Legal Professionals

How to become an Advocate or Solicitor

Official title: Advocate/Solicitor (practising)

Also called: Advocate (practising), Advocate and solicitor (practising), Attorney (practising), Barrister (practising), Foreign lawyer (registered to practise in Singapore), Intellectual property attorney (practising), Intellectual property counsel (practising), Intellectual property lawyer (practising), Lawyer (practising), Patent lawyer (practising), Pupil/trainee lawyer (foreign lawyer), Solicitor (practising)

Advocate/Solicitor (practising) provides legal advice on a wide variety of subjects and undertakes legal business on clients’ behalf. He/she researches on legal principles, statutes and previous court decisions related to specific cases. He/she evaluates the findings and develops strategies and arguments in preparation for presentation of cases. He/she pleads clients’ cases before courts of law, tribunals and administrative boards or instructs barristers to plead in higher courts of justice. He/she may also act as a prosecutor on behalf of the Government in criminal cases.

Main tasks

Giving clients legal advice on a wide variety of subjects and undertaking legal business on clients’ behalf
Researching legal principles, statutes and previous court decisions related to specific cases
Gathering evidence to formulate a defence or to initiate legal actions, by such means as interviewing clients and witnesses to ascertain the facts of a case
Evaluating findings and developing strategies and arguments in preparation for presentation of cases
Pleading clients’ cases before courts of law, tribunals and administrative boards or instructing barristers to plead in higher courts of justice
Accepting briefs and pleading in the higher court
Negotiating settlements in matters which involve legal disputes

Ways in

University: Law & Justice degrees, Offered by 3 universities in Singapore
Licence or registration: To practise Singapore law you must be admitted as an advocate and solicitor of the Supreme Court. The usual route is a recognised law degree, the Part B Bar course and exams run by the Singapore Institute of Legal Education, and 12 months of practice training, followed by an application to the court. You then need a practising certificate each year. Law: Legal Profession Act 1966. Regulator: Supreme Court of Singapore (admission and practising certificates) and Singapore Institute of Legal Education (Bar examinations) (https://www.sile.edu.sg).

Pay · Outlook · AI and this job

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Questions people ask

How do I become an Advocate or Solicitor?

Ways in include: Law & Justice degrees.

Will AI change the work of an Advocate or Solicitor?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

Updated 4 October 2026