Singapore: 1 in 3 Junior Lawyers Plans to Leave Their Current Firm — Toxic Culture and Lack of Mentorship Are the Primary Causes

Singapore's Legal Profession Sustainability Report (AsiaOne, July 30) found that 1 in 3 newly qualified lawyers expects to leave their current firm within three years. The primary causes identified: toxic workplace cultures, bullying, unreasonable workloads, and a profession that intrudes into personal lives. Lack of mentorship was specifically cited as a cause, consistent with CJ Menon's finding that only 1 in 10 young lawyers is currently in a structured mentorship relationship. Minister Tong's response: "Mentoring is not something experienced lawyers do if they have time. It is a professional obligation." The Singapore data are notable because they show that even in a jurisdiction where aggregate retention rates are relatively stable — 60% after 5 years, 40% after 10 years — the reasons for departure include avoidable firm-level decisions about culture and supervision. The profession does not lose lawyers because legal work is hard; it loses lawyers because of how that hard work is managed, supervised, and rewarded. For managing partners: the Singapore reform programme provides the most detailed cross-jurisdictional template for structural wellbeing reform currently available — mentorship as professional obligation, sustainability guide setting behavioural norms, SCALE connecting AI transition to workforce sustainability. The same five structural pressures (work intensity, incentive structures, workplace culture, leadership/mentorship gaps, generational divide) appear in the WSBA data, the ABA survey, and the Singapore Symposium. They are not jurisdiction-specific.