8.—(1) A solicitor shall not sign or countersign a change of counter-signatory form, or a pay-in form, a variation pay-in form, a pay-out form, a variation pay-out form or any other instruction to an appointed bank to deposit or withdraw any conveyancing money into or from a conveyancing account or conveyancing (CPF) account, if —
(a)
the solicitor has been —
(i)
in practice as a solicitor in Singapore for less than 3 years in aggregate; or
(ii)
employed as a Judicial Service Officer or a Legal Service Officer for less than 3 years in aggregate;
[S 11/2022 wef 14/01/2022]
(b)
the solicitor is not holding a current practising certificate; or
(c)
the practising certificate of the solicitor is subject to any condition imposed under section 25A or 27A of the Legal Profession Act (Cap. 161) prohibiting the solicitor from —
(i)
signing any cheque or other instruction effecting a withdrawal from a client account;
(ii)
signing or countersigning any change of counter-signatory form;
(iii)
signing any pay-in form, variation pay-in form or other instruction to deposit any conveyancing money into a conveyancing account or conveyancing (CPF) account; or
(iv)
signing or countersigning any pay-out form, variation pay-out form or other instruction to withdraw any conveyancing money from a conveyancing account or conveyancing (CPF) account.
(2) A Singapore law practice shall sign or countersign a form or instruction referred to in paragraph (1) by at least one solicitor who —
(a)
is an authorised signatory of that Singapore law practice; and
(b)
is not disqualified under that paragraph from signing or countersigning that form or instruction.