Shortly after Lock's plight was made public, insurer NTUC Income's CEO Tan Suee Chieh offered to waive the costs awarded against Lock and give him $25,000 to settle his legal costs as a gesture of goodwill, on the condition that Lock dropped his stated intention to appeal. Initially overjoyed, Lock was billed S$80,000 by his lawyer, Andrew Hanam, shortly after his dismissal, so he decided to turn down the offer and to proceed to the Court of Appeal, the highest court in the jurisdiction of Singapore. He also filed a civil suit against his former lawyer alleging that he provided inadequate professional services, in response to which the latter filed a counter-suit for defamation. Judgment The court overturned Justice Lai's High Court decision, determining that the PDRC was indeed a court of law. Justice Andrew Phang pointed out that, having been set up by former Chief Justice Yong Pung How, it was part of the Subordinate Courts of Singapore and should be viewed as an integrated process, one that allows disputes to be settled more easily. The judges also censured both NTUC Income's lawyers and Hanam for escalating the case. Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong in his judgment : Chief Justice Chan also directed the Registrar of the Supreme Court to refer an investigation of Hanam's professional conduct to the Council of the Law Society of Singapore. The judgment also specifically prohibited Hanam from billing Lock for any legal costs without the permission of the Court of Appeal. In addition, all parties were to pay their own legal costs except Lock who was to have his paid by NTUC Income. Consequences Despite losing the appeal insurer NTUC Income decided to raise their goodwill offer towards Lock to S$40,000, an S$15,000 increase from the pre-appeal offer. The company in their press release admitted to lapses in their internal processes, and regretted the process the Lock family had had to go through. Shortly after the court's decision, Lock stated "my confidence in the legal system has been restored. I'm truly proud to be a Singaporean." Three days after the decision, The Straits Times reported that Lock was considering dropping his civil suit against Hanam, and had filed a motion for the suit to be delayed since Chief Justice Chan had ordered an investigation into Hanam's professional conduct. In response Haman said that he was willing to drop his defamation countersuit, provided that