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08-01-13, 13:00
Singapore looks to set up International Commercial Court
7 January 2013 | By Yun Kriegler
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Singapore’s newly appointed Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon has indicated that one of his main priorities for the new year is to look at the possibility of establishing the Singapore International Commercial Court.
Menon, who was sworn in as Singapore’s fourth chief Justice in November 2012, revealed the plans of the country’s Supreme Court at a ceremony to mark the opening of the 2013 legal year, held last Friday (4 January). One of the major priorities is to explore the possibility of the establishment of the Singapore International Commercial Court.
“We’ve seen the great success of the efforts to promote Singapore as a hub for international arbitration. Much of this work emanates from abroad, but parties have chosen to arbitrate here. There are many factors that account for this and it’s time to take fuller advantage of them,” Menon remarked.
According to his speech, a working group will be set up to study the viability of developing a framework for the establishment of the new court. The group will be led by Justice V K Rajah and the senior minister of state for law Indranee Rajah.
“From my preliminary consultations, it appears there will be strong interest in this from the community of legal corporations operating throughout Asia. This promises to be an exciting and important step in our efforts to grow the legal services sector and to expand the scope for us to internationalise and export Singapore law,” Menon said.
In addition, the Chief Justice also indicated that there will be several changes made to the regulatory framework that governs lawyers, which will affect international lawyers working in Singapore as well as local law firms wanting to internationalise.
Prior to his appointment as the country’s Chief Justice, Menon was the Attorney General and chaired a committee to explore possible changes to the regulatory framework and also studied the possible use of alternative business structures in legal practice.
“The committee will complete its work shortly and submit its report, which will address a number of these issues and propose a new framework to assure a level playing field for all lawyers based here,” Menon said during his speech.
The opening of the legal year marks a first in Singapore’s post-independent legal history, as it saw the Chief Justice, Attorney General and the president of the Law Society all make their maiden addresses in their representative offices.
Law Society president Lok Vi Ming, a partner at Singaporean firm Rodyk & Davidson who was appointed to the presidency in November 2012, noted that the number of foreign lawyers is expanding faster than that of local lawyers in Singapore. He encouraged more integration between local and international lawyers and urged international firms to undertake more pro-bono work.
“The spectacular growth in the number of foreign lawyers practising in Singapore emphasises the need for our foreign brethren to lock hands with local lawyers, not in competition, but in cooperation and integration,” said Lok.
“Further, foreign firms shouldn’t only be planning to sink deeper roots into businesses here, but it is absolutely important that they also plan to sink deeper roots into the business of serving and being part of the larger community here. Integration with the legal and larger community means doing more and giving more,” he added.
7 January 2013 | By Yun Kriegler
Share
Comment
Save
Singapore’s newly appointed Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon has indicated that one of his main priorities for the new year is to look at the possibility of establishing the Singapore International Commercial Court.
Menon, who was sworn in as Singapore’s fourth chief Justice in November 2012, revealed the plans of the country’s Supreme Court at a ceremony to mark the opening of the 2013 legal year, held last Friday (4 January). One of the major priorities is to explore the possibility of the establishment of the Singapore International Commercial Court.
“We’ve seen the great success of the efforts to promote Singapore as a hub for international arbitration. Much of this work emanates from abroad, but parties have chosen to arbitrate here. There are many factors that account for this and it’s time to take fuller advantage of them,” Menon remarked.
According to his speech, a working group will be set up to study the viability of developing a framework for the establishment of the new court. The group will be led by Justice V K Rajah and the senior minister of state for law Indranee Rajah.
“From my preliminary consultations, it appears there will be strong interest in this from the community of legal corporations operating throughout Asia. This promises to be an exciting and important step in our efforts to grow the legal services sector and to expand the scope for us to internationalise and export Singapore law,” Menon said.
In addition, the Chief Justice also indicated that there will be several changes made to the regulatory framework that governs lawyers, which will affect international lawyers working in Singapore as well as local law firms wanting to internationalise.
Prior to his appointment as the country’s Chief Justice, Menon was the Attorney General and chaired a committee to explore possible changes to the regulatory framework and also studied the possible use of alternative business structures in legal practice.
“The committee will complete its work shortly and submit its report, which will address a number of these issues and propose a new framework to assure a level playing field for all lawyers based here,” Menon said during his speech.
The opening of the legal year marks a first in Singapore’s post-independent legal history, as it saw the Chief Justice, Attorney General and the president of the Law Society all make their maiden addresses in their representative offices.
Law Society president Lok Vi Ming, a partner at Singaporean firm Rodyk & Davidson who was appointed to the presidency in November 2012, noted that the number of foreign lawyers is expanding faster than that of local lawyers in Singapore. He encouraged more integration between local and international lawyers and urged international firms to undertake more pro-bono work.
“The spectacular growth in the number of foreign lawyers practising in Singapore emphasises the need for our foreign brethren to lock hands with local lawyers, not in competition, but in cooperation and integration,” said Lok.
“Further, foreign firms shouldn’t only be planning to sink deeper roots into businesses here, but it is absolutely important that they also plan to sink deeper roots into the business of serving and being part of the larger community here. Integration with the legal and larger community means doing more and giving more,” he added.