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 21 December 2018

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

2018 has been a significant year for Arbitration in Singapore and for the SIArb. It is an opportune time to take stock and look ahead to 2019.

SIArb celebrated its 37th Anniversary with a fabulous dinner on 14th November at Aura, National Gallery. We thank our Guest of Honour, Senior Minister of State for Law and Health, Mr Edwin Tong SC, for his insights on Singapore’s role in an ever changing global economic landscape. I encourage members who missed the dinner to read his full speech HERE.

We also just concluded the 10th SIArb Symposium on 15th November which has now become synonymous with the iconic Old Parliament House. It was a lively house filled with much discussion, enthusiasm and passion for cutting edge issues in international arbitration. The Symposium has developed into a key platform for showcasing thought leadership and kudos must go to Vice President Tay Yu-Jin and his committee on the excellent event.

Singapore continues to climb the league ladder in the International Arbitration “Champions League”. The latest Queen Mary University of London Survey released on 9 May 2018 reported that Singapore is the third most preferred seat worldwide, after London and Paris, and ahead of Hong Kong, Geneva, New York and Stockholm. This is a significant achievement but we certainly cannot afford to rest on our laurels. With such a position, expectations will increase and Singapore must step up to play its part in terms of thought leadership in the global international arbitration space. SIArb will continue to play its role through our training programs. We recently worked with the Singapore Academy of Law (“SAL”) on a training program for budding arbitrators in Qatar. We are also particularly excited about the Singapore Arbitration Journal which will be launched in 2019.

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18 October 2018

Dear Fellows, Members and Associate Members of Singapore Institute of Arbitrators,

1.  COUNCIL AND OFFICE-BEARERS:

Following the elections at the Annual General Meeting on 25 September 2018, the following is a listing of the Office-Bearers and Council Members till the next AGM in 2019.

President	Mr Dinesh Dhillon	(2017 – 2019) – Elected at AGM 2017
Vice President	Mr Tay Yu-Jin	(2018 – 2020) – Elected at AGM 2018
Honorary Secretary	Mr Francis Goh	(2018 – 2020) – Elected at AGM 2018
Honorary Treasurer	Mr Mohan R Pillay	(2017 –  2019) – Elected at AGM 2017
Immediate Past President	Mr Chan Leng Sun S.C.	(2017 – 2019) (Imm. Past President) – under Art. 7.1.3
Council Members	Mr Chia Chor Leong	(2017 – 2019) – appointed under Art. 7.8.6.2 w.e.f.  5 October 2017
	Mr Chia Ho Choon	(2017 – 2019) – Elected at AGM 2017
	Mr Andrew Pullen	(2017 – 2019) – Elected at AGM 2017
	Mr Ramesh Selvaraj	(2018 – 2020) – Elected at AGM 2018
	Ms Rebecca Tai Andersen	(2018 – 2020) – Elected at AGM 2018
	Mr Yeo Boon Tat	(2018 – 2020) – Elected at AGM 2018

2.   COMMITTEES: 

The Council invites all Fellows and Members to volunteer to serve on Committees of the Institute. The Committees and their respective Chairs are as follows; and if you are interested in joining any of the Committees, please respond using the REPLY SLIP and email to the Secretariat by 1 November 2018. (You may select up to 3 Committees only).

For your information, please refer HERE for the Terms of Reference of these Committees and a list of the Committees for 2017-2018.

Committee	Chair
Activities	Mr Andrew Pullen
Arbitration Bar	Mr Tay Yu-Jin
Continuing Professional Development (CPD)	Mr Francis Goh
Education & Training	Mr Chia Chor Leong
Publications & Website	Mr Yeo Boon Tat
Scheme Arbitration	Mr Chia Chor Leong

 

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 1 October 2018

Our 37th AGM was held on 25 September 2018. Congratulations to the 3 new Council members who were elected: Rebecca Tai Andersen, Ramesh Selvaraj and Yeo Boon Tat.

