The Law Society of Singapore (LawSoc) announced on August 20 that it will release the full audit committee report into workplace and governance issues once a redaction process is complete to protect the confidentiality of interviewees [1, 2, 3, 4].
The independent audit committee, appointed separately from the LawSoc council, commissioned TSMP Law Corporation and Senior Counsel Cavinder Bull to conduct and advise on the investigation [1]. The probe was triggered by an anonymous email sent on September 13, 2025, to the Ministry of Law and Ministry of Manpower. The email raised allegations of inappropriate workplace conduct, governance and oversight weaknesses, flaws in grievance and whistleblowing procedures, and poor internal controls over administrative and financial matters [2, 3, 4].
About 200 LawSoc members attended a tense, closed-door dialogue on August 13, pressing for the audit report's release [1, 2, 3, 4]. The following day, Law Minister Edwin Tong reiterated calls for the report and related materials to be given to members with appropriate redactions. Tong said, "The allegations concerned inappropriate workplace conduct, weaknesses in governance and oversight, deficiencies in grievance handling and whistleblowing processes, and shortcomings in internal controls over certain administrative and financial practices" [2, 3, 4].
LawSoc president Tan Cheng Han explained the council must balance transparency with confidentiality promises made to interviewees, many of whom are former employees. He said, "The council must honour the promise of confidentiality made to the interviewees, many of whom are LawSoc’s ex-employees" [2, 3, 4].
Interviews for the investigation were conducted on the basis of confidentiality, delaying earlier report publication [1, 2, 3, 4]. LawSoc will write to all interviewees by August 24 offering the option to redact their names and all or part of their transcripts. Those who do not respond by September 7 will have their statements withheld to maintain confidentiality. The society said, "They will be informed that if they do not reply by this date, their statement will not be disclosed as they have not waived the confidentiality promised to them" [1].
Additionally, individuals facing material allegations who were not previously given a chance to respond will be granted a right of reply before the report’s release [1, 2, 3, 4]. The LawSoc council met on August 18 to consider how to balance these confidentiality concerns with members’ strong calls for transparency [2, 3, 4].
