Volunteers recognised for their contributions at the Ministry of Law's Appreciation Dinner 2012

18 OCT 2012

18 Oct 2012 Posted in Press releases

  1. More than 20 volunteers were recognised at the Ministry of Law’s (MinLaw) Appreciation Dinner this evening for their contribution as Community Mediators and volunteer lawyers, and for lending significant legal expertise on insolvency and other matters.

  2. The volunteers, who offered their services at the Community Mediation Centres (CMC), the Legal Aid Bureau (LAB) and the Insolvency and Public Trustee’s Office (IPTO), received awards from the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Law, Mr K Shanmugam.

About the awards

  1. MinLaw introduced its new awards framework last year, which saw the scope of recognition given to our volunteers expanded from two to seven categories. This year, we also introduced the new “CMU Most Outstanding Newcomer Award”, which recognises volunteers for their outstanding work as newly appointed mediators. 1
  1. Three law firms received the “LAB Best Contribution from Law Firm Award”, which recognises law firms that made invaluable contributions by supporting and partnering LAB in the area of legal aid.

LAB’s inaugural Annual Review

  1. During the event, guests were presented with copies of LAB’s inaugural Annual Review. The publication highlights LAB’s work in the past year to enhance access to justice and promote the pro bono spirit in the legal fraternity, including the formation of a Pro Bono Development Unit. The Unit oversees, among other things, the recruitment and engagement of Assigned Solicitors as well as publicity and outreach activities to raise awareness of the Bureau’s work. The Annual Review also included testimonials from LAB volunteers and officers, who shared their personal experiences in handling cases.
  1. A soft copy of the Annual Review is available on LAB’s website.

Appreciating our volunteers

  1. Our volunteers have contributed selflessly in a wide range of areas, from helping parties to resolve community and social disputes, to providing needy members of society with access to justice and helping to modernise insolvency practices so that they remain relevant to the needs of today’s society.
  1. In recognising the contribution of our volunteers and the pivotal role they play, MinLaw has also introduced a number of initiatives, such as CMC’s Mediator Management Framework, aimed at raising the professionalism of CMC’s panel of community mediators 2, and LAB and the Singapore Academy of Law’s Credit Dollars Scheme for Assigned Solicitors 3.
  1. MinLaw and its departments are indebted to our volunteers, who have offered their invaluable time, effort and expertise. Together with our volunteers, we will continue to work towards making Singapore a more gracious, generous and inclusive home for all Singaporeans.
  1. The list of award recipients, along with information on each award, is in Annex A (0.19MB). A list of the volunteering opportunities available at LAB and CMC is in Annex B (0.17MB).

[1] This year’s award categories are: Minister for Law Outstanding Volunteer Award, Minister for Law Appreciation Award, LAB Appreciation Award, LAB Amicus Award, LAB Best Contribution from Law Firm Award, CMU Appreciation Award and CMU Most Outstanding Newcomer Award. There was no nominee for the LAB Distinguished Service Award.

[2] The MMF will institute and formalise criteria for the appointment, re-appointment and training of its mediators. Through this framework, community mediators can look forward to more training opportunities for professional development and growth. More information on the framework is available here.

[3] The Credit Dollars Scheme is a non-monetary reward for Assigned Solicitors who have made significant contributions. Credit dollars, sponsored by the Singapore Academy of Law (SAL), will be given to these Assigned Solicitors for their use from 2013, to register for places in SAL seminars, courses, workshops or to acquire books, journals and other publications by SAL.

Last updated on 31 Mar 2013