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 25 September 2018

The following are the nominations for the positions of office bearers and Council.

President	Nominee	Proposer	Seconder
Vice President	Tay Yu-Jin	Dinesh Dhillon	Naresh Mahtani
Hon. Secretary	Francis Goh	Dinesh Dhillon	Mohan Pillay
Council Member	Shourav Lahiri	Naresh Mahtani	Francis Goh
Council Member	Ramesh Selvaraj	Dinesh Dhillon	William Ong
Council Member	Rebecca Tai Andersen	Dinesh Dhillon	Johnny Tan
Council Member	Arthur Yap	Chia Chor Leong	Naresh Mahtani
Council Member	Yeo Boon Tat	Mohan Pillay	Dinesh Dhillon

The positions of Vice-President and Honorary Secretary are uncontested. Elections for 3 Council Member positions out of the 5 candidates (stated in alphabetical order by surname) will be held at the upcoming AGM.

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 14 September 2018

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Time has flown by and the end of 2018 will soon be upon us. It is thus opportune to reflect on some of our initiatives this year and the road ahead.

Education and Training is a core function of SIArb and it has as always been an eventful year. The Committee chaired by Naresh Mahtani conducted the International Entry Course (“IEC”) on 27, 28 & 30 April 2018 and 40 participants passed the examination. The next Fellowship Assessment Course (“FAC”) is scheduled for 18, 19, 26, 27, 29 October 2018. Course Director Leslie Chew SC will be introducing some fresh changes to the course syllabus, with an increased emphasis on practice sessions in addition to the award-writing component. The Singapore Chamber of Maritime Arbitration (“SCMA”) has also been in talks with us on a potential collobation on holding a course on accreditation for maritime arbitrators in 2019.

SIArb presently administers arbitrations conducted under two such schemes, namely the Committee for Private Education (“CPE”) Mediation-Arbitration Scheme, and the Council for Estate Agencies (“CEA”) Dispute Resolution Scheme. The arbitration rules for the CPE Mediation-Arbitration Scheme were revised and put into effect in April 2018. The Committee also seeks to promote scheme arbitrations in other areas and industries and to expand the number of schemes to be administered by SIArb in partnership with other organizations and bodies. The Committee led by Chia Chor Leong is presently pursuing initiatives to develop scheme arbitrations for disputes in the areas of telecommunications, commerce and sports.

The next Regional Arbitral Institute Forum (“RAIF”) Conference will be hosted by the Indonesian Arbitrators Institute (IArbI) in Jakarta on 28-29 November 2018. Details of this event are on our website... 

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 31 August 2018

NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
 
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the 37th Annual General Meeting of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators will be held on 25 September 2018 at 6.00pm at
1 Marina Boulevard, NTUC Centre, Level 9, Room 903, Singapore 018989.

SIArb members, please log-in to the Members' Resources for more details.

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 12 June 2018

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

As at the time of my writing this, it is back on again! I am talking about the much anticipated meeting between President Donald Trump and Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un. Regardless of whether or not the meeting actually takes place, the choice of Singapore as the venue is worth reflecting on. Why is this relevant to international arbitration? I believe the factors that led to Singapore being chosen for this historic meeting is a reflection of the Singapore brand values that have shaped Singapore into being leading seat for global dispute resolution. Singapore was chosen because of its neutrality, safety, reliability, integrity, efficiency, excellence and openness. Singapore’s commitment to being a good host is further reflected by Minister of Defence, Ng Eng Hen’s stating that Singapore will willingly bear some of the costs of the planned summit.

It is such commitment to these Singapore “brand values” that will ensure Singapore keeps making strides in international arbitration. At the recently concluded SIAC Congress, Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon mentioned that one of the challenges was to ensure a constant pipeline of trained and future-ready practitioners. Read More

 

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17 May 2018

INVITATION TO JOIN THE SIARB POETRY COMPETITION

Open to SIArb members only.

