{"id":21171,"date":"2025-12-19T01:22:36","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T17:22:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=21171"},"modified":"2025-12-19T01:22:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T17:22:36","slug":"minlaw-looks-forward-to-full-and-thorough-probe-into-allegations-of-workplace-issues-at-law-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=21171","title":{"rendered":"MinLaw looks forward to \u2018full and thorough\u2019 probe into allegations of workplace issues at Law Society"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">SINGAPORE \u2013 <!-- -->The Ministry of Law (MinLaw) on Dec 18 said it looks forward to a \u201cfull and thorough investigation\u201d into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/independent-probe-under-way-at-law-society-following-allegations-of-workplace-bullying?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular inline\" data-testid=\"paragraph-test-id\">allegations of workplace issues at the Law Society of Singapore<\/p>\n<p><\/a>, and to the probe being completed \u201cas expeditiously as possible\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Responding to queries from The Straits Times, a MinLaw spokesman said the ministry first received information regarding the allegations in September.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">After receiving the information, the ministry sent the claims to the Law Society for review, \u201cgiven the serious nature of these allegations\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The spokesman said the Law Society is a statutory body established under the Legal Profession Act, and added that matters relating to internal workplace policies and conduct fall under the purview of the society\u2019s management and council.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">MinLaw said the Law Society informed it on Oct 11 that the matter had been referred to its audit committee for investigation, and that a report would be furnished to its council in due course. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cWe requested to be kept informed of the findings,\u201d the spokesman said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cThe ministry has not received any reports or findings to date from the Law Society, including the progress report which has been referred to in the media.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cWe look forward to a full and thorough investigation into the allegations, to be completed as expeditiously as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The spokesman added that the ministry\u2019s interest is in upholding Singapore\u2019s standing as a leading legal hub built on strong institutions and high professional standards.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cWe expect all organisations within the legal sector to uphold professionalism and maintain appropriate workplace standards,\u201d the spokesman said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">ST had reported on Dec 16 that TSMP Law was commissioned by the Law Society to conduct investigations into allegations of workplace bullying at the organisation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The society is the representative body for all lawyers in Singapore, with about 6,400 members.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The allegations had first appeared online.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">TSMP\u2019s joint managing partner, Senior Counsel Thio Shen Yi, confirmed that there was an ongoing probe, and said a progress report had been submitted to the audit committee. He declined to give further details.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Following ST\u2019s report, the outgoing Law Society president, Ms Lisa Sam Hui Min, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/outgoing-law-society-president-responds-to-report-on-ongoing-probe-at-the-professional-body?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular inline\" data-testid=\"paragraph-test-id\">said in a LinkedIn post<\/p>\n<p><\/a> that she was asked to provide information to TSMP for the purpose of investigations. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">She added in her post that she had repeatedly asked TSMP for written details of the allegations to no avail. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">ST learnt that a number of issues were highlighted during the probe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">They include claims of excessive spending during overseas trips, and a complaint about how an allegation of sexual harassment was<!-- --> handled<!-- -->.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Ms Sam said in her post that she was \u201csurprised and deeply troubled\u201d because details of an independent, confidential process were provided to the press, even before she was given the details.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">She also noted that some of the allegations in anonymous complaints had occurred even before her time in office. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Ms Sam, who has been president of the organisation since 2024, said she was \u201cat a loss to understand what meaningful update on progress or interim report could have been provided\u201d. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cThe review must still be ongoing and nowhere near complete, given that TSMP (has) yet to provide me with written details of the actual allegations,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"tags-test-id\">\n<p><button data-testid=\"button-test-id\" class=\"layer-one border-default border interactive-button text-primary disabled:layer-disabled hover:disabled:layer-disabled default\" aria-label=\"button for Singapore lawyers\"><span class=\"font-button-md-semibold\">Singapore lawyers<\/span><\/button><button data-testid=\"button-test-id\" class=\"layer-one border-default border interactive-button text-primary disabled:layer-disabled hover:disabled:layer-disabled default\" aria-label=\"button for Ministry of Law\"><span class=\"font-button-md-semibold\">Ministry of Law<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/courts-crime\/minlaw-looks-forward-to-full-and-thorough-probe-into-allegations-of-workplace-issues-at-law-society\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SINGAPORE \u2013 The Ministry of Law (MinLaw) on Dec 18 said it looks forward to a \u201cfull and thorough investigation\u201d into allegations of workplace issues&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}