So, as the organisation’s new Head of Strategy and Impact Evaluation, she plans to build more community law centres in the heartlands to improve access to justice for all.
Beside the 36-year-old’s desk, a tiny window overlooks a public car park and a void deck coffee shop opposite the temple – which has served as an “informal waiting lobby” for clients due to the cramped space and lack of privacy in the two containers. In turn, the coffee shop has also told several customers about the services provided by the centre.
The single meeting room, in one of the containers, that the community law centre has for clients to meet lawyers. uncle these days might be a far cry from Cai’s past life as a partner at Shook Lin & Bok Singapore for about two years, following an almost six-year stint with Allen & Gledhill LLP, her career pivot seems almost inevitable in hindsight.
The prosecution eventually agreed to withdraw the charge and give him a conditional warning. When the judgement was announced in court, her client’s family “burst into tears because they had been so stressed by the entire ordeal”, she said. In another case that showed her the importance of community, Cai and her former employer acted for a foreigner who was married, and then abandoned, by her Singaporean spouse when she was pregnant in Singapore. After the woman gave birth here, she tried unsuccessfully to register her children as Singaporeans because the husband had made a false declaration that the children were not his.
She offers free classes to help low-income kids learn how to read: ‘They deserve the same opportunities’ The two containers at Tian De Temple in Hougang house Pro Bono SG's first community law centre. The idea for the centre originated from Richard Siaw, Pro Bono SG’s 2022/2023 ambassador and the managing director for law firm R S Solomon LLC.
For one, the temple took the initiative to remove the barrier in front of the containers, so people who might not be comfortable walking through temple grounds could access the community law centre directly from the main pavement. The temple also worked with the town council to create a concrete path, so these people didn’t have to step on the grass and mud to enter.