Hi.

By now, many of you would have heard the results for The Law Society of Singapore council elections.¹

Do allow me to share a few words, before we resume our regularly scheduled programming.²

First and foremost, my sincere congratulations to Remy Choo Zheng Xi for his victory. His long record of involvement in civil society speaks for itself, and I have no doubt that he will continue to bring the same fervour to his role on the council.

Second, I am very very grateful to everyone³ who took the time and effort to:
- put in a good word for me, whether publicly⁴ or privately;
- ask difficult questions;
- send me words of encouragement;
- vote for me; and/or
- communicate their commiserations when the results were released.⁵

I mean, I know I made that joke earlier about not knowing if anyone would come to a rally at Hong Lim Park,⁶ but buried in it was a kernel of truth. After all, this was my first time running for council, and as a relative unknown with less of a proven track record of council work compared to my fellow candidates.

So - if you will indulge me for a moment - I was, quite frankly, bowled over by the unexpected outpouring of support. And it is not something I take for granted.

Third, it is the journey, not the outcome, that has convinced me that stepping up to run was the right thing to do. So many of you have reached out to:
- take me up on the offer of coffee (which remains open, by the way);
- tell me that what I have shared resonates with you; and
- share that you feel heard.

This tells us that:
- many of us do care about practice, and want to stay in practice;
- face significant challenges juggling all the various demands, both professional and personal; but
- just don't know how long we can keep it up.

So what do I do with this information?

Well, I don't have a complete answer yet. After all, I'm just 1 person. But at least we now know that, more than ever, members would like more support on this front.

What I do know is that:
- I will continue offer my support to fellow members, both through formal programs and informal sharing;
- I will continue to make myself available to the Law Society and the council, for any initiatives or activities that I can add value in; and
- I will probably end up bu-, err, I mean, drinking lots of coffee with fellow members for the foreseeable future.

Thank you for walking with me, and this is just the beginning.