Lawyer struck off rolls for not declaring plagiarism committed as undergrad
Source: Straits Times
Article Date: 08 Aug 2024
Author: Selina Lum
The striking-off was handed down to Ms Jill Phua by the Court of Three Judges, which is the highest disciplinary body for the legal profession.
A lawyer has been struck off the rolls for failing to declare in her 2023 Bar admission application that she had committed plagiarism while she was an undergraduate at the Singapore Management University (SMU).
The striking-off was handed down to Ms Jill Phua on Aug 6 by the Court of Three Judges. It is the highest disciplinary body for the legal profession and has the power to suspend or disbar lawyers.
The court also stipulated that Ms Phua cannot apply to be reinstated as a lawyer for at least 2½ years.
In 2020, Ms Phua was a second-year law student when she was caught for plagiarism after she submitted a research paper for a module that she was taking.
An assistant professor who reviewed her paper and a report by anti-plagiarism software Turnitin asked her to explain why several paragraphs of her paper appeared to have been lifted from other sources without attribution.
Ms Phua replied that in the process of transferring the points collated from her research on a separate document over to the final draft, she transferred paragraphs that were unedited instead of the edited paragraphs.
She was officially reprimanded by SMU for plagiarism, and her grade for the paper was reduced to zero.
In January 2023, Ms Phua filed her application to be admitted as a lawyer without declaring this incident in her supporting affidavits.
She was admitted to the Bar on July 12, 2023.
The Attorney-General subsequently learnt that there were SMU students who had committed plagiarism for the module, but who may not have made the necessary declarations in their admission affidavits.
On March 14, 2024, after being informed by SMU that Ms Phua was one of the students, the Attorney-General applied to the court for her to be struck off.
The Attorney-General, the Law Society and the Singapore Institute of Legal Education are the stakeholders involved in the admission of lawyers.
On Aug 6, Deputy Senior State Counsel Sarah Shi from the Attorney-General’s Chambers argued that a striking-off was an automatic consequence under the Legal Profession Act, as Ms Phua’s affidavits contained a substantially false statement and suppressed a material fact.
Ms Shi asked the court to set a minimum interval of three years before Ms Phua can apply for reinstatement, citing a past case where a lawyer was struck off for not declaring that she committed plagiarism during a take-home examination.
The state counsel said three years would be the appropriate duration to enable Ms Phua to rehabilitate herself.
Ms Phua, who was represented by Mr Shashi Nathan, did not contest the striking-off application, but sought a shorter reinstatement interval.
Mr Nathan said: “She accepts that she deserves to be disbarred, and she is making every effort to rehabilitate herself.”
The court, comprising Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon and Justices Tay Yong Kwang and Andrew Phang, imposed a minimum interval of 2½ years.
The court said a reduction from the duration sought by the Attorney-General was appropriate on account of the fact that Ms Phua had voluntarily withdrawn her application for a practising certificate.
The judges also recognised the progress she has made in her rehabilitation, and noted that she did not raise a fight in this case.
Last week, students from all three law schools in Singapore took a pledge for the first time to uphold the values of the legal profession.
Source: Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.
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