More vulnerable S’poreans to get access to legal aid

FOR VULNERABLE Singaporeans, the Ministry of Law’s new Inclusive Justice Taskforce (IJT) and higher means testing limit will increase access to the nation’s first-class justice system. For lawyers, the Ministry is partnering with entities such as the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) for artificial intelligence (AI) upskilling and ethics training.      

Ministry of Law leaders announced these progressive developments at the Committee of Supply debates this week (2 Mar).

“The IJT will examine how society can better support individuals with …conditions and disabilities,” said Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Law Eric Chua, with reference to people with autism, intellectual disability and psychiatric conditions as potential Taskforce beneficiaries (2 Mar). “Our objective is simple. It is to raise public awareness of what works and recommend tangible improvements.” 

SPS Chua is a longtime champion for social inclusivity. He will co-lead the IJT together with Singaporean of the Year finallist Peggy Yee, whose legal practice fights for people with “invisible disabilities”.  

PAP MPs such as Vikram Nair (Sembawang GRC), Jackson Lam (Nee Soon GRC) and Cassandra Lee (West Coast-Jurong West GRC), welcomed the changes, while tabling questions about how Singaporeans can be better defended. 

“This reflects a holistic approach to justice which takes into account real circumstances and vulnerabilities of everyday Singaporeans,” noted MP Vikram of the IJT’s work (27 Feb).  

Concurrently, the means test criteria for legal aid is being extended to $1,650 per capita household income, up from $1,050 representing the bottom 25 per cent of households. 

“Does the Ministry consider the current $1,050 per capita income threshold sufficient?” asked MP Lam (27 Feb). “Civil cases today, especially family, employment and debt matters, are becoming more complicated. Legal costs have increased and processes are becoming more demanding.”  

“We continue to review the means test thresholds regularly,” responded SPS Chua. About half of civil litigants in the $1,050 and $1,650 per capita income range were unrepresented according to a recent survey. 

“This could potentially benefit up to 1,000 more Singapore citizens and permanent residents annually,” said SPS Chua about the extended threshold. “To account for rising household income, the bank savings and non-CPF investments threshold for both civil legal aid and criminal defence aid will be raised from $10,000 to $12,000 to ensure that the truly needy remain eligible.” 

Minister for Law Edwin Tong noted that while some of the civil litigants in the survey may be unrepresented by choice, they can also benefit. 

“But after we put this [expanded means test threshold] in place, we will allow them to now avail themselves of legal aid should that become necessary. This will extend more legal aid to more Singaporeans.” (2 Mar) 

AI upskilling for Singapore’s lawyers 

A key part of the Ministry of Law’s AI upskilling for lawyers involves ensuring responsible AI use. 

“How do we train our young lawyers when AI can already do so much that juniors do today, but faster?” asked MP Lee (27 Feb). “They must also interpret Technology Review AI outputs critically and exercise human judgement in complex cases. How does the Ministry plan to support new training pathways, so young lawyers build fundamentals while learning to work alongside AI?” 

A draft guide on responsible generative AI use, augmented by a public consultation, is forthcoming in a matter of weeks, responded Senior Minister of State for Law Murali Pillai.     

“We are also partnering IMDA to build AI fluency amongst our lawyers and in-house counsel through upskilling and training initiatives, together with professional bodies including Sal and the Singapore Corporate Council Association,” added SMS Murali. 

The Ministry has also launched the Legal Innovation and Future-readiness Transformation — or LIFT initiative — in June 2025 for small firms to access legal technology solutions. Individual lawyers can seek out LegalTech GoWhere and the Singapore Open Legal Informatics Database (SOLID). 

“The strength of any legal system, and indeed of our legal profession, lies ultimately in the strength of our people,” said Minister Tong. “We will therefore expand education and competency frameworks, not just in technical skills, but in civil law, technology, literacy and cross border practice, so that every Singapore lawyer can serve their clients and their community with confidence and confidence.”