PART 1 | Citation and commencement |
| 1. These Rules may be cited as the Legal Profession (Regulated Individuals) Rules 2015 and come into operation on 18 November 2015. |
2.—(1) In these Rules, unless the context otherwise requires —| “appellate court” means the court to which an appeal against a decision of the Singapore International Commercial Court is to be made under section 29C of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1969; [S 753/2022 wef 01/10/2022] |
“general threshold requirements” means the following requirements, all of which must be satisfied by a Singapore law practice:| (a) | the number of solicitors practising in the Singapore law practice is at least 2 times the total number of regulated foreign lawyers (if any) who practise in, are directors, partners or shareholders in, or share in the profits of, the Singapore law practice; | | (b) | the number of solicitors who are partners, directors or managers (as the case may be) of the Singapore law practice is at least 2 times the total number of regulated foreign lawyers (if any) who are partners or directors (as the case may be) of the Singapore law practice; | | (c) | the managing partner, managing director or manager (as the case may be) of the Singapore law practice is a solicitor; | | (d) | the regulated foreign lawyers (if any) who practise in, who are directors, partners or shareholders in or who share in the profits of the Singapore law practice, and the foreign law practices (if any) which have approval under section 176(9) of the Act to be shareholders in or to share in the profits of the Singapore law practice, collectively —| (i) | are entitled to exercise or control the exercise of not more than one-third of the total voting rights exercisable in respect of the management of the Singapore law practice; | | (ii) | are entitled to exercise or control the exercise of not more than one-third of the total voting rights exercisable by the partners or shareholders (as the case may be) of the Singapore law practice; and | | (iii) | hold not more than one-third of the total value of equity interests in the Singapore law practice; |
| | (e) | the regulated non-practitioners (if any) in the Singapore law practice —| (i) | are entitled to exercise or control the exercise of not more than 25% of the total voting rights exercisable in respect of the management of the Singapore law practice; | | (ii) | are entitled to exercise or control the exercise of not more than 25% of the total voting rights exercisable by the partners or shareholders (as the case may be) in the Singapore law practice; and | | (iii) | hold not more than 25% of the total value of equity interests in the Singapore law practice; |
| | (f) | where there are one or more regulated foreign lawyers who practise in, who are directors, partners or shareholders in, or who share in the profits of, the Singapore law practice, or one or more foreign law practices which have approval under section 176(9) of the Act to be shareholders in or to share in the profits of the Singapore law practice, and there are one or more regulated non-practitioners in the Singapore law practice, all of them collectively —| (i) | are entitled to exercise or control the exercise of not more than 35% of the total voting rights exercisable in respect of the management of the Singapore law practice; | | (ii) | are entitled to exercise or control the exercise of not more than 35% of the total voting rights exercisable by the partners or shareholders (as the case may be) in the Singapore law practice; and | | (iii) | hold not more than 35% of the total value of equity interests in the Singapore law practice; |
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“profit threshold requirements” means the following requirements, all of which must be satisfied by a Singapore law practice that distributes its profits to any person who is not a solicitor practising in the Singapore law practice:| (a) | the total amount of payments made by the Singapore law practice, during any financial year of the Singapore law practice, to all of the following does not exceed one-third of the total profits of the Singapore law practice during that financial year, based on the audited financial statement of the Singapore law practice for that financial year:| (i) | foreign lawyers (if any) who have approval under section 176(1) of the Act to share in the profits of the Singapore law practice; | | (ii) | foreign law practices (if any) which have approval under section 176(9) of the Act to share in the profits of the Singapore law practice; |
| | (b) | the total amount of payments made by the Singapore law practice, during any financial year of the Singapore law practice, to regulated non-practitioners (if any) who have been registered under section 36G of the Act to share in the profits of the Singapore law practice does not exceed 25% of the total profits of the Singapore law practice during that financial year, based on the audited financial statement of the Singapore law practice for that financial year; | | (c) | where —| (i) | there are one or more foreign lawyers or foreign law practices who or which have approval under section 176(1) or (9), as the case may be, of the Act to share in the profits of the Singapore law practice; and | | (ii) | there are one or more regulated non-practitioners who have been registered under section 36G of the Act to share in the profits of the Singapore law practice, |
| the total amount of payments made by the Singapore law practice, during any financial year of the Singapore law practice, to all of them, collectively, does not exceed 35% of the total profits of the Singapore law practice during that financial year, based on the audited financial statement of the Singapore law practice for that financial year; |
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| “relevant appeal”, “relevant proceedings” and “Singapore International Commercial Court” have the same meanings as in section 36O(1) of the Act. |
(2) In the definitions of “general threshold requirements” and “profit threshold requirements” in paragraph (1), “solicitor” means a solicitor practising in a Singapore law practice who —| (a) | has in force a practising certificate; and | | (b) | is not a nominee of any foreign law practice or foreign lawyer in respect of the management of, or the control of any voting power or equity interest in, the Singapore law practice. |
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| (3) For the purposes of paragraph (2), a solicitor is deemed to be a nominee of a foreign law practice or foreign lawyer if that solicitor is accustomed, or under an obligation whether formal or informal, to act in accordance with the directions, instructions or wishes of that foreign law practice or foreign lawyer. |
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| Registration required to provide legal services |
3.—(1) A foreign lawyer must not provide any legal services in or from Singapore unless the foreign lawyer is registered under section 36B or 36C of the Act.(2) Nothing in this rule affects —| (a) | the privilege of any individual who is both a solicitor and a foreign lawyer to practise as a solicitor; | | (b) | the privilege of any foreign lawyer who is granted full registration under section 36P of the Act to do all or any of the things mentioned in section 36P(1)(a) to (d) of the Act; or | | (c) | the privilege of any foreign lawyer who is granted restricted registration under section 36P of the Act to do all or any of the things mentioned in section 36P(2)(a), (b) and (c) of the Act. |
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| Permitted areas of legal practice |
4.—(1) For the purposes of the definition of “permitted areas of legal practice” in section 36A(1) of the Act, the areas of legal practice to be excluded from the ambit of that definition are as follows:| (a) | constitutional and administrative law; | | (b) | conveyancing; | | (c) | criminal law; | | (d) | family law; | | (e) | succession law, including matters relating to wills, intestate succession and probate and administration; | | (f) | trust law, in any case where the settlor is an individual; | | (g) | appearing or pleading in any court in Singapore, representing a client in any proceedings instituted in such a court or giving advice, the main purpose of which is to advise the client on the conduct of such proceedings, except where such appearance, pleading, representation or advice is otherwise permitted under the Act or rule 8(2) and (3) or 14(1)(c) and (2) or any other written law; | | (h) | appearing in any hearing before a quasi-judicial or regulatory body, authority or tribunal in Singapore, except where such appearance is otherwise permitted under the Act or any other written law. |
| (2) Sub-paragraphs (a) and (c) of paragraph (1) do not exclude, from the ambit of the definition of “permitted areas of legal practice” in section 36A(1) of the Act, the giving of advice on any area of legal practice referred to in those sub-paragraphs the main purpose of which is to advise a business entity on commercial and corporate law. |
(3) In this rule —| “business entity” means any sole proprietorship, partnership or body corporate, with or without limited liability, which engages in any business; |
| “conveyancing” does not include any securitisation transaction involving immovable property or the giving of advice on land law in the course of advisory work on a commercial transaction; |
| “quasi-judicial or regulatory body, authority or tribunal” does not include any body, authority or tribunal specified in the First Schedule; |
| “securitisation transaction” has the same meaning as in section 262(3) of the Securities and Futures Act (Cap. 289). |
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