Practice Training Period

Overview

The practice training period is a mandatory component of the requirements for admission as an Advocate and Solicitor under Section 13 of the Legal Profession Act 1966. The duration of the practice training period is 12 months, and the 12 months must be completed within a continuous 16-month period.

You may fulfil the practice training period through supervised training in Singapore law in any of the following ways:

• Under a practice training contract with a Singapore Law Practice;
• Under a practice training contract with a qualifying entity (for a period of up to 3 months); or
• Through working as a Judicial Service Officer, a Legal Service Officer or under the supervision of a qualifying relevant legal officer.

Commencement

When can I start my practice training period?

Practice training period under a practice training contract

If you are a Qualified Person and intend to undertake your practice training period under a practice training contract, you may start your training after satisfactorily attending and completing the Part B Course, even if you have not yet passed the Part B Examinations. You may begin or continue your practice training period while waiting for your examination results. Once you pass the Part B Examinations, you may proceed to apply for admission as a Lawyer (Non-Practitioner) under Section 11A of the Legal Profession Act 1966.

Re-takers for the Part B Examinations may continue to undertake their practice training period whilst preparing to re-sit the Part B Examinations, and this duration will be counted towards their practice training period.

Practice training period in public service

If you are a Qualified Person and intend to serve your practice training period as a Judicial Service Officer or Legal Service Officer, or if you are undergoing training under the supervision of a qualifying relevant legal officer, it is advisable that you begin your practice training period after completing the Part B Course in order for you to comply with the requirement to complete the practice training period of 12 months within a 16-month period. Please note that the 12-month practice training period must be served within a continuous period of 16 months. It is not possible to serve practice training and undertake the Part B Course and Examinations simultaneously. Please refer to Rules 30(5), 31 and 32 of the Legal Profession (Admission) Rules 2024 for the relevant provisions.

Requirements

Practice training contract requirements

Seat Requirements

During your 12-month practice training period under a practice training contract, you are required to complete an Advocate Seat and a Solicitor Seat in different practice areas, as well as a Core Seat and a Secondary Seat. You must also complete the General Practice Training Checklist, which contains key legal tasks and competencies that apply across all practice areas.

Please refer to the Practice Training Period Guidelines 2024 released by the SILE for more information.

Mandatory Course Requirements

During your training, you must complete 3 mandatory courses:

• An online training course on professional ethics;
• An online training course on the Legal Profession (Solicitors’ Account) Rules; and
• An Advocacy workshop.

If you are undertaking a 12-month practice training period as a Legal Service Officer, Judicial Service Officer, or working under the supervision of a Qualifying Relevant Legal Officer, you are not required to complete the Mandatory Course Requirements.

Mandatory Review Session Requirements

In addition, your supervising solicitor must conduct a review session with you every 3 calendar months during the first 9 months of your practice training period and complete the prescribed Review Form. During the 3^rd review session, your supervising solicitor must also discuss with you your potential retention at the Singapore law practice. These review requirements do not apply if you are training in a qualifying entity or the public sector.

The Review Form, Practice Area Checklists and the General Practice Training Checklists must be submitted to the SILE no earlier than 2 weeks before and no later than 2 weeks after the end of the 3 calendar months to which the training review relates.

Practice Areas

What practice area can you train in?

The following practice areas are currently available and may be undertaken as either a Core Seat or a Secondary Seat. Each seat type has its own set of task completion requirements, which must be met in accordance with the relevant Practice Area Checklist.

If you are completing an Advocate Seat, you may choose from the following practice areas:

• Arbitration
• Civil Litigation
• Criminal Litigation
• Family Practice
• Intellectual Property Practice

If you are completing a Solicitor Seat, you may choose from the following practice areas:

• Competition Law & Antitrust
• Corporate & Commercial Practice (General)
• Corporate & Commercial Practice (Specialised): Merger & Acquisitions; REITs; Tax; Banking; Corporate Regulatory & Compliance; Debt Capital Markets; Equity Capital Markets; Energy, Infrastructure & Projects; Finance Regulatory & Compliance; and Investment Funds.
• Family Practice
• Intellectual Property Practice
• Real Estate Practice
• Technology & Data
• Probate & Succession Planning
• Working in an in-house legal department (qualifying entity) – only available as a Secondary Seat.

Please note that while Family Practice and Intellectual Property Practice appear under both Advocate and Solicitor categories, you may not fulfil both seat requirements by training in the same practice area.

Qualifying Entity (In-House)

How do you serve the practice training period in a qualifying entity?

You may count a maximum of 3 months served in a qualifying entity towards the practice training period.

A qualifying entity is a sole proprietorship, partnership, or body corporate (excluding Singapore law practices) with a legal department that:

• handles Singapore law-related work;
• employs at least 3 individuals admitted to practise in Singapore or elsewhere; and
• employs at least 1 individual meeting the criteria under Rule 37 of the Legal Profession (Admission) Rules 2024.

To serve your practice training period in a qualifying entity, you must enter into a separate practice training contract. If you intend to fulfil your Secondary Seat requirement in a Solicitor Seat while training in a qualifying entity, you must complete the In-house Practice Area Checklist in full. If the checklist is incomplete, the time spent will still count towards your overall 12-month requirement, but will not be recognised as fulfilling the Secondary Seat requirement.

Covering Law Practice

How do you serve the practice training period through a Covering Law Practice?

If your Singapore law practice is unable to provide you with the required exposure to a Secondary Seat, it may arrange for you to be rotated to a Covering Law Practice to do so. This is another Singapore law practice where you will complete your Secondary Seat under the supervision of a designated lawyer, referred to as the Covering Supervisor. The original law practice must register the Covering Law Practice with the SILE using the prescribed form when registering the practice training contract. This registration is done online at the time of the practice training contract registration.

