By Raju Chellam

Lawyers in Singapore can soon attend seminars, workshops, lectures and tutorials over the Web, once the Law Society's e-learning portal debuts in July. The portal will be able to transmit video lectures, offer interactive discussion rooms, and even provide testing and grading features.

'We want to help lawyers maximise their time,' the Law Society's president, R Palakrishnan, said. 'They don't have to skip interesting talks or workshops because of work commitments. They can attend seminars online anytime without paying a huge price.'

A pilot project was conducted last year, and more than 480 lawyers signed up. 'We have plans to invite noted speakers from overseas to address lawyers on emerging legal trends and best practices,' he said.

The technology comes from CrimsonLogic, a brand of SNS (Singapore Network Services).

'With just a Pentium PC with Internet or broadband connection, lawyers can log on to the portal to chart their learning path, choose and register for content modules and track their own progress,' said V Mathivanan, CEO of CrimsonLogic. 'The pay-per-use scheme is made possible by secure hosting, creative content development and service delivery by us.'

The Law Society - www.lawsociety.org.sg - currently offers 'continuing legal education programmes' at prices ranging from $50 for a two-hour seminar, to about $1,000 for weekend workshops and extended courses.

'E-learning courses will remain within the same price range of the on-site seminars and courses presently available to members,' Mr Palakrishnan said. 'The Law Society and CrimsonLogic are working together to ensure that the courses are competitively priced, and affordable.'

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