S'pore aims to be at forefront of international arbitration
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SINGAPORE: Law and Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam on Tuesday said Singapore intends to be at the "leading edge of thinking in international arbitration".
Speaking at an Arbitration Dialogue organised by his Law Ministry at the Maxwell Chambers on Tuesday morning, he said Singapore's legal infrastructure is being strengthened to assist international arbitration.
He added that Singapore has taken several steps over the years to root itself on the international arbitration map.
"We have a court system and a judicial philosophy now which is extremely supportive of arbitration as well. They intervene in appropriate cases, they don't take a totally hands-off approach, but totally supportive in line with international thinking," said Mr Shanmugam.
This includes a proposed amendment to the International Arbitration Act (IAA) to recognise that agreements need no longer only be in writing. Agreements made through audio and other means can also be recognised.
Another proposed amendment seeks to recognise interim awards by emergency arbitrators before the tribunal is constituted.
Michael Ashcroft, Queens Counsel & Leading Arbitrator, said: "Reviews of negative jurisdictional rulings are important. It seems to me that the best view in relation to that is they do facilitate arbitration.
"They allow parties to get a correction of a mistake by the tribunal ruling that there is no jurisdiction to determine a claim, allow that to be corrected, so that the dispute can proceed in arbitration - that is important."
The Law Minister acknowledged that arbitration practice in Singapore has been growing from strength to strength, with the country attracting some of the top notch professionals from all over the world.
Mr Shanmugam added that eight of the top 10 law firms in terms of revenue, have also set up branches here in Singapore.
There are currently over 100 foreign law firms and about 1,000 foreign lawyers. Mr Shanmugam said they complement the 800 local law firms and 3,800 local lawyers.
Singapore has also hosted international meetings on arbitration, with the next one - the International Council for Commercial Arbitration Congress - scheduled for June 2012.
- CNA/fa/ls -
Another hub in the making?
Nice.
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we do not need the QC to tell us the direction or even future of our legal system...
as asians, we should promote new and innovative asian legal system with singaporeans as core competency...and not foreign lawiars
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I dun think we should have QCs...
We are on our own alrdy. We've our own law and system that has evolved over the years.
Now, many of the system that we've do not come from the UK entirely, some may have came from ROC even. So does it mean we've to follow everyone's law?
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With the kind of arbitration that resulted in Curry Sunday, we'll definitely get there </sarcasm>
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we are not saying we should not learn from the foreigns...but to make use of them to promote ourselves to the forefront and internationally...and not living behind the shadow of their knowledge....
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we need a system to put more trust in our local abilities and do all possible to nurture and promote us and pit against living in a foreign well ...
to initialize that....the system needs to break its own bureaucracy...
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they will tell the thais in thailand, to stop making tom yam when the burmese neighbour are at home
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My dog too thinks he is running the house.
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Originally posted by Kuali Baba:
With the kind of arbitration that resulted in Curry Sunday, we'll definitely get there </sarcasm>
That curry episode is epic.