5 - Starting Legal Practice in Singapore

Summary

WELCOME THE CONQUERING HERO

By 1937, Singapore had climbed out of the economic morass brought on by the Depression. Commerce was booming and Saul Marshall's business was once again thriving. By this time, he had diversified his business and gone into real estate brokerage. He was a much respected businessman and was on friendly terms with most of the colony's notables. He was absolutely delighted to have David back in Singapore. David, now totally penurious, moved back in with his family in Bluebell Cottage.

His return had been much anticipated by his friends and contemporaries in the Jewish community. The Israelight editorial team, which could not seem to work without David pushing them along, was relieved and thrilled by his return. By this time, the Israelight group had formed a social committee. They threw David a welcomeback party to celebrate his return and his success at the London Bar. By completing a further six months' pupillage in Singapore, David would be eligible to be called to the Singapore Bar as well, making him the first Jewish lawyer in Singapore.

We have no record of where David did his pupillage. When he was asked about this in 1984, he could not even remember the firm where this took place, so forgettable had been his experience. The Singapore pupillage experience could not hold a candle to that in Walter Raeburn's chambers. In Singapore, David remembered that people at the firm “more or less ignored” him and let him find his “own way”. He was disgusted and determined that if he ever took on any pupils in future, he owed them a duty to guide them properly and show them the ropes the way Raeburn and those in his chambers had done.

On 10 June, 1937, Thomas Frank Hewlett, the Middle Temple's Under Treasurer, wrote to David to inform him that he had been called to the Bar at the Middle Temple on the evening of 9 June, 1937 in absentia. He also enclosed a certificate of Call together with a cheque for £26-1s-4, being the balance of his deposit after the call fees were deducted. Hewlett ended by requesting David to call on the Middle Temple office when he was next in England to sign the Call Book.