SINGAPORE: Six trainee lawyers who scammed in the 2020 Club examinations withdrew their applications on Monday (Aug 15) in order to practise law within Singapore.
The six are Ms Monisha Devaraj, Mr Kushal Atul Shah, Mr Sreeraam Ravenderan, Mr Matthew Chow Jun Feng, Mr Lionel Wong Choong Yoong and Ms Lynn Kuek Yi Ting.
Five of them shared answers for six exam papers via WhatsApp, while Ms Kuek was discovered to have colluded along with another candidate to cheat in three of the documents.
All 6 were given permission by a High Court determine on Monday to withdraw their Pub applications.
To practise law in Singapore, law graduates must be admitted towards the Bar by passing a set of exams generally known as Part B.
The Pub refers to legal professionals who have satisfied all the needs for legal training and vocational exercising to be admitted since advocates and solicitors of the Singapore Court.
In Apr, Justice Choo Ryan Teck adjourned the Bar admission hearing of Microsoft Kuek for a 12 months, and the hearings of the remaining 5 trainees for 6 months.
This followed a proposal from your Attorney-General that a little more time for the trainee lawyers to think about the error of the ways would be beneficial to them.
The Attorney-General had objected to the Bar programs of the six, taking the view that they lacked credibility and integrity because they cheated in the Part B exams.
Lawyer Sreenivasan Narayanan, who represented Ms Devaraj, Mr Shah and Mr Wong, told the courtroom that his customers realised the six-month period was insufficient for them to “show which the circumstances of being a fit and correct person have changed”.
He mentioned they needed time to address issues elevated in Justice Choo’s earlier judgment, along with the guidance given by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon in another withdrawal application by a student lawyer who cheated, Mr Leon Tay Quan Li.
Mr Sreenivasan told Justice Choo that the three gives “deep thought” to what they have done plus consult the other stakeholders of the Bar admissions process before making any kind of future application.
These stakeholders would be the Attorney-General, the Law Community and the Singapore Company of Legal Training (SILE).
“There will be no half-baked attempts and any application will be made after deep and considered reflection, inch said Mr Sreenivasan.
Lawyers symbolizing the three other trainees echoed Mr Sreenivasan’s submissions.
Justice Choo allowed the particular withdrawals after associates of the Attorney-General, Legislation Society and SILE did not object to them.
He stated that the trainee lawyers should find act as paralegals or similar roles in the legal profession, so that “a respected mentor might testify to their suitability to reapply” towards the Bar.
He or she did not set a moment for the trainee attorneys to reapply, saying: “Although each situation will be different, it will also rely on the testimony of the mentors and your subsequent conduct.
“That would be a matter that you should consider yourselves, without having me having to say what the time must be. ”