Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon: Speech at Mass Call Ceremony 2026

Mass Call 2026

A Profession in Transition – Preparing and Supporting the Next Generation

Monday, 20 April 2026

1. Let me first warmly congratulate each of you on your admission to the Bar. This is a significant milestone in your lives, and a proud moment not only for you, but also for your families, friends, and mentors, many of whom have supported you in the journey that has brought you to this day. I extend my congratulations to them as well.

2. Today is a moment of celebration. But alongside the joy of achievement, at least some of you may quite naturally feel some uncertainty about what lies ahead. You enter the profession at a time of considerable change. There are, to my mind, two particular concerns that stand out.

(a) The first is the rapid advancement of generative artificial intelligence ("Gen AI"), which is beginning to reshape the way legal work is done, the nature of the tasks that are entrusted to young lawyers, and may potentially even affect employment within the profession.

(b) The second is the growing concern over the sustainability of legal practice itself. Many within the profession are asking difficult but necessary questions about workload intensity, the commercialisation of practice, and the adequacy of mentorship and supervision.

3. These pressures are not isolated. They converge most sharply at the junior end of the profession, and so they bear directly on your lives and careers. These are also issues of great importance, because they have a bearing on the future of the profession: who will enter it, how will they be trained, will they remain, and what sort of profession will we become.

4. Let me take these in turn.

9. But the concern here is not simply one of employment. It also touches on how young lawyers are trained. For generations, junior lawyers have learnt their craft by doing the basic but essential work of the profession: reading deeply, researching carefully, checking authorities, and preparing drafts. It is through this iterative process that they have acquired not only technical competence, but also the habits of mind that underpin good lawyering. 

10. If these foundational tasks are increasingly outsourced to machines, and if it becomes uneconomic to have them performed by young lawyers, then we must confront a serious question: how are we going to redesign our workflows and processes to ensure that our young lawyers acquire the instincts, the discipline, and the professional judgment that these very tasks once helped to cultivate? Notably, according to a survey of almost 900 UK-based legal professionals conducted by LexisNexis in January this year, 72% expressed concern that lawyers using AI will struggle to develop legal reasoning and argumentation skills, while 69% worry that new lawyers, many of whom have been using AI for research since their time at university, may lack verification and source-checking skills.⁵

III. Sustainability of Legal Practice

11. If AI places one kind of pressure on the formation of young lawyers, the conditions of modern practice place another. Alongside technological disruption, the profession is also confronting a more longstanding and equally significant challenge: whether the conditions of legal practice allow good lawyers to develop, endure and flourish over the course of their careers. The importance of this issue is reflected in the rate at which young lawyers are contemplating leaving the profession. In the survey I mentioned earlier, about a third of you indicated that you are likely to leave the profession entirely within the next three years.

12. There are many causes, but I would suggest that among the most significant is the increasing complexity of legal work, both in the law itself and in the environments in which lawyers operate. That complexity is likely only to increase further, not least because of developments such as AI, emerging technologies, and climate-related issues and disputes. At the same time, in some quarters, commercial pressures and an undue fixation on billing targets may distort priorities and place practitioners under increased and sustained strain. These conditions can leave too little room for reflection, too little time for mentoring, and too little space for younger lawyers to learn in the way they should.⁶ Indeed, our survey tells us that the three reasons that you most frequently cited for wanting to leave a current workplace are excessive workload, poor workplace culture and lack of guidance or mentorship.

13. These developments matter because their implications run deep. They affect whether talented people will be attracted to the profession and whether they will remain within it; whether they will perform well; whether their mental wellbeing can be sustained over time; and whether the ethical standards of the profession can withstand the pressures under which many lawyers now work.⁷ Seen in this light, the challenges before us are not merely economic. They concern the quality, the integrity, and the sustainability of the profession itself.

IV. Leadership and Institutional Responsibility

14. These challenges call for a deliberate and collective response across the profession. Leadership within organisations will be critical. The conduct of leaders, the expectations they set, and the culture they foster will play a decisive role in shaping how lawyers experience practice, how they develop, and whether they remain in the profession. Those in positions of responsibility must model the standards and values of the profession, set clear expectations as to excellence and integrity, and create working environments that support learning, sound supervision, and long-term sustainability.

