken before, concurrently with, or after the Part A Examinations (including the Part A Course). No registration with the Institute is needed prior to commencing RLT, RLP or RLW.

The definitions of RLT, RLP and RLW are set out in Rule 2 of the Legal Profession (Qualified Persons) Rules.

Relevant Legal Training (“RLT”)

The definition of RLT is set out below:

any supervised training in relation to the practice of Singapore law received, prior to becoming a qualified person, under a formal training arrangement with a Singapore law practice;
any supervised training received, prior to becoming a qualified person, as a pupil, or through reading in the chambers, of a practising barrister of the United Kingdom or of a member of the Faculty of Advocates in Scotland of more than 7 years’ standing;
any supervised training in relation to the practice of foreign law received, prior to becoming a qualified person, under a formal training arrangement with a foreign law practice; or
any supervised training in relation to the practice of Singapore law —
1. through working —
  1. as a Judicial Service Officer or a Legal Service Officer (or both); or
  2. under the supervision of a relevant legal officer (called in this paragraph a qualifying relevant legal officer) who is an advocate and solicitor of not less than 5 years’ standing and who, for a total of not less than 5 out of the 7 years immediately preceding the date of commencement of the supervised training, has been a relevant legal officer or has been in active practice in a Singapore law practice or both;
2. through working under the supervision of 2 or more qualifying relevant legal officers; or
3. partly through working as a Judicial Service Officer or a Legal Service Officer (or both) and partly through working under the supervision of one or more qualifying relevant legal officers.

Relevant Legal Practice (“RLP”) or Relevant Legal Work (“RLW”)

The definition of RLP and RLW is set out below:

active practice as —
1. a legal practitioner, by whatever name called, in any jurisdiction other than Singapore; or
2. a foreign lawyer in Singapore; or
work of a legal nature which is performed as a legal counsel in any corporation or other entity the equity securities of which are listed on the official list of a securities exchange in Singapore or elsewhere.

Duration

Graduates must have received RLT or been engaged in RLP or RLW for a period of not less than 6 months within a continuous period of 8 months.

Calculation

The commencement and the last day of RLT, RLP and RLW cannot be a Saturday, Sunday or gazetted Public Holiday.

Saturdays, Sundays and gazetted Public Holidays are included when computing the RLT, RLP and RLW.

Firm declared closures (i.e., non-working days which are not gazetted Public Holidays) are not counted in the computation of RLT, RLP and RLW.

A break (usually pertaining to medical, annual, reservist and compassionate leave) during RLT, RLP and RLW is not taken into account in the computation of the 6 months of RLT, RLP and RLW.

Any day taken as break during RLT, RLP and RLW will have to be made up at the end of the training period, that is, the number of days of break taken will be added to, and will extend the end date of, the RLT, RLP and RLW by an equivalent number of working days.

When determining the end date of RLT, RLP and RLW due to making up for leave taken, Saturdays, Sundays and gazetted Public Holidays cannot be counted. For example, if 2 days of break were taken, then the training period will end 2 working days later than it would have if the 2 days of break had not been taken. This applies similarly to days declared by law practices as a holiday or non-working day when that day is not a gazetted Public Holiday. For the avoidance of doubt, any break taken in lieu of a Saturday that was a gazetted Public Holiday will not be counted as a break.

Illustration 1:

Ethel commenced her RLT in a Singapore law practice on 12 August 2024. She took 3 days of leave, and the firm was closed for 2 days.

Her calculation is as follows:

Actual Period	Duration
12-Aug-2024 to 11-Feb-2025	6 months
12-Feb-2025 to 18-Feb-2025	5 working days – making up for leave taken and firm closures

Ethel’s last day of RLT is 18 February 2025 after considering 5 days of leave taken and firm closures.

Illustration 2:

Jacob passed his final examination for his LLB degree on 2 December 2024 and commenced his RLT on 3 December 2024 in a foreign law practice. He did not take any leave and there was no firm closure.

His calculation is as follows:

Actual Period	Duration
03-Dec-2024 to 02-Jun-2025	6 months

Jacob’s last day of RLT is 2 June 2025.

Illustration 3:

Ben has been engaging in active practice in England and Wales as a solicitor in a law firm in London, since 16 February 2023. He was admitted as a solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales on 15 February 2023. The law firm declared closure for 6 days and he took 13 days of leave.

His calculation is as follows:

Actual Period	Duration
16-Feb-2023 to 15-Aug-2023	6 months
16-Aug-2023 to 12-Sep-2023	19 working days – making up for leave taken and firm closures
* Calculation is based on UK calendar.

Ben’s last day of RLP is 12 September 2023 after considering 19 days of leave taken and firm closures.

Please note that for RLP, you need to indicate an 8-month period from the date of commencement of RLP. As for the declaration of leave and firm closures, you are to indicate the dates during the 8-month period.

Certification for Completion of RLT, RLP or RLW

Graduates are required to submit a certification of their completion of RLT, RLP or RLW. The templates for the certification letter are found below:

Last Updated: 11 November 2024