In December 2007, the Singapore Government accepted in principle the recommendations of the Committee headed by Justice V K Rajah to comprehensively review the entire legal services sector. The most significant set of proposals made by the Committee concerned the liberalisation of the legal services sector, in particular the creation of the Qualifying Foreign Law Practice (QFLP) scheme.

Currently, foreign law practices are permitted to practise Singapore law only within a Joint Law Venture through a Singapore law practice. Under the new QFLP scheme, selected foreign law practices will be allowed to practise Singapore law in permitted areas through Singapore-qualified lawyers employed by them.

The QFLP scheme opened for applications on 14 August 2008 and closed on 9 October 2008. We expect to award around 5 licences by the end of 2008, depending on the quality of the applications.

Applications will be assessed using a set of selection criteria designed to ensure the QFLP scheme helps to meet the following outcomes:

• Support Singapore’s key economic growth areas, such as the financial services sector
• Grow the legal services sector in Singapore
• Attract and retain talent in the legal services sector in Singapore.