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SINGAPORE: After weeks of debate within the legal community over the election of the Law Society of Singapore (LawSoc) president, a majority of members at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Monday (Dec 22) voted for a resolution for Mr Dinesh Singh Dhillon to step aside as incoming president.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Senior counsel Tan Cheng Han is set to assume the role instead.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The EGM was held at Wyndham Singapore Hotel at 5pm to vote on a Dec 17 resolution, in which Mr Dhillon agreed to step aside as LawSoc president in 2026 \u201cin the interest of preserving unity\u201d for the Bar.<\/p>\n
Lawyers began streaming in to register from at least an hour before, forming a long queue to enter the venue even after the meeting had started.<\/p>\n
In total, around 500 lawyers turned up, with chairs having to be added to the packed ballroom.\u00a0Mr Dhillon and Professor Tan were among the lawyers present.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Senior lawyers Peter Cuthbert Low and Chandra Mohan K Nair, who first voiced concerns over independence following Mr Dhillon’s appointment as incoming president and had requisitioned for the EGM, were also at the meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The proceedings began at about 5.20pm and was led by the sitting LawSoc president Lisa Sam.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the meeting that lasted more than two hours, the members discussed various issues faced by the LawSoc in recent months, including independence of the Bar and whether office-holders should first be elected into the LawSoc council.<\/p>\n
LawSoc is also facing an internal workplace harassment probe conducted by TSMP Law, though this was not a matter of discussion during the EGM.<\/span><\/p>\n At several points, lawyers streamed out of the closed-door meeting to the reception counter to scan a QR code in order to vote.\u00a0<\/p>\n Several rounds of voting were conducted, including one to amend the consent resolution to state that the LawSoc president shall be an elected member of the council. This vote was passed by a majority.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the close of the meeting, a majority voted in favour of the consent resolution. Out of a total of 428 votes, 370 (86.5 per cent) voted for the amended consent resolution, while there were 58 votes against.<\/p>\n Earlier in 2025, Mr Dhillon was elected by the majority of the 21-member LawSoc council to lead the society as president in 2026.<\/p>\n He is the first president-elect to be a statutory member appointed by the Law Minister to the LawSoc council.<\/p>\n This meant that Mr Dhillon, the co-head of international arbitration practice at Allen and Gledhill, was not elected into council by LawSoc’s roughly 6,400 members.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nEARLIER CONCERNS OVER BAR INDEPENDENCE<\/h2>\n