CHANGES TO THE LEGAL SERVICE COMMISSION

The Legal Service Commission (“LSC”) was restructured and its membership expanded from 6 members to 9 members effective from 1 November 2007.

Background

Constitution of the Republic of Singapore (Amendment) Act 2007

3 The Constitution of the Republic of Singapore (Amendment) Act 2007 was passed by Parliament on 16 July 2007 and assented to by the President on 27 July 2007. The amendments were brought into operation on 1 November 2007. The amendments to the Constitution provide for:

(a) the re-constitution of the LSC’s membership; and

(b) the establishment of Personnel Boards for the Legal Service.

4 The functions and duties of the LSC remain as before, viz., to appoint, confirm, emplace on the permanent establishment, promote, transfer, dismiss and exercise disciplinary control over officers in the Legal Service.

Composition of the LSC & Members

5 The composition of the LSC prior to 1 November 2007 was as follows. The Chief Justice was the President of the LSC. The members were the Attorney-General, the Chairman of the Public Service Commission (“PSC”), a Judge of the Supreme Court nominated by the Chief Justice and two members of the PSC nominated by the Chairman of the PSC.

6 The composition of the LSC with effect from 1 November 2007 is as follows. The Chief Justice will remain the President of the LSC. The Attorney-General and the Chairman of the PSC will remain members of the LSC. There are to be at least 3 and up to 6 other members appointed to the LSC by the President of Singapore (“the President”). These other members are to be appointed if the President, acting in his discretion, concurs with the advice of the person nominating the member(s). The Chief Justice, the Chairman of the PSC and the Prime Minister are to each nominate at least one but not more than 2 members. The new members of the LSC may hold office for such period as the President may specify (not shorter than 3 years and not longer than 5 years) and be eligible for re-appointments.

7 The amendments exclude certain categories of persons from being appointed as members of the LSC. These include public officers, Members of Parliament, members of trade unions and holders of any office in any political association.

8 The President appointed 6 persons to be members of the LSC for a period of 3 years with effect from 1 November 2007. The details of the full composition of the LSC with effect from 1 November 2007 are below:

 

COMPOSITION OF THE LEGAL SERVICE COMMISSION
EFFECTIVE 1 NOVEMBER 2007

President, Legal Service Commission

Justice Chan Sek Keong
The Honourable the Chief Justice

Members, Legal Service Commission

Mr Chao Hick Tin
The Honourable Attorney-General

Dr Andrew G K Chew
The Chairman, Public Service Commission

Justice V K Rajah
Judge of Appeal, Supreme Court

Justice Lee Seiu Kin
Judge, Supreme Court

Mr Michael Lim Choo San

Dr Philip N Pillai

Mr Lucien Wong

Mr Lee Tzu Yang

Secretary, Legal Service Commission

Mr Hamzah Moosa

 

A pen-picture of each of the 6 members is at FACTSHEET 2 .

Personnel Boards of the Legal Service

9 The amendments to the Constitution provide for the establishment of one or more Personnel Boards to exercise all or any of the powers and functions of the LSC. The powers of the LSC will be devolved to these Personnel Board(s) except the power of dismissal and disciplinary control over all Legal Service Officers (“LSOs”), and all powers over LSOs of and above a certain “threshold grade”. Upon the establishment of the Personnel Board(s), the powers of the LSC will cease to be exercisable by the Commission, except in an appellate capacity. An LSO who is aggrieved by a decision of a Personnel Board may appeal to the LSC whose decision will be final.

10 The framework and composition of the Personnel Board(s) will be approved by the President. The President will also approve the appointments of the Chairman and members of the Personnel Board(s). The current framework of the Legal Service Special Personnel Board and Senior Personnel Board will continue until the establishment of the new Personnel Board(s).

FACTSHEET 1

BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE FOR THE REVISION IN THE COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE OF THE LEGAL SERVICE COMMISSION

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Law Professor S Jayakumar had in the Ministerial Statement of 3 April 2006 stated as follows. The Constitutional framework for the Legal Service had remained largely unchanged since independence, even though the demands on legal services had changed radically. There was a need to strengthen the personnel management system to make it more robust and responsive to the new challenges in managing talent and personnel in the expanded Legal Service. The LSC, as it was constituted, had its limitations. The composition and structure of the LSC needed to be revised. The membership of the LSC needed to be widened by providing for the appointment of independent members. The LSC needed to be restructured to include a wider range of experience, for example people who have worked in personnel management, or with knowledge of the Legal Service or the legal profession. They could be from the private sector, and could include retired Judges or retired Senior Counsel. Their appointment would be subject to the safeguard of the elected President, as is the case with the appointment of members of the PSC. This change would require amending the Constitution.

