Singapore — Senior lawyer Lee Suet Fern, who was suspended for 15 months by the Court of Three Judges over her handling of the last will of her late father-in-law Lee Kuan Yew, has now turned to dressmaking.

Mrs Lee, the wife of Lee Hsien Yang, was found guilty of misconduct on Nov 20.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday (Mar 30), Mr Lee shared photos of dresses that his wife had made.

He wrote: “My wife has made use of her enforced suspension from legal practice to learn dressmaking.”

“She has since applied some of her newly learnt skills and these pictures show the fruits of her labour,” Mr Lee added.

Mrs Lee is well known for her handmade quilts and masks.

Participating in a charity auction for Project Dignity last year, Mrs Lee donated one of her intricate quits – “Dignity Blooms”. One Mrs Geraldine Lim bought Mrs Lee’s quilt for S$33,000.

Additionally, Mr and Mrs Lee matched her winning bid, raising a total of S$66,000 for Project Dignity.

Read related: Lee Suet Fern’s quilt sells for S$33,000 in charity auction

In September 2020, it came to light that Mrs Lee also made masks by hand. That’s not all, she also attaches a “birth certificate” to each mask.

The “birth certificate” of each mask had the following details:

“I was born in: September 2020, Singapore.
DNA: I was made from Liberty of London tana lawn and Japanese cotton fabric with German thread. Latex free elastic.
Use: Protection against Covid and other airborne diseases, but I am not a surgical mask
Care: Gentle wash, medium iron. Careful not to iron the elastic. Send me to my mother for repairs or elastic replacements.”

Also read: Lee Suet Fern names her handmade masks and even gives each a birth certificate

Legal Suspension

In its 98-page judgment, the court, comprising Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, Judge of Appeal Judith Prakash and Justice Woo Bih Li, said Mrs Lee had acted at the behest of her husband to push through the execution of the will in an “unseemly rush”.

Mrs Lee’s role in the handling of the last will had led to a complaint by the Attorney-General’s Chambers to the Law Society in January last year about possible professional misconduct.

Deputy Attorney-General Lionel Yee had asked that the case be referred to a disciplinary tribunal, and a two-man tribunal, comprising Senior Counsel Sarjit Singh Gill and lawyer Leon Yee Kee Shian, was appointed by CJ Menon.

The tribunal had said in its 206-page grounds of decision that the facts exposed how Mrs Lee and her husband had misled the senior Mr Lee to sign a new will without the advice of his usual lawyer, Ms Kwa, who had prepared all six of his previous wills. /TISG