Sundaresh Menon, the chief justice of Singapore, has set up a 14-member committee to examine ways in which law firms offer training contracts to fresh law graduates, as well as retain and develop them.

According to reports in local media, the aim of the committee is to offer solutions to alleviate the oversupply of new lawyers in the country, which is causing many to leave the legal sector for other industries.

Among the ideas floated by CJ Menon include keeping younger lawyers as paralegals first, so they can develop their practical legal skills. However, this has not been greeted enthusiastically by the legal industry.

Last year, 550 fresh law graduates vied for around 490 training contracts. Meanwhile, 509 new lawyers were admitted to the Singapore Bar this year, a 100 percent increase compared to five years ago. According to CJ Menon, some firms retain only one-third or half of their original intake of trainees.

The 14-member panel will be led by Justice Quentin Loh, and include Judicial Commissioners Aedit Abdullah and Kannan Ramesh, as well as representatives from the Ministry of Law, corporate firms and the Attorney-General's chambers.