Singapore lawyers can soon gain specialised skills to serve growing family office sector
The Wealth Management Institute and Law Society of Singapore are launching a multi-year training initiative
[SINGAPORE] About 6,500 practicing lawyers in Singapore will soon be able to gain specialised skills in family office advisory as the sector grows rapidly.
A partnership between the Wealth Management Institute (WMI) and Law Society of Singapore aims to equip local lawyers with sector-specific skills and address a growing need for legal training in this area, the two bodies said on Friday (Sep 26).
The number of family offices has surged in recent years, climbing more than four times to over 2,000 at the end of 2024.
“As wealthy families seek increasingly sophisticated legal guidance, it is vital to create formal pathways for lawyers to develop the specialised knowledge required,” said the two bodies.
The growth of family offices has mirrored Singapore’s broader wealth management success. There was a year-on-year increase of 12.2 per cent in assets under management in 2024, surpassing S$6 trillion for the first time.
With these growth trends, there is now a greater need for “sophisticated guidance” on complex cross-border structures, regulatory compliance and succession planning.
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To serve that need, WMI will offer “Foundation” and “Advanced” programmes covering topics from family office governance, wealth and succession planning, operations and management, anti-money laundering and compliance, and ESG criteria, as well as international tax considerations.
The programme will draw on WMI’s faculty network and be overseen by an expert panel with representation from the Law Society to ensure industry alignment and practical relevance. It will be fully accredited by the Institute of Banking and Finance Singapore (IBF), making it eligible for the IBF Standards Training Scheme and SkillsFuture funding support.
The programme forms part of a broader initiative in continuing professional education, under which Singapore lawyers are now required to obtain three mandatory ethics component points annually.
It also builds on WMI’s established leadership in family office education through the Global-Asia Family Office Circle, launched in 2021 with the support of the Economic Development Board and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
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