The need to restructure the LSC was reiterated during the second reading of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore (Amendment) Bill on 16 July 2007. DPM Prof Jayakumar stated as follows. There was a need to strengthen the personnel management system to make it more robust as well as more responsive to the new challenges in managing talent and personnel in the expanded Legal Service. The membership of the LSC needed to be widened to provide for the appointment of more members with experience that was relevant to the Singapore Legal Service of today. The LSC would be restructured to include members with a wider range of experience, for example those who have worked in personnel management, or with knowledge of the Legal Service or the legal profession. They could be from the private sector, and could include retired Judges or retired Senior Counsel.

 

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FACTSHEET 2

PEN PICTURE OF EACH OF THE SIX MEMBERS OF THE LSC

Justice V K Rajah

Justice V K Rajah was first appointed a Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court on 2 January 2004 and thereafter a Judge on 1 November 2004. Justice Rajah was appointed a Judge of Appeal on 11 April 2007.

Justice Rajah graduated from the National University of Singapore in 1982 with several prizes for academic merit and subsequently obtained an LLM (First Class) from the University of Cambridge in 1986.

Justice Rajah commenced practice with Rajah & Tann in 1983. In 1997, he was appointed a Senior Counsel. He was the Managing Partner of Rajah & Tann from 1987 to 2003, prior to his elevation to the Bench. He oversaw the growth of the firm from 6 lawyers to more than 160 lawyers and 200 staff.

Justice Lee Seiu Kin

Justice Lee Seiu Kin was appointed a Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court on 15 October 1997. He was appointed the Second Solicitor-General at the Attorney-General’s Chambers on 15 October 2002. He was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court on 11 April 2006.

Justice Lee graduated with a BA in Engineering (Honours) from the University of Adelaide in 1976. He thereafter obtained a Masters of Science from the National University of Singapore in 1982 and an MBA (Distinction) in Business Admin/Studies from the European Institute of Business Administration (INSEAD) in 1983. He went on to complete his law degree at the National University of Singapore in 1986. After completing his LLM at the University of Cambridge in 1987, Justice Lee joined the Singapore Legal Service and was posted to the Attorney-General’s Chambers and appointed a State Counsel.

Justice Lee was appointed a Member of the LSC on 19 April 2006 and chaired the Legal Service Personnel Management Review Panel which undertook from April to September 2006 a comprehensive review of the HR framework and practices in the Legal Service.

Mr Michael Lim Choo San

Mr Michael Lim is the Chairman of the Land Transport Authority, the National Healthcare Group Pte Ltd and Nomura Singapore Ltd. He retired on 31 December 2003 as the Executive Chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers, Singapore, after more than 30 years with the firm, including 11 years as Executive Chairman. He was appointed a Member of the Public Service Commission in 1998. He was appointed a Member of the Nanyang Technological University Board of Trustees in March 2006. He was awarded the Public Service Star and the Public Service Medal in 2003 and 1998, respectively.

Dr Philip N Pillai

Dr Philip Pillai is the Senior Partner at Shook Lin & Bok LLP. He graduated from the University of Singapore with an LLB (First Class) in 1971, the LLM in 1973 and the SJD at Harvard. He was called to the Singapore Bar in 1972. Dr Pillai taught at the Law Faculty of the NUS from 1971 to 1985, and was Vice Dean from 1982 to 1985. His practice is corporate, corporate finance, international finance, regulatory and international trade.

Dr Pillai is a Trustee on the International Board of Trustees for the Haggai Institute, Atlanta and is a Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators and the Singapore Institute of Directors. He sits on the Board of Directors of Prudential Assurance Company Singapore (Pte) Ltd, Hotung Investment Holdings Ltd, ST Engineering Ltd, ST Electronic Ltd and Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Among other appointments, he had previously been a board member of the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Singapore General Hospital Pte Ltd.

Mr Lucien Wong Yuen Kuai

Mr Lucien Wong is the Managing Partner of Allen & Gledhill LLP. He graduated from the University of Singapore in 1978. He was called to the Singapore Bar in 1979. Mr Wong specialises in banking, corporate and financial services work and has extensive experience in debt and equity issues, mergers and acquisitions, banking transactions, and securitisations.

Mr Wong is a board member of the Monetary Authority of Singapore and a member of the Board of Trustees for the SingHealth Endowment Fund and the National University of Singapore. He also sits on the Boards of Directors of Cerebos Pacific Limited and Singapore Airlines Ltd.

Mr Lee Tzu Yang

Mr Lee Tzu Yang joined Shell in May 1979. He read economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is concurrently Vice-President, Asia Pacific, Shell Global Solutions, and Chairman, Shell Companies in Singapore. Mr Lee has worked in supply, trading, manufacturing, sales and marketing, and internal consultancy within Shell, in a wide range of countries.

Mr Lee is very active in public life, and has a keen interest in the arts. His roles and appointments include membership of the boards of the Singapore International Chamber of Commerce, the Singapore Arts School, the National Arts Council, and the Board of Trustees of the National University of Singapore. He was awarded the Public Service Star in 2005.