SINGAPORE – Lawyers who hope to thrive in the age of artificial intelligence will need to be both legally strong and digitally fluent, Singapore’s Law Minister Edwin Tong said on March 6, warning that AI is now one of the most significant disruptors of the legal profession.
Speaking to more than 850 members of the legal community at the Raffles City Convention Centre, in an event marking the bicentennial of Singapore’s modern legal system, Mr Tong noted studies suggesting that up to 44 per cent of legal tasks can be automated by AI, often faster and more accurately than humans. He argued that lawyers must therefore “double down” on what machines cannot replicate.
“AI cannot build trust with clients. It cannot exercise moral judgment. It cannot advocate with wisdom. It is not accountable, at least in the traditional sense,” he said, stressing the need to train lawyers in ethical reasoning, empathetic client engagement, sound judgment amid ambiguity and the moral courage to tell clients what they do not want to hear.
Mr Tong, who is also Second Minister for Home Affairs, said there is a need to rethink how lawyers are educated and trained, and pledged that the Ministry of Law is prepared to invest alongside law firms as they adopt AI tools. While he acknowledged concerns that some roles may disappear, he said preserving inefficiencies merely to preserve jobs is not sustainable, adding that “clients will inevitably demand better”.
As part of broader efforts to support digital transformation, the minister launched a new guide on the use of generative AI in the legal sector. Grounded in professional ethics, confidentiality and transparency, the guide advises lawyers to consider informing clients when Gen AI is used substantially in producing legal work.
Mr Tong framed his vision as building a first-class legal system supported by a top-class profession, noting that Singapore’s legal framework is already highly ranked in global indices. Citing Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s Budget speech in February, he said AI has been identified as a national priority and strategic advantage for Singapore, and the same logic applies to the legal industry.
After his speech, Mr Tong moderated a panel discussion on how emerging tech trends are reshaping legal practice. Practitioners described how they are already experimenting with AI to reduce drudge work and free up time for higher-value tasks.
Vanathi Ray, a director at Providence Law Asia, said her firm is trialling two AI tools under the Legal Innovation and Future-Readiness Transformation initiative, aimed at supporting firms in change management and transformation. She said she hopes AI can ease the burden on young lawyers and make practice more sustainable, pointing out that most automation targets low-value, laborious work. “Nobody wants to be reading through 100 documents to find one answer,” she said.
Philip Fong, managing partner of Harry Elias Partnership, said his firm subscribes to an AI service provider and has put in place an internal AI policy. The tools are mainly used for research and to refine arguments and contracts, he said, describing them as handling time-consuming, low-value tasks and freeing lawyers to focus on critical and strategic thinking. The challenge, he added, is integrating AI into formal workflows and deciding how much to charge clients for its use.
Mr Fong welcomed the new Gen AI guide as timely, noting that some lawyers overseas have been sanctioned for filing submissions containing fake case citations generated by AI. He emphasised that lawyers remain ultimately responsible for verifying AI-generated work. “AI has its limitations and it tends to hallucinate because AI cannot say no to a question. It will try to answer, even if it does not have the answer,” he said.