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Old 31-03-2021, 11:46 AM
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Hi - can I have some input from practising lawyers on whether Law in Singapore is a sunset industry? No trolls please. I'm considering study law but I'm concerned about prospects.

Also, how tough is it to find a job today? Are there too many lawyers fighting for too little jobs?
I'm in law practice for 1-2 years but this is purely my observations:

As a whole, law is not a sunset industry, but several "traditional" areas of law are. Family, real estate and PIMA/NIMA are sunset, with severe undercutting and gradual tightening of how much lawyers can charge their clients.

For corporate (non-litigation), it remains relevant but the pandemic accelerated the embracing of technology. And it is in trouble, because AI can draft simple SPAs, STAs, etc. Companies may dispense with engaging a lawyer for drafting, although they will still hire a lawyer in the event that the deal falls through and litigation is inevitable. I say it is "semi-sunset".

The areas of law that are booming, or poised to in the future, are tech and intellectual property. There aren't enough lawyers in these areas to take advantage of the tech boom in Singapore. Needless to say, it is not easy to be a lawyer in these fields as it requires expert knowledge in tech as well, and not many law undergrads know these.

For criminal law, there is still a future as Singaporeans are mostly middle-class now and willing to pay if it means avoiding custodial sentences. Also, with the government trying to control the internet and its expression, together with Singaporeans becoming more "woke", expect more cases to come up, like the smiley face incident.

Regarding toughness of finding a job or whether too many lawyers fighting for jobs, the answer is an absolute yes. So go pad your CV up when you are still in university. Forget about joining orientation groups or clubs/societies, those don't mean **** when applying for a job as lawyer. Instead, be more "anti-social" and spend more time getting more internships and building connections with senior lawyers. Anyway, you will realize that 99% of your friends are fair-weathered friends and they aren't going to be nice once you all compete for the same slice of the pie.
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