Lawyers in Singapore

Lawyers in Singapore are part of a fused profession, meaning that they may act as both a solicitor and as an advocate, although lawyers usually specialise in one of litigation, conveyancing or corporate law.[1]

The number of lawyers in Singapore has fluctuated but has been on a generally upward trend. There were 3,300 lawyers in 2006.[2] In 2009, Parliament approved changes to replace the 'pupillage' system with structured training, and to make it easier for lawyers to return to practice.[3] In 2007, there were 4,200 lawyers practising law in Singapore, up from 4,000 in 2002.[4] In July 2009, there were 95 foreign firms with offices in Singapore, and 840 foreign lawyers, up from 576 in 2000.[5][6] Six international firms were given licence to practice local corporate law for the first time in December 2008.[7] In 2012, there were 5,200 lawyers practising in Singapore, according to statistics from the Ministry of Law (MinLaw).[4] Between 2018 and 2022, the number of practising lawyers increased from 5,365 to 6,273 according to statistics from the Law Society of Singapore.[8]

The Big Four law firms in Singapore are generally regarded to be Allen & Gledhill, Rajah & Tann, WongPartnership and Drew & Napier.[9] In addition, Dentons Rodyk & Davidson has on recent occasion been termed a "Big Five" law firm, although this appellation has appeared most frequently in private legal ranking directories and on two occasions in the The Straits Times.[10][11][12]

Ranking by scale

The following table ranks, by size, the largest 20 domestic and international law firms with at least one office situated in Singapore in 2022.[13]

2022 rank Name Headquarter(s) Total number of partners Total number of associates Total number of lawyers Remarks
1 Allen & Gledhill Singapore 151 272 420 Domestic with regional legal network
2 Rajah & Tann Singapore 157 170 332 Domestic with regional legal network
3 WongPartnership Singapore 117 215 332 Domestic with regional legal network
4 Drew & Napier Singapore 114 154 331 Domestic with regional legal network
5 Dentons Rodyk & Davidson Singapore for local entity; Polycentric for Dentons 93 84 179 Swiss Verein
6 Shook Lin & Bok Singapore 61 80 141 Domestic
7 Baker & McKenzie Wong & Leow Singapore for local entity; Chicago for Baker McKenzie 33 83 134 International & Swiss Verein
8 Withers KhattarWong London 32 63 95 International
9 Clifford Chance London 20 61 87 Magic Circle
10 Harry Elias Partnership Singapore 24 54 78 Domestic
11 Allen & Overy London 15 58 75 Magic Circle
12 Stephenson Harwood (Singapore) Alliance with Virtus Law LLP London 21 46 67 International
13 Norton Rose Fulbright London 15 46 61 International & Swiss Verein
14 RHTLaw Asia Singapore 23 23 58 Domestic with regional legal network
15 Bird & Bird ATMD Singapore for local entity; London for Bird & Bird 14 36 50 International
16 Oon & Bazul Singapore 19 29 48 Domestic
17 K&L Gates Straits Law Singapore for local entity; Pittsburgh for K&L Gates 16 24 48 International
18 Herbert Smith Freehills London & Sydney 14 15 47 International
19 White & Case New York City 14 31 45 International
20 Ashurst London 15 25 40 International

See also

References
  1. Ewing-Chow, Michael; Aedit Abdullah (1999). "The Structure of the Legal Profession". In Kevin Tan (ed.). The Singapore legal system (2 ed.). NUS Press. p. 531. ISBN 9971-69-213-9.
  2. "Number of lawyers in Singapore shrinks". Legalbrief Today. 6 July 2006. Retrieved 2009-10-02.
  3. Lum, Selina (19 August 2009). "Changes to legal profession". Straits Times. Archived from the original on 23 August 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-02.
  4. "Headline: Fresh grads shun smaller law firms" (PDF). Smu.edu.sg. The Straits Times. 12 March 2012. p. B1. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  5. Kong, Loh Chee (7 December 2007). "Carrots for lawyers to stay in S'pore". channelnewsasia.com. Retrieved 2009-10-02.
  6. Tan, Andrea (31 August 2009). "Singapore to Make Billions Handling Cross-Border Arbitrations". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2009-10-02.
  7. Tan, Andrea (11 August 2009). "Singapore Won't 'Turn Back,' Will License New Foreign Law Firms". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2009-10-02.
  8. "Statistics of Legal Practitioners in Singapore | Law Society of Singapore". www.lawsociety.org.sg. Retrieved 2023-04-11.
  9. Auto, Hermes (2020-11-16). "Benchmarking Singapore's best law firms | The Straits Times". www.straitstimes.com. Retrieved 2023-01-30.
  10. "How Singapore's Big Five law firm Dentons Rodyk is embracing the future of work and ditching its traditional office for good | The Legal 500". www.legal500.com. Retrieved 2023-04-11.
  11. Vijayan, K.C. (2022-11-15). "1 in 10 law firms here voted into Singapore's best law firms list | The Straits Times". www.straitstimes.com. Retrieved 2023-04-11.
  12. Vijayan, K.C. (2022-11-24). "Rising stars named among the best law firms in 2023 list | The Straits Times". www.straitstimes.com. Retrieved 2023-04-11.
  13. "ALB Asia Top 50 2022 | Asian Legal Business". www.legalbusinessonline.com. Retrieved 2023-04-11.


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