Traineeship Opportunities for Fresh Graduates as the Legal Sector Prepares for Recovery Amidst COVID-19

25 JUN 2020

25 Jun 2020 Posted in Press releases

  1. Fresh graduates can now look forward to more support to take on traineeship opportunities in the legal sector. These traineeships opportunities will support graduates in their professional development and boost their employability and help law graduates meet the necessary practice training requirements to be called to the Singapore Bar.

  2. The Ministry of Law and Workforce Singapore (WSG), in collaboration with the Law Society of Singapore (LawSoc), will support Singapore law practices to tap on the SGUnited Traineeships Programme to provide and support traineeship opportunities within the law practices, which can include:

    (i) Practice training contracts1 for law graduates; and

    (ii) Traineeship opportunities in other roles such as paralegals, legal secretaries, and legal technologists.

SGUnited Traineeships Programme

  1. The SGUnited Traineeships Programme was first announced in the Resilience Budget and further expanded as part of the SGUnited Jobs & Skills Package in the Fortitude Budget, to support up to 21,000 recent and new graduates of the Institutes of Technical Education, polytechnics, universities and other educational institutions. These traineeships will help local graduates develop industry-relevant skills, build professional networks and improve their employability in preparation for the eventual recovery. Trainees will receive a training allowance, of which the Government will fund 80% while the host organisation funds the remaining 20%.

Supporting Singapore Law Practices and Graduates

  1. Law practices that have the capacity to provide such traineeship opportunities are strongly encouraged to participate in the SGUnited Traineeships Programme. Besides providing our graduates with a meaningful traineeship experience, host organisations benefit by gaining access to a qualified pool of fresh talent and can consider hiring well-performing trainees on a permanent basis after the traineeship period.
  1. Senior Minister of State for Law and Health, Mr Edwin Tong, SC said, “The extension of the SGUnited Traineeships Programme to the legal sector is a much welcomed move for both our law practices and graduates. Practice training is currently a requirement for law graduates to be called to the Singapore Bar and enter into practice. During these challenging times, the funding support will help law practices to continue to offer practice training opportunities to law graduates and allow them to identify talent. Law practices can also tap on this programme to provide traineeship opportunities in other roles. This will help graduates continue their training and acquire the skills required for them to pursue a career in the legal sector. I encourage law practices and graduates to actively tap on these traineeships, as the law practices prepare for recovery and growth.”
  1. Mr Tan Choon Shian, Chief Executive of Workforce Singapore said, “We are glad to partner with the Ministry of Law and the Law Society to offer SGUnited Traineeships opportunities to our fresh and recent graduates in the legal sector. It not only gives these young people a chance to hone their skills professionally and boost employability amidst the soft labour market, but also helps build a resilient and robust talent pool – one that is ready to rebound once the recovery comes.”
  1. Mrs Delphine Tan-Loo, CEO of the Law Society of Singapore said, “The Law Society welcomes the extension of the SGUnited Traineeships Programme to the legal sector as it will provide graduates the opportunity to be trained on-the-job even during this period of disruption, so that when the economy recovers, the trainees will have acquired skills that are invaluable to their law firms.”
  1. She continued, “The Law Society provides a wide range of training programmes which law firms as host organisations under SGUnited Traineeships Programme can tap into for their trainees. Our programmes for practice trainees cover the black letter law, practice management matters such as ethics, risk management and anti-money laundering, as well as personal effectiveness and well-being matters. We also offer programmes for paralegals and legal secretaries to keep them abreast of developments in legal technology, cybersecurity and data protection for law practices.”

MINISTRY OF LAW
WORKFORCE SINGAPORE
25 JUNE 2020

1. These are training contracts between a Singapore law practice and practice trainees, and are not employment contracts.↩

Annex A

Last updated on 25 Jun 2020