The Covering Supervisor must be an advocate and solicitor who meets the eligibility requirements for supervising solicitors under Rule 33 of the Legal Profession (Admission) Rules 2024.

Although you will be temporarily serving the practice training period in another Singapore law practice, your supervising solicitor, who is named in your registered practice training contract, remains fully responsible for your training.

The supervising solicitor must review the Practice Area Checklist for your Secondary Seat in consultation with the Covering Supervisor and may consider their feedback in the overall evaluation for the purpose of fulfilling the practice training period requirements. The Covering Supervisor must also review the Practice Area Checklist with your supervising solicitor and confirm your completion of the appropriate tasks listed in the checklist.

Registration

How do you register your practice training period?

If you are undertaking your practice training period under a practice training contract, the Singapore law practice or qualifying entity engaging you as a practice trainee must register the practice training contract with the SILE and obtain approval for the training period. Please refer to the Practice Training Period Guidelines (2024) for the relevant time periods for registration.

Registration can be done as early as 6 weeks before the training begins, but no later than 14 days before the commencement of the training. If the practice training contract is not registered within this timeframe, then any period served prior to the lodgement of the registration will not be counted towards the practice training period served for the purposes of Rule 29 of the Legal Profession (Admission) Rules 2024.

• If you are training under a Singapore law practice, the registration must be completed online via the Practice Training Period Online Portal.
• If you are training under a qualifying entity or serving your practice training period as a Judicial Service Officer, Legal Service Officer, or under the supervision of a qualifying relevant legal officer, you will need to complete and submit the prescribed Forms offline. Once completed, the forms should be sent to the SILE via email.

Changes

What if there are changes to the manner of serving your practice training period?

If there are any changes during your practice training period, such as a change in any of the following:

• Singapore law practice
• Qualifying entity
• Seats and/or practice areas
• Supervising solicitor in Singapore law practice or qualifying entity
• Covering law practice
• Commencement date

you must notify the SILE before the change takes place, and no later than 14 days after the change. If the SILE is not notified within this timeframe, the period served under the unregistered manner of service after the change will be disregarded.

To notify the SILE of any changes, please submit the prescribed form via email.

Calculation

How is the practice training period calculated?

When calculating your practice training period, days are measured in calendar days and counted as either full or half days.

A practice training period cannot start or end on a weekend or public holiday.

During your 12-month practice training period, any day on which you are absent from practice training (such as days on which you take medical leave, maternity leave, parental leave, marriage leave, paid or unpaid leave, national service leave, firm closures or any other form of leave provided by the Singapore law practice) is regarded as a non-training day.

The SILE will count up to 18 days of absence towards the completion of your practice training period. This means you will not need to make up these 18 days, as they will still be counted as part of your overall practice training period.

If you are absent for more than 18 days during the practice training period, the number of days in excess of 18 will need to be made up. You may only make up your shortfall on working days (i.e. weekdays which are not public holidays).

Attending courses, workshops or other activities prescribed by the SILE as part of the practice training requirements is not considered an absence. Attendance at the Mass Admission Ceremony and briefing will not be treated as non-training days. Any days taken off-in-lieu for public holidays that fall on a Saturday or Sunday are not treated as non-training days.

You may combine different periods of your practice training period served at multiple Singapore law practices or undertaken in different qualifying entities. However, the total duration must add up to 12 months (or 365 calendar days) and must be completed within a continuous 16-month period.

Completion

What must be submitted upon completion of the practice training period?

Once you have completed the 12-month practice training period, you must submit the following documents to the SILE:

• Completed Practice Area Checklists;
• Completed General Practice Training Checklist;
• Training Review Forms (if applicable);
• Certificates of Diligence from the law practice(s) and/or qualifying entity(ies); and
• Letter of Certification for Non-Training Days.

The SILE will assess the submissions, and if all requirements have been met, it will issue a certificate Form B(2) confirming the completion of your practice training period. You will need to submit this certificate when applying for admission as an Advocate and Solicitor.

Moratorium

A moratorium applies to the timing of when law students may apply for practice training contracts and when Singapore law practices may offer them.

A moratorium applies to individuals who, in the ordinary course of progression, are eligible to begin the Part B Course in July 2027 or later. If your academic timeline has been delayed or disrupted, such as by failing a module or deferring your graduation, you will not be considered to have breached the moratorium.

If the moratorium applies to you, you may only apply for a practice training contract no earlier than 1 year before the first day of the month in which the earliest session of the Part B Course which you would be eligible to undertake in the ordinary course of progression starts. However, if you are already a Qualified Person or an Eligible Person under Section 2 of the Legal Profession Act 1966, you may apply for a training contract at any time.

If you have, before 1 October 2024, secured a training contract that starts in January 2028 or later, the moratorium does not apply to you.

You may refer to Part 2 of the Practice Training Period Guidelines 2024 for examples of how the moratorium applies.

Disclosure

Disclosure of matters which may affect suitability of practice

Practice trainees are encouraged to disclose and discuss any past incidents that may affect their suitability for admission as a lawyer (NP) and as an advocate & solicitor with their supervising solicitor/ supervisor as may be applicable to their manner of service of the practice training period. If in doubt about the need for disclosure, practice trainees should consult their supervising solicitor/ applicable supervisor for guidance.

More information

You may refer to the Practice Training Period Guidelines 2024 for more information. The prescribed forms required for the Practice Training Period may be downloaded from the Resources page.