Please write a poem about arbitration. The poem can be in any poetry style and can be about any facet of arbitration. There are no requirements as to the length of the poem.

Poems need to be received by 1 October 2018.

Click HERE for more details.

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20 March 2018

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

It has been an eventful start for the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators (SIArb) for 2018.

We continue to be blessed with leading arbitrators sharing their knowledge at our events. I had the privilege of Chairing Professor Lawrence Boo’s talk on the developments in Singapore Arbitration in January 2018. It was an invigorating session with Prof Boo sharing his thoughts on landmark Singapore decisions such as Kingdom of Lesotho v Swissbourgh Diamond Mines (Pty) Limited & 8 othes [2017] SGHC 195 in which the Singapore High Court set aside an investor-state arbitration award. February brought us an insightful session on Oil & Gas Arbitration by Mr Shourav Lahiri, Director, Lahiri LLC. I encourage all of you to also attend the upcoming session on 28 March on The Anatomy of Concurrent Evidence or Witness Conferencing, aka “Hot Tubbing”. Professor Leslie Chew will share with us the objective and mechanics of witness conferencing. Read More

 

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15 December 2017

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

2017 has been a significant year for Arbitration in Singapore and for the SIArb. As the year comes to an end, it is a time not only to reflect and give thanks but also to recharge and prepare for 2018.

SIArb celebrated its 36th Anniversary with a memorable dinner at Aura, National Gallery on 1 November. The organisers of the dinner, led by Tan Weiyi and assisted by our secretariat, Intellitrain repeated the success of last year’s dinner at the same venue. We thank our Guest of Honour, Mr VK Rajah SC, for his insights on the important issue of ethics in International Arbitration which has given us much food for thought. We also just concluded an excellent Symposium on 16 November at the iconic Old Parliament House. Kudos to Tay Yu-Jin and his committee on a sterling job done. Read More

 

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1 December 2017

SIArb LinkedIn Page

SIArb is pleased to announce: the launch of its new LinkedIn page.

We encourage you to follow, like and share our page, as well as contribute comments on our posts.

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3 November 2017

Extension of time for Public Consultation on draft SIArb Guidelines on Party-Representative Ethics

SIArb announced the commencement of the public consultation process on the draft SIArb Guidelines on Party-Representative Ethics (“Guidelines”) in October 2017.

As this important subject is receiving keen attention and helpful consideration from many quarters, SIArb is pleased to extend the consultation period to 31 January 2018.  

View/Download Consultation paper HERE.

View/Download the draft Guidelines HERE.

SIArb members and all interested practitioners are invited to review the draft Guidelines and send in their comments during the consultation period (which is extended to 31 January 2018).  Comments may be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.or in hard copy to Singapore Institute of Arbitrators, 6 Eu Tong Sen Street, #05-07, Singapore 059817, FAO Working Group on Party-Representative Ethics.

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20 October 2017

Dear Fellows, Members and Associate Members of Singapore Institute of Arbitrators,

1.  COUNCIL AND OFFICE-BEARERS:

Following the elections at the Annual General Meeting on 28 September 2017, and co-options made at the Council meeting of 5 October 2017, the following is a listing of the Office-Bearers and Council Members till the next AGM in 2018.

President	Mr Dinesh Dhillon	(2017 – 2019) – Elected at AGM 2017
Vice President	Mr Tay Yu-Jin	(2017 – 2018) – appointed under Art 7.8.6.1 to fill vacancy caused by Council Member’s Dinesh’s appointment as Vice-President
Honorary Secretary	Mr Naresh Mahtani	(2016 – 2018) – Elected at AGM 2016
Honorary Treasurer	Mr Mohan R Pillay	(2017 –  2019) – Elected at AGM 2017
Immediate Past President	Mr Chan Leng Sun S.C.	(2017 – 2019) (Imm. Past President) – under Art. 7.1.3
Council Members	Mr Chia Chor Leong	(2017 – 2019) – appointed under Art. 7.8.6.2 w.e.f.  5 October 2017
	Mr Chia Ho Choon	(2017 – 2019) – Elected at AGM 2017
	Mr Francis Goh Siong Pheck	(2016 – 2018) – Elected at AGM 2016
	Ms Adrienne Louise Beatrice Kouwenhoven	(2017 – 2018) – Co-opted by Council under Art. 7.1.4 w.e.f. 5 October 2017
	Mr Andrew Pullen	(2017 – 2019) – Elected at AGM 2017
	Ms Tan Weiyi	(2016 – 2018) – Elected at AGM 2016
	Mr Yeo Boon Tat	(2016 – 2018) – Elected at AGM 2016

