New Law Society president Tan Cheng Han says dispute over presidency was ‘settled gracefully’, unity restored

“This was because council understood the resolution as stating that the president must be an elected member and therefore Mr Dhillon’s election was illegitimate as a matter of law.”

The resolution was later amended to clarify that members were not challenging the validity of Mr Dhillon’s appointment, but to express the view that the council “ought to” elect an elected member as president, Prof Tan said.

“This is clearly a resolution that is within the power of the EGM to pass.

“Moving forward, it will be good practice for council to discuss the scope of the resolution with members if council is of the view that there may be issues with the resolution to be passed,” he said, adding that such situations “should be rare”.

Looking back, Prof Tan said one thing that could have been handled differently was for the council to contact Mr Low and Mr Chandra Mohan earlier to consider amending the original resolution, which they eventually did.

Asked about whether other office bearers should also be elected members, which some lawyers also believe should be the case, Prof Tan said that non-elected members have been vice president and treasurer on numerous occasions without concern.

“Thus, while I understand why some members may feel that such positions should also be open only to elected members of council, I do not think there is much support for such a view.”

GOALS AS PRESIDENT

With his presidency now under way, Prof Tan’s immediate priorities include helping lawyers use AI effectively, enhancing their skills to “better weather” the impact of technology, and ensuring the sustainability of legal practice – particularly for younger lawyers and smaller firms.

He also hopes to expand the legal profession’s overseas reach.

“I intend to ask members to help council to think through how best these challenges can be addressed. I believe there is much wisdom within the profession and we can come up with good ideas if we think about the issues collectively.

“The solutions will also require us to act collectively as a profession so I would like members to co-curate them and have a sense of ownership of the direction forward.”

On the matter of the independent workplace harassment probe into LawSoc, which was reportedly conducted by TSMP Law Corporation, Prof Tan declined comment, citing confidentiality.