On overseas advocacy training opportunities.

I was very pleased to be invited to conduct #advocacy #training under the Pupils Advocacy Programme, organised by the Hong Kong Advocacy Training Council. This program is similar to the Advocacy Workshops conducted by the Singapore Institute of Legal Education for Part B students - students are given various case studies, and are expected to conduct examination in chief, cross-examine, and argue interlocutory matters.¹

Three takeaways, from my week in Hong Kong:

1) Relationships matter.

The invitation would not have been possible without the strong relationship between the Advocacy Committee of The Law Society of Singapore and the Hong Kong Advocacy Training Council. And relationships amongst lawyers matter - they help us to find counsel who are best suited to solve our clients' problems,² they pave the way for principled negotiations between clients who cannot stand each other, and they create opportunities to learn best practices from one another.

So to my fellow lawyers who are focused on honing their craft, but to the exclusion of all else, do re-consider this approach.³

2) Training matters.

As a trainer, it is an absolute joy to see students incorporate learning points into their performances, and to see the marked improvement between their first and last performances. But it is not just a matter of being lectured at - it is about being open to feedback, and actually putting the feedback into practice. As lawyers, we learn by doing.

Young #advocates should therefore be on the constant lookout for practical opportunities - not just the opportunity to be put on sexy multi-million dollar disputes, but also opportunities to lead meetings, speak up at negotiations, and address the Court.

So if you enjoy disputes work, seek out such opportunities. Don't be content with just drafting and legal research.

3) Volunteering matters.

The Hong Kong trainers are all unpaid volunteers. They sacrifice weekday evenings to train. They don't always get the pleasure of getting receptive students. And most of them are self-employed barristers - they only get paid when they work.

And yet, year after year, they keep at it.

I don't pretend to know what motivates each of them. But what I do know if that if we believe that advocacy is an art form, a craft to be worked at but never perfected, something to constantly strive at, then we at the Singapore Bar, too, have a vested interest in raising advocacy standards, and in investing our time, energy, and resources towards this.

In this vein, I celebrate my fellow advocacy trainers: too many to name, but I will try.

Many thanks to my hosts in Hong Kong, and in particular Jonathan Chang SC, Wong Ka-Chun, Liza Jane Cruden, S. W. Lee, Jonathan Ah-weng, Lawrence Pang, and Edward Ng. Your hospitality was remarkable.

And to my fellow trainers at the Singapore Bar: alas, LinkedIn has a character limit.⁴