15. But organisational leadership, important as it is, will not itself be sufficient. Institutions across the legal sector have an indispensable role to play. They help convene dialogue, identify shared challenges, align efforts across different parts of the profession, and support responses that no single firm or office could mount alone. If we are serious about preserving pathways for professional formation, for sustaining healthy practice, and preparing the profession for technological change, then this work must be undertaken in a coordinated and consistent way. It requires that institutions and organisations alike act with foresight, persistence, and a shared sense of responsibility for the future of our profession.

16. It is against this backdrop that I turn to the profession’s response to the challenges I have outlined, beginning with how we are preparing for the impact of AI.

V. The Profession’s Response

A. Preparing the Profession for AI

17. As our Prime Minister has said, we will press ahead with AI, because we must.⁸ AI can synthesise large bodies of information, improve access to knowledge, reduce the burden of repetitive work, and free lawyers and judges to focus on higher-order questions. Used wisely, AI has the very real potential to materially enhance the administration of justice. The question is how it is to be used, and on what terms, so that the profession is strengthened rather than diminished by it. 

18. If we answer that question well, it will be that the role of young lawyers will change rather than diminish or even disappear. This reflects the broader point made by the Prime Minister: that every major technological wave has displaced some jobs, but has created new ones.⁹ As Professor Tom Martin has observed, juniors may in time do less of some kinds of work, but more of other kinds and earlier in their careers – work that is more technical, more strategic, and more closely connected to the management of legal risk. Some may help to oversee the responsible use of AI within their firms: evaluating tools, setting protocols, checking outputs, and ensuring that duties such as confidentiality, accuracy, and accountability are not compromised. Others may help to organise legal knowledge in ways that allow technology to be used intelligently rather than mechanically.¹⁰

19. This will only be possible if lawyers understand well not only what AI can do, but also where its limits lie, how its outputs should be critically evaluated, and how we can develop ways and habits to work safely and productively with AI as our partners and teammates in the workplace. In other words, legal professionals will increasingly need to become, in the words of Minister Josephine Teo, “bilingual”: grounded in their own domain of legal expertise, but also sufficiently fluent in AI to be able to use it responsibly and effectively.¹¹ That is why efforts are under way to deepen AI fluency within our profession. The Singapore Academy of Law (“SAL”) has, in collaboration with Microsoft, developed practical guides for lawyers, accompanied by hands-on training clinics. It has also partnered with the Infocomm Media Development Authority to expand AI training for lawyers under the National AI Fluency Programme. 

20. But technical competence, important though it is, will never be enough. As the Law Minister has observed, the capabilities that may become even more important in the age of AI are precisely those that cannot be replicated by machines: ethical reasoning, sound judgment in conditions of uncertainty, empathy for clients, and the moral courage to tell a client what the client may or may not wish to hear.¹² AI may accelerate analysis. It may even imitate professional language. But it has no sense of values; it cannot exercise conscience; and it does not understand the human significance of legal judgment. Those remain, and will remain, at the heart of the work of lawyers.

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

B. Building Healthier and More Sustainable Workplaces

22. But readiness for the future is not only a matter of technology. It is equally a matter of culture. A profession that is serious about excellence must also be serious about the conditions under which excellence is cultivated. 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.

23. It is for this reason that attention is also being directed to the culture of legal practice. At last year’s Legal Profession Symposium, SAL launched the Mindful Business Movement, which seeks to encourage workplaces that are more supportive, more reflective, and more sustainable. It is a recognition that the long-term health of the profession depends in part on whether its members are able to build fulfilling careers within environments that support learning, collegiality, and professional responsibility. 

24. The conversation will progress this year towards finding solutions. SAL has launched the Living Case Study portal to share practical resources, including guides on mindful delegation, and to encourage wider engagement across the profession on issues such as sustainability and wellbeing. SAL is also partnering DBS and the Singapore Courts for the upcoming edition of “Hackathon for A Better World”. The theme of this year’s Hackathon is: “From Ideas to Implementation: Towards a Future-Ready Legal Profession”. Participants will take part in a design thinking workshop conducted by DBS, through which they will be invited to re-examine existing processes and practices, including how workplaces might be redesigned to support more sustainable careers and the responsible use of AI. I hope many of you will take part in these efforts, and also join the conversation at this year’s Legal Profession Symposium in July, where, as I have said, we will shift gears and move beyond identifying issues to developing solutions that will help us to meet the challenges that lie before us. Together, we must shape a legal community that is better equipped for the future, and that proves that it is resilient enough to be sustainable in the years ahead.