2.   COMMITTEES: 

The Council invites all Fellows and Members to volunteer to serve on Committees of the Institute. The Committees and their respective Chairs are as follows; and if you are interested in joining any of the Committees, please respond using the REPLY SLIP and email to the Secretariat by 3 November 2017. (You may select up to 3 Committees only).

For your information, please refer HERE for the Terms of Reference of these Committees and a list of the Committees for 2016-2017.

Committees	Chairs/Vice-Chair
Activities	Chair: Mr Andrew Pullen Vice Chair: Ms Adrienne Louise Beatrice Kouwenhoven
Arbitration Bar	Mr Tay Yu-Jin
Continuing Professional Development (CPD)	Chair: Mr Francis Goh Vice Chair: Mr Andrew Pullen
Education & Training	Mr Naresh Mahtani
Publications & Website	Mr Yeo Boon Tat
Scheme Arbitration	Mr Chia Chor Leong

 

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26 September 2017

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

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 28 August 2017

NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
 
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the 36th Annual General Meeting of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators will be held on 28 September 2017 at 6.00pm at
1 Marina Boulevard, NTUC Centre, Level 9, Room 903, Singapore 018989.

SIArb members, please log-in to the Members' Resources for more details.

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18 May 2017

SIArb Guidelines for Third Party Funders

SIArb released its draft Guidelines for Third Party Funders for public consultation on 28 February 2017. This was followed by a lively seminar on Third Party Funding with panelists from SIArb, the Law Society and the Singapore International Arbitration Centre in March 2017. A number of law firms and third party funders have written in with their helpful comments on the draft Guidelines. Following the consultation period, SIArb has finalised its Guidelines for Third Party Funders on 18 May 2017.

Please download the Guidelines HERE and Accompanying Notes HERE.

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28 February 2017

Public Consultation on SIArb Guidelines for Third Party Funders

The Civil Law (Amendment) Act (CLA) and the Civil Law (Third-Party Funding) Regulations 2017 (CLA Regulations) to facilitate third party funding of Singapore-seated international arbitrations and related court or mediation proceedings take effect from 1 March 2017. This statutory framework is meant to be supplemented by industry-led guidelines to promote best practices amongst stakeholders.

The Singapore Institute of Arbitrators (SIArb) is working on Guidelines for Third Party Funders to complement the third party funding regime in Singapore. A draft of the Guidelines is released HERE for public consultation. Feedback is welcome and should be submitted to SIArb by letter emailed to the SIArb Secretariat at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 31 March 2017.

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20 February 2017

Discontinuation of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Return Form

We will be discontinuing the current practice of requiring submission of the annual Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Return forms to SIArb by Panel Arbitrators with immediate effect.
SIArb Panel Arbitrators will continue to have the individual responsibility, on an honour basis, to engage in continuing professional development activities to remain equipped to serve as arbitrators on the Panel, as per the Panel Arbitration CPD Points Guidelines HERE.

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24 January 2017

SIArb E-Newsletter

SIArb is pleased to announce that its newsletter has gone fully online, and the hardcopy edition has been replaced with an e-newsletter.

We will continue to bring you quality content and timely updates, delivered right to your inbox.

Click HERE to read our latest issue. Read our other issues HERE

Should any member have any contributions to make to the e-newsletter, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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