Ex-tempore Remarks by Minister of State for Law Murali Pillai at the NUS Law Pro Bono Awards Ceremony 2025

Centre for Pro Bono & Clinical Legal Education Co-Directors,
Associate Professor Eleanor Wong; and
Associate Professor Sonita Jeyapathy

Centre for Pro Bono & Clinical Legal Education Advisory Board Members

Donor Representatives from the Class of 1992, 2017, RHTLaw Asia, and Linklaters Singapore

Students of the NUS Law School, family members, friends, ladies and gentlemen

Introduction

1. A very good afternoon to you. I am really delighted to be here for a number of reasons – for one, my classmates are here. I am from the Class of 1992 and I must acknowledge amongst those present in my class, one gentleman whom I call Mr Pro Bono himself – Mr Gregory Vijayendran, past Chairman of Pro Bono SG, who just handed over to Mr Dinesh Dhillon.

2. This ceremony is about honouring our NUS Law students for their remarkable contributions to the community. I commend them as it is never easy to juggle between schoolwork and pro bono work. I do believe that you will be ambassadors for your peers to follow your footsteps. I must also commend the centre for undertaking this work because it is through such efforts that we instil a strong sense of community and pro bono culture within our legal fraternity.

3. Embedded in the legal profession is a bit of quid pro quo. What do I mean by that? The legal profession is not like a business – not everybody can become lawyers. It is a profession where you have to qualify to become a lawyer, and this does not come automatically. There is always a quid pro quo in that the profession is set up to serve the community, and in turn the community recognises its experience and knowledge, and the exclusive right to practice. That is quid pro quo, and for the legal profession, there is nothing more honourable than pro bono practice, as far as I am concerned.

4. When students join the law faculty and are asked the reasons as to why they joined, almost invariably, everyone would say “I want to serve the community”, “I want to do pro bono work” but the spirit becomes weak once we enter practice. From my own experience, pro bono work centres us and helps us to remain true to why we joined the profession in the first place.

Learning Points

5. I had the honour and privilege to be an active CLAS (Criminal Legal Aid Scheme) volunteer in my earliest practice and was also involved in the LASCO (Legal Assistance Scheme for Capital Offences). I was reflecting on the work that I did, and I came up with three learning points.

6. Firstly, there is a huge impact that you bring as a pro bono lawyer to the client that you serve. The persons who otherwise would not have an opportunity to navigate through the processes and get the justice that they deserve. You are the ones who ensure that they get access to justice that they deserve. It is extremely impactful and can give you the reason to carry on with the work that you do.

a) Some of you may know that I was in practice for almost thirty years. A few months after I had left practice in July last year, a few people visited me at my home – a young 19-year-old, who was my pro bono client, and his parents. The boy had committed two or three counts of rioting, and I really thought that he would be a candidate for a Reformative Training Centre punishment regime, which meant that he would be incarcerated in the centre for over a year. We tried our best in representations, and I was unfortunately unable to do the PG (Plead Guilty) mention before I left practice. However, I found out that after I had left, the boy got a probation, which was why they came to thank me. For me, what was moving was not just their appreciation, but that the boy had a second chance to build his life.

7. Secondly, the ability to hone our skills and build our profile. Through my interactions with the DPPs (Deputy Public Prosecutors) and the court, I realised that when we do pro bono work, there is a lot of respect given by them because they know that we are not doing things for monetary gain. When you write letters of representations and when you make submissions before court, you are taken very seriously. For young lawyers, this could help you build your reputation and profile early in your career.

a) To share an example, in my first year of practice, I did five pro bono trials – one of which involved another young man who was charged with shoplifting. It is very difficult to win a shoplifting trial but for some reason, he got acquitted because of what I did, which was to visit the scene of alleged crime. In doing so, I realised that department store’s exit was not clearly demarcated. As a result, I could argue that the young man accidentally exited the store while holding onto the allegedly stolen item. The judge gave the young man the benefit of the doubt, and he was acquitted. For young lawyers, it is this opportunity to hone your skills by going through the instructions and deciding how to mount a credible defence. Unfortunately, his sister called me two or three years later to inform me that he got caught again for another shoplifting case.

8. Thirdly, is the ability to give input to improve the system. We have a unique role and opportunity to review cases for what they are and are always welcomed to provide input in relation to policy or even operations. Let me share two examples:

a) First, I represented a 24-year-old lady under the LASCO, which is a scheme where the Supreme Court appoints council to represent persons facing capital offences. She was charged for the capital offence of drug trafficking. Thankfully, I was successful in my representations and her charge was reduced to that of the consumption of drugs. While reviewing her story, I found out that when drug abusers reported for regular urine checks at police stations, there were opportunities for them to mix with other drug supervisees, who were recalcitrant people. As such, I suggested that there should be separation between the two as some abusers might be impressionable.

b) Second, I represented a man who had an anti-social personality disorder, which allowed me insight into how persons with mental disabilities could be dealt with better. As a justice system, we have made great progress in that we now have community-based sentences. While we have the ability to impose mandatory treatment orders, I realised from handling this case that there were some limitations. Firstly, the type of cases for which an MTO (Mandatory Treatment Order) may be imposed was limited. Secondly, if the prognosis of the psychiatric condition was guarded, chances are the court may not allow for the order to be imposed. As a parliamentarian, I was able to raise this in an Adjournment Motion in Parliament and as it turned out, amendments were made to the Criminal Procedure Code to allow more classes of offences to be dealt through community-based sentences.

9. I am sure there are other life lessons that I have learnt through my pro bono practice, but I thought to just highlight three. I certainly commend each and every law student to an active life of pro bono practice.

Conclusion

10. Let me summarise the points I made – be true to the reasons as to why you join the law faculty and why you would eventually join practice. As mentioned, the profession is forged as quid pro quo and serving the community through pro bono practice is one of the highest level of contributions that a lawyer can make. It is not just giving but you also receiving, and I have given you some examples of that.

11. Thank you very much for your attention, appreciate it.

Last updated on 12 February 2025