I am insanely unfortunate to be part of the new rules where the training contract is now 1 year instead of 6 months. When I first entered law school, I had buffered this 6 month period into my consideration. However, when I entered the third year of my studies, this period had been increased to 1 year. The idea is to allow a longer training period presumably so that by the time the individual is called to the bar, he or she would have twice the training period as compared to those under the previous regime.

While this, on paper, makes sense, in practice, for this to increase the quality of those called to the bar, the firms undertaking such trainees have to similarly put in effort in training these trainees.

For starters, the honorarium, from what I gathered from some of my peers, did not increase. In the past, one had to put up with a low level of income for 6 months. However, with this increased training period, this period is doubled. It is particularly taxing on individuals who have families to support financially.

Another point to consider is whether firms view such trainees as their obligation to impart skills and knowledge to those who are soon to be called to the bar or do they see trainees as more affordable labour. One who is trained in the law and is expected to be able to churn out work. I would think that taking on a trainee is a responsibility and if a firm requires the trainee to work long hours and over the weekends, perhaps what the firm needs is an associate and not a trainee. I am not saying that a trainee should not be expected to work long hours. I personally work even on weekends and I do not mind because I am used to working 7 days a week previously when I was running my own company. However, where is the bandwidth to guide or impart skills to the trainee if every day is a mad rush to clear work?

A trainee might be trained in the law during law school and also during the Part B course. However, it might not be inherently apparent when left alone to work on affidavits, submissions and especially when working on platforms like eLitigation. The practical nature of practice requires a good mentor. A good trainee should be able to pick up subtle cues and understand what needs to be done after doing something for a few rounds. I had worked with interns previously when I was running my company and while I needed them to work on things, I always took the time to explain why we do things in a certain way. I think it is imperative. I do not see this as spoon-feeding if you do not do it too often. I see it as guidance but one should always point the intern or trainee to the basis of why things are done in that certain way. ELitigation is a challenging platform. I think it could be made more user friendly. At times I am trying to figure out how to make certain submissions. I do appreciate help when someone tells me something like “you can look at this particular matter where we extracted a court order. You can follow this to draft the draft court order”. I do not see that as spoon-feeding but rather providing a point of reference to do the current work at hand.

Integration is something that is not easy. Firms need to understand that it may take longer than usual for a practice trainee to integrate into the firm. For starters, you are not paying a practice trainee the same salary as an associate. Therefore you should not expect the practice trainee to be able to file matters on platforms like eLitigation and ICMS with little to no supervision. Subtle guidance, at a minimum, is required. Encouragement, while not necessary, may be well appreciated. Everyone started out as a trainee previously. My mantra is to never treat others how you do not want to be treated. If something was done to you previously which you did not agree with, you should not do it to others. I remember when I was serving my national service about 27 years ago and there was a platoon sergeant who picked on the platoon and told us that we needed to be “tekaned” because he faced the same treatment. Well, if you were verbally abused wrongly, it shows a lack of graciousness on your part to perform the same level of verbal abuse on others.

To those who are in the midst of their practice traineeship, hang in there. It gets better and it is a huge achievement to complete it.

To all of those who are completing their traineeship or have completed it, congratulations.

I have this classmate of mine who send me constant updates of the number of days left to the end of his traineeship. My one year period mirrors his. This was his message to me on 7 June 2026.

Do not ask me why he has a line diagram of the human skeleton. I did not ask him about this. He is a nice guy from my batch in the SUSS School of Law and he is uniquely quirky!

As of the time of this blog post… I have 24 more days to go.

Yours sincerely,

Daryl