Advertisement

Lawyer M Ravi suspended until certified fit to practise by approved psychiatrist

Lawyer M Ravi arrives at State Courts with a client in Singapore in this 2013 file photo. (Yahoo file photo)

Singapore lawyer M Ravi is suspended from law practice until he is certified fit to practise by a psychiatrist approved by the Law Society, says an order from the High Court.

Justice Quentin Loh issued the decision in a close-door hearing on Thursday, following the Law Society’s court order for M Ravi to undergo a medical examination.

M Ravi was previously suspended by the society on 10 February, but the society was required to make a court application or the suspension would be lifted under the Legal Profession Act.

In order for M Ravi to lift the suspension, the society said he would need to present a medical report from either his psychiatrist Dr Munidasa Winslow, or another Law Society-approved psychiatrist certifying that he is fit to practise.

In a statement issued by M Ravi after the hearing, he expressed concern over the suspension. “[It] means my clients are deprived of my legal assistance. Some of them have no prospects of obtaining other legal representation either due to lack of means or the nature of their case,” he said.

“The only thing I can do is use the suspension as a compulsory rest,” he added.

He also said that he would provide the Court “with a clean bill of health from a physician as soon as possible”.

Previously, on 2 February, Dr Winslow wrote a medical report and diagnosed him with a form of bipolar disorder known as hypomania — a condition that causes elevated moods and periods of depression that M Ravi was diagnosed with in 2006.

In the report, she wrote that M Ravi was in a “hypomaniac” phase of his bipolar disorder. In this phase, a sufferer undergoes persistent disinhibition, a pervasive euphoric or irritable mood that manifests itself in extremely energetic, talkative, and confident behaviour.