POSTGRADUATE PRACTICAL LAW COURSE 2003 PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY PAPER SATURDAY, 6 DECEMBER 2003 10.00 AM - 1.00 PM GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES A. The Board of Legal Education Postgraduate Practical Law Course Examination Rules 2003 shall apply. B. On your answer booklet, - write your PLC number only (not your name); - for "Paper", write "Professional Responsibility"; and - for "Section", write "B". C. Answer THREE (3) questions in total. - SECTION A (40 Multiple Choice Questions) IS COMPULSORY which carries 40 marks. - SECTION B - Two questions must be answered from Section B. Each question carries 30 marks. D. In answering Section A, circle your CORRECT or BEST answer in the Answer Sheet provided. DO NOT tie the Answer Sheet to the Answer Booklet. Be sure that your PLC student number is entered for Section A. E The remaining 2 answers must be written in the answer booklet provided F Section A consists of 19 pages and Section B consists of Z pages (inclusive of this page). G. This is a 3-hour examination with an additional reading time of 10 minutes, RR RkSECTION B Answer TWO questions only Answer ALL the questions, giving reasons for your answers Donny and Maric, advocates and solicitors and partners of the firm, D & M Partnership, have approached you to seek your advice as to whether they would be guilty of any professional misconduct in respect of the following matters: (@) Marie, who wag Law Queen in Law School and a Talentime winner, has beeh approached to perform at acharity songathon. fu b\ ) In elum for het support, Marie will béBiven a full page p advertisement in the songathon programme. Marie has also asked for the blurb in the programme describing her ~*? ” background to state that she is a practicing lawyer in D & M Partnership and specialises in media and entertainment law and counts amongst her clients well-known local celebrities such as Gumit Singh, Kumar and Zoe Tay. (6) Donny acts for Rock Enrolle, a plaintiff in a suit. Barbara acts for the defendant, Con E Francis. Whilst waiting for their turn in a Pre-trial Conference queue, Barbara tells Donny that her client does not have the means to satisfy Rock’s claim and is going to try and drag matters as long as she can, and that Donny should try and advise his client to settle the matter on a) 7) 2", 0s reduced sum. Donny informs the Judge of the gist of this 4 conversation to support his application for an urgent hearing { | f EF date. pe Aw (©) As in (b) Con E Francis comes to the offices of D & M Partnership and asks to speak to Donny fo try and resolve the : matter. Donny refuses to see her and tells her to leave. Will UY‘ | your answer be different if Con E Francis informs Donny that she had discharged Barbara from acting forher? => [vo (@) Maric is approached by Kustark, an up and coming artiste who read about her expertise in the songathon programme, to take over conduct of a claim brought by him against his recording company that is currently handled by Prince & Company, another law firm. Marie tells Kustark that she cannot give him a (Q second opinion so tong as his current lawyers remain on record. ‘On hearing this, Kustark tells her that he will sack his current lawyer and wants her to act in their place. Marie then proceeds to give him a detailed opinion and sis takes the opportunity 40 oS point out the mistakes made by Prince & Company in handling Kustark’s claim. © Donny acts for Michael, an eccentric and difficult client in a Jong-drawn out action by Michael against a soft-drink company. In the course of the matter, the defendant’s lawyers hand Donny some original documents on Donny’s request for3. Michael to verify his signature on the same, Donny gives his undertaking not to release the documents to Michael and to return the same to them after Michael has sight of them, Donny’s legal assistant Blur subsequently shows Michael the documents and allows Michael to take the documents back with him. Michael has now refused to retum the documents, claiming to have misplaced them. Lea Oe fe pot () Marie acted for Jack and Jill in drawing up a Deed of Separation. She also witnessed their execution of the Deed, Jill now wishes to institute divorce proceedings against Jack and has approached Marie to act for her. She tells Marie that Jack has informed her that he intends to contest the proceedings and she needs ‘someone to be on her side’. (8) Marie is approached by Quaver, the managing director of IP Music Pte Ltd, a company which provides consultancy services to recording companies on their intellectual property rights, including the registration of their trade marks. Quaver has requested Marie to vet all their trade mark registration papers p(/ which will be drafted by Treble, who holds a Diploma in Legal 1,77 Studies from a local polytechnic, Marie will be paid a fixed fee for each application she vets. IP Music will bil their cients iy directly. Marie agrees to do this provided IP Music agrees to__ 4° nk refer any clicnts they may have who require legal services only -—\T'“- to her. (h) In ascertaining as to whether the Legal Profession (Solicitors’ a Accounts) Rules have been complied with, the Council of the _ (0°07 Law Society of Singapore requires Donny and Marie to~ 7°” produce all documents and accounts books for inspection by Magpie, an accountant appointed by the Council. Donnie and Marie object to the appointment of Magpie on the ground that she is the Secretary of the Society of Accountants in Singapore. (Jansen approaches Donny to act for him. Donny is suspicious. V4 that Jansen may be an undischarged bankrupt, but nevertheless ~~ A yok proceeds to act for Jansen, On Saturday, 29 November 2003, Marie gave written notice to another solicitor to file his Defence, failing which Marie would enter judgment in default at noon on Monday, 1 December 2003. On Monday, not having received the Defence, Marie proceeds to enter Judgment in default of Defence. Sef fx. CARAT (K) Donny intends to logn-the sum of $100,000 which he had received as a reward for information supplied involving a ob 2 copyright infritigeniéit of the song ‘Hit Me’, to his client 4 KUT Phoebus who has agreed to Donny deducting this sum from his Uv client's account (Phoebus), towards repayment of the loan. () Matic is instructed to act for Janice to sue Malcolm who tums pt 1 out to be a distant cousin of Marie’s husband. ot