Lawyer suspended for acting as supervisor to trainees when he was unqualified

SINGAPORE: A lawyer was on Monday (Oct 10) handed an 18-month suspension for acting as supervising solicitor to two practice trainees when he was not qualified.

Mr Clarence Lun Yaodong, who represented Healing The Divide's Iris Koh, was handed the sanction by the Court of Three Judges comprising Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, Tay Yong Kwang and Woo Bih Li.

The Law Society of Singapore (LawSoc) had brought several charges against Mr Lun, who was a solicitor of eight years' standing at the time in 2021.

Mr Lun admitted acting as the supervising solicitor for two individuals, Mr Lim Teng Jie and Ms Trinisha Ann Sunil at different periods during their practice training at Foxwood LLC between October 2019 and January 2020. 

However, Mr Lun was not qualified to act as a supervising solicitor at that time, a clear breach of the Legal Profession (Admission) Rules 2011. After he found out that he did not have the relevant qualifications, he purportedly continued to have his trainees work for him and pressed Ms Sunil to pay for her notice period when she wanted to leave.

Monday's hearing was to determine the sanction on Mr Lun. His lawyer, Mark Seah of Dentons Rodyk & Davidson, said a fine would be "more appropriate" than a suspension. LawSoc's lawyer, Mr Sarbjit Singh Chopra, asked for a suspension of less than a year.

The main point of contention on Monday's hearing was how long it took Mr Lun from the time he realised he was not qualified to be a supervising solicitor to the point when he told the practice trainees.

The exact time was not determined, with Mr Lun's lawyer said his client could not remember. He opened by saying this was not a case that warrants disciplinary action, but the Chief Justice took issue with this.

"So you think it's OK for a solicitor to take on persons as trainees when they are not qualified?" asked Chief Justice Menon. "How can it possibly not be conduct unbefitting of a solicitor to take on people you know you do not have the ability to supervise?"

He stressed the harm done to one of the trainees, Mr Lim, who "effectively wasted six weeks at the very start of his career" because his stint with Mr Lun did not count.

Mr Lim also had to run around to find arrangements so he could be in time to be called to the bar during Mass Call.

There was harm also to the law firm's clients, as the whole point for having a qualified solicitor supervise a trainee is to make sure the trainee is being trained and also to protect the clients, said Chief Justice Menon.

He pointed to the records where Mr Lun was chasing one of the trainees to finish his submissions, and chasing the other trainee to finish her work before she left.

LawSoc's lawyer emphasised that Mr Lun had a seeming tendency to push the blame to other people. He said the disciplinary tribunal had found that Mr Lun "didn't care", and that his "careless attitude" was why everyone was gathered in court on Monday.

The Chief Justice said the minute Mr Lun found out "out of the blue" that he was not qualified and nobody else in his firm was qualified to act as a supervising solicitor, he should have put "a dead stop to everything" and not allow his practice trainees to continue doing work.

"We don't see any sign of that," said Chief Justice Menon. "In fact, till the end of January, he was chasing the trainees to do work. Where's the client's interests in this?"

Justice Woo chimed in to say that Mr Lun's inability to recollect exactly when he informed the law firm's director that he was unqualified did not reflect well on him.

"Because this is supposed to be such an important discovery, and he doesn't try to persuade the disciplinary tribunal that he acted promptly. We are left to guess all this," said Justice Woo.

Chief Justice Menon pointed out that Mr Lun already knew that nobody in the firm could act as a supervising solicitor for the trainees, but still asked one of the trainees to make payment for her notice period after she decided to leave the law firm for unrelated personal reasons.

Mr Lun later made restitution to the trainee, after the matter blew up and was referred to a disciplinary tribunal.

The court ordered costs of S$10,000 to be paid to LawSoc, and allowed Mr Lun to begin his suspension on Nov 7 this year, after he finishes a trial that month.