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SINGAPORE \u2013 Lawyer and opposition politician Lim Tean has been ordered by the Court of Appeal to surrender on July 20 to begin his jail term for practising law without a valid certificate<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n On 32 occasions during a two-month period, from April 1, 2021, to June 9, 2021, Lim attended court hearings and submitted many documents to court while not having a valid practising certificate in force.<\/p>\n He was convicted in July 2024 of three charges under the Legal Profession Act for practising law without a valid certificate, and was sentenced to six weeks\u2019 jail and a fine of $1,000<\/span><\/a> by a district judge in February 2025.<\/p>\n He appealed to the High Court against his conviction and sentence, while the prosecution appealed for a stiffer sentence of between five and eight months\u2019 jail.<\/p>\n On Feb 23, the High Court judge allowed the prosecution\u2019s appeal and enhanced\u00a0Lim\u2019s jail term to three months and a week.<\/p>\n Lim was then ordered to surrender at the State Courts on April 24, but his lawyer said he was considering taking the case to the Court of Appeal.<\/p>\n Lim later filed an application seeking permission to refer four questions of law, regarding his case, to the Court of Appeal, which is the highest court in the land.<\/p>\n On July 6, this application was refused by its panel of three judges comprising Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, Justice Woo Bih Li and Justice See Kee Oon.<\/p>\n They said the questions framed by Lim were not questions of law of public interest, and thus did not meet the necessary conditions before permission is granted.<\/p>\n Also, the determination of most of the questions would not have affected the outcome of Lim\u2019s case, the court added.<\/p>\n In Singapore\u2019s criminal justice system, there is only one tier of appeal.<\/p>\n However, if a question of law of public interest arises out of an appeal to the High Court, the case can be referred to the Court of Appeal to answer the question.<\/p>\n The apex court decides whether the question is one of sufficient public interest to be worth answering.<\/p>\n Lawyers in Singapore must apply for their practising certificate every practice year, which runs from April 1 to March 31 of the following year.<\/p>\n Lim\u00a0failed to apply for a practising certificate by March 31, 2021, because he had trouble obtaining his professional indemnity insurance, a prerequisite for applying for his practising certificate.<\/p>\n The questions he posed largely focus on the sentencing framework that the High Court judge had applied in increasing his jail term in February 2026.<\/p>\n This framework was laid down in a separate High Court case by a panel of three judges in August 2025, after Lim was first sentenced by the district judge in February 2025.<\/p>\n It related to the approach that judges should adopt when sentencing offenders \u2013 such as Lim \u2013 who are convicted of a charge that consolidates multiple instances of the same offence.<\/p>\n Lim contended that the High Court judge in his case should not have applied this framework because it was laid down after he was first sentenced.<\/p>\n But the Court of Appeal said it was settled law that judicial pronouncements are by default retroactive in nature, and the judge\u2019s application of the framework was uncontroversial.<\/p>\n Lim\u00a0is the founder of opposition party Peoples Voice (PV) and a co-founder of the People\u2019s Alliance for Reform, an alliance which includes PV.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n SINGAPORE \u2013 Lawyer and opposition politician Lim Tean has been ordered by the Court of Appeal to surrender on July 20 to begin his 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