HEAD B - ATTORNEY-GENERAL'S CHAMBERS

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Head B - Attorney-General's Chambers

1.00 pm

The Chairman: Head B - Attorney-General's Chambers. Prof. Ivan Png. Three minutes.

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Outsourcing Civil Work

Prof. Ivan Png Paak Liang (Nominated Member): Sir, I beg to move,

That the total sum to be allocated for Head B of the Estimates be reduced by $100.

Sir, the Attorney-General is responsible for both criminal and civil legal work on behalf of the Government. The Attorney-General's 2005 budget provides for 143 legal officers. This makes the A-G's Chambers probably the largest in-house legal department in Singapore and possibly in the region.

My suggestion is that the Attorney-General follows the best practice amongst in-house legal departments. Specifically, my suggestion is that the Attorney-General outsource part of his civil work to private practitioners. This is done by governments in other jurisdictions, for instance, the UK. This measure would align with our objective of a lean Government and the best sourcing principles that Prime Minister Lee outlined in this House yesterday. This outsourcing of civil work will also help to further develop our private Bar's expertise in complex legal issues.

Prof. Jayakumar: I thank Prof. Ivan Png. It is a refreshing change from the viewpoint expressed by others yesterday, ie, do not outsource too much.

But let me say first that the Attorney-General is amenable to outsourcing legal work in-principle in appropriate cases. And indeed, he does so in particular cases, for example, in some civil cases involving arbitration work. He outsources also cases in patent applications, claims against the Government such as, for example, claims against MINDEF and also claims before the Appeals Board in land acquisition cases. But we have to remember that the Attorney-General is the principal legal adviser to the Government and

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is the Public Prosecutor under the Constitution and these constitutional functions cannot easily be outsourced, or what is the core work of the Attorney-General's Chambers may not be suitable, particularly where they touch on constitutional and administrative matters.

Let me add also that on certain complex cases, the Attorney-General does consult external experts. But even here, some of the cases may involve Government policies. It could be highly confidential, if not, secret and it may not be suitable for outsourcing. Furthermore, from the viewpoint of cost, in some cases, it may not be economical to outsource and obviously, if it is not economical to outsource, then it does not make sense to do so.

The Member says that the Attorney-General's Chambers is the largest law firm or thereabout. Factually, that is not correct because the largest law firm in Singapore has close to 200 lawyers. But the more important point I want to make is that the Attorney-General's Chambers cannot be considered to be similar to a law firm because of the myriad functions which he performs. The AGC's work spans a wide spectrum. It undertakes civil work, criminal prosecutions, track legal developments in other jurisdictions, undertakes legal reform work and it drafts all the Bills that come up to this Chamber for enactment.

And from my personal experience - because I have been involved in the Pedra Branca and in the reclamation cases and ITLOS - they also have to be involved in international law and international legal matters, cases like Pedra Branca, reclamation case with Malaysia, advising Government agencies on FTAs and other international treaties, and so on.

In the area of civil work, the particular concern of Prof. Ivan Png, the Attorney-General has a very lean outfit of only 16

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legal officers in the Civil Division and considering that these officers provide legal advice and representation to 15 Ministries, eight Organs of State, including Parliament, the Civil Division cannot be described as anything but efficient, small and lean. If we outsource half, as Prof. Ivan Png has said, I think we will have problems in the quality of Bills and the Bills coming here on time, just to give one example.

But, I repeat, the Attorney-General is, in principle, amenable to outsourcing.

Prof. Ivan Png Paak Liang: Sir, let me clarify. When I said that the Attorney-General's Chambers was the largest, I said it is the largest in-house legal department. I was not comparing the Attorney-General to an independent law firm like Allen and Gledhill. I do again urge the Attorney-General to consider outsourcing. This is the practice in not only the UK but Australia, Hong Kong and other jurisdictions. I was motivated in part by an admiralty case where I understand the Government sent a junior lawyer against one of our most distinguished counsel, and the Government did not fare very well in that case.

Prof. Jayakumar: I think every lawyer's dream is to win every case that he appears before the court. But as Ms Indranee Rajah will tell you, in the nature of legal disputes, we cannot get that ideal from the viewpoint of a lawyer, because in law, the very nature of legal disputes does not lend itself to a 100% perfect or correct answer. That is why we have Courts of Appeal.

Prof. Ivan Png Paak Liang: Sir, I wish to thank the hon. Deputy Prime Minister for so kindly attending to my cut. Sir, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

The sum of $46,227,880 for Head B ordered to stand part of the Main Estimates.

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The sum of $615,000 for Head B ordered to stand part of the Development Estimates.