Leadership key to helping young lawyers face challenges of AI, work pressures: Chief Justice

Concerns have been raised over the job prospects and training of young lawyers as routine tasks are increasingly being done by artificial intelligence (AI), Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon said on April 20.

Alongside technological disruption, the profession is also facing the longstanding challenge of retaining good lawyers amid increasingly complex legal work and strain from “an excessive fixation on billing targets”, he said.

He was speaking to 129 newly minted lawyers at 2026’s first session of the annual mass admission of lawyers, held at the Supreme Court auditorium.

Chief Justice Menon said the leadership of organisations, together with institutions across the legal sector, has an important role to play in responding to these challenges.

Institutions and organisations must act with “foresight, persistence and a shared sense of responsibility for the future of the profession” to prepare for technological change, preserve career pathways and sustain a healthy practice, he added.

A total of 321 practising lawyers will be called to the Bar over three sessions on April 20 and April 21.

Among the newest members of the profession is the eldest daughter of Law Minister Edwin Tong, who was spotted sitting among other parents at the back of the auditorium.

This is the first mass admission of practising lawyers under a new two-stage process.

Previously, law graduates had to pass the Bar exam and complete six months of practice training at a law firm before they could be admitted to the Bar.

Under the new process, law graduates can be admitted to the Bar as non-practising lawyers after passing the Bar exam.

Non-practising lawyers can then be admitted as practising lawyers after completing a period of practice training, which has been lengthened to a year.

A practising lawyer is authorised to advise and represent clients in court, while a non-practising lawyer cannot provide external legal services. 

In his speech, Chief Justice Menon said the growing prevalence of generative AI meant that some of the work once done by junior lawyers may be reduced, reconfigured or displaced altogether.

He added that generations of junior lawyers had learnt their craft by doing work such as reading deeply, researching carefully, checking laws, past court decisions or textbooks, and preparing drafts.

If foundational tasks are increasingly outsourced, how can workflows and processes be redesigned to ensure that young lawyers acquire the instincts, discipline and professional judgment that these tasks once helped to cultivate, he questioned.

The Chief Justice said that if used wisely, AI can improve access to knowledge and free lawyers and judges to focus on higher-order questions.

Rather than being displaced, junior lawyers may do work that is more technical, more strategic and more closely connected to the management of legal risk.

But this means that legal professionals will need to become grounded in legal expertise and also be sufficiently fluent in AI to use it responsibly and effectively.

That is why efforts are under way to deepen AI fluency within the profession, he said.

He highlighted that the Singapore Academy of Law (SAL) has worked with Microsoft to develop practical guides for lawyers, and has also partnered with the Infocomm Media Development Authority to expand AI training for lawyers.

But AI has no sense of values, cannot exercise conscience and does not understand the human significance of legal judgment, he said.

“Our task, therefore, is not merely to teach lawyers how to use AI. It is also to ensure that, as technology takes on more of the routine aspects of legal work, we place even greater weight on cultivating what is distinctly human: judgment, ethicality, responsibility, discernment and integrity,” he said.

Chief Justice Menon said that if AI places one kind of pressure on the formation of young lawyers, the conditions of modern practice place another.

He noted that in a survey conducted just five days ago of the lawyers being admitted following their practice training, about a third indicated that they are likely to leave the profession entirely within the next three years.

Asked why they would want to leave a current workplace, the three most cited reasons were excessive workload, poor workplace culture and lack of guidance or mentorship.

“If lawyers are persistently overextended, inadequately supervised or deprived of the time and space needed for reflection and growth, the profession cannot expect to sustain the standards on which its legitimacy depends,” he said.

He said attention is being directed to the culture of legal practice, and highlighted several initiatives to build healthier and more sustainable workplaces, including the SAL’s Mindful Business Movement.

Chief Justice Menon added that continuing structured training and education will become more important than ever.

He said SAL will continue to invest in the Junior Lawyers Professional Certification Programme, which is designed to help young lawyers develop their practical skills.

The academy has also introduced a career guidance programme that offers self-help tools, structured workshops and one-to-one coaching by senior legal professionals, he said.

Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.

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