25. Finally, a new Future of the Legal Profession Committee (“the Committee”) has been established under the auspices of the SAL to consider the long-term sustainability and direction of Singapore’s legal sector. As I said at the Opening of this Legal Year, the Minister for Law and I will co-lead the setting of its direction. The Steering Committee met recently to chart the course for the coming year and we identified a number of areas that the Committee will prioritise, such as the impact of AI on legal practice and legal education, the challenges of sustainable lawyering and sharpening our competitiveness as a global legal hub. The Committee will develop its plans and we hope to share more in due course.

C. Strengthening Professional Development

26. One important part of that effort must be a more deliberate investment in professional development. If junior lawyers are to do less of the work through which earlier generations learned their craft, and if the pressures of practice are making sustained mentoring more difficult, then continuing structured training and education will become more important than ever. 

27. The SAL therefore continues to invest in programmes such as the Junior Lawyer Professional Certification Programme, or the JLP, which is the first structured, skills-based training programme designed specifically for junior lawyers to help them build practical competencies for the future. It covers areas such as legal innovation, the business of law, client management, and specialised subjects in both disputes and corporate practice. Just as importantly, it draws on the contribution of judges and senior practitioners, whose involvement helps to ensure that younger lawyers are exposed not only to knowledge, but also to the habits of mind and the standards of conduct that define good professional practice.  

28. As a further step towards embedding a culture of learning and lowering barriers to professional development, the SAL is also piloting a subscription model for its members that will provide unlimited access, at no additional cost, to a wide range of training courses offered by both the SAL and the Singapore Mediation Centre. Known as LexLearn, this initiative is intended to make high-quality training more readily and broadly accessible, and in so doing to foster a stronger culture of sustained learning across the profession.

29. And complementing this is the Legal Industry Framework for Training and Education, or LIFTED, which maps the competencies expected of practitioners at different stages of their careers across a range of roles and practice areas. This is important because professional development cannot be left wholly to chance or be undertaken in an ad hoc way. If lawyers are to navigate a changing profession well, they need a clearer sense of what competencies are expected of them, how these are to be developed, and what pathways are available to support that development. 

30. Alongside these training initiatives, we have also enhanced the Young Independent Counsel Scheme, which provides young lawyers the opportunity to hone their advocacy through assisting the court on novel and complex legal issues. The scheme has now been extended to include cases before the Court of Appeal and the Appellate Division of the High Court. In time, I hope many of you will take advantage of this valuable opportunity to develop your craft as advocates.

31. The SAL has also introduced Lexplorer, a career guidance programme that offers self-help tools, structured workshops, and one-to-one coaching by senior legal professionals. Later this year, it will also launch a video career coach powered by Gen AI designed for the legal profession and guided by LIFTED. All of these initiatives reflect a wider recognition that professional development today must be more intentional, more tailored, and more responsive to the realities and pressures of legal practice. 

32. The significance of these efforts lies not only in the programmes or platforms that have emerged. It lies in the deeper commitment they reflect: a commitment at the highest levels of the profession to ensuring that the profession remains capable of renewing itself in a changing age, without losing the standards and values on which its legitimacy depends.

VI. Conclusion

33. To those of you being admitted today, let me conclude with this. You enter the profession at a time of change. You will not only inherit the future of the profession; you will help to shape it. The standards you set, the habits you cultivate, and the regard you show for one another will all matter.

34. You will not stand alone. As I have sought to show, the wider legal community – including the Judiciary, the Bar, the Law Society, the Ministry of Law and the SAL – recognise these challenges and they are all committed and deeply engaged in the effort to help you navigate them. 

35. I also ask you not to forget those who have supported you to this day, especially your families, whose sacrifices, encouragement, and faith in you have made this milestone possible. I hope you will remember, amid this moment of celebration, to thank them for all they have done for you. And on behalf of the legal profession, we owe them a sincere debt of gratitude for supporting you. They have also contributed, in no small measure, to the strength and continuity of the profession itself. And so I thank them.

36. Let me once again offer my heartfelt congratulations to all of you on your admission. I wish you wisdom and courage in the years ahead. And I hope that you will become not only capable lawyers, but trustworthy ones; not only successful practitioners, but wise custodians of a profession that exists, ultimately, to serve the most noble cause of administering justice. I will you all well.

37. The Court is now adjourned.