SIArb Newsletters

March 2017

The Singapore Institute of Arbitrators greeted 2017 with a flurry of activities.

SIArb continues to be blessed with the generosity of leading arbitrators sharing their knowledge through the SIArb platform. In a January 2017 seminar moderated by Mr Francis Goh, Mr David Bateson and Ms Marion Smith QC teased the audience with questions on the continuing viability of arbitration in the seminar, "Is the End of the Arbitration World Coming in 2017?" I trust it is not, well at least not this year. That was followed by a stimulated "Tylney Hall-styled” session presented by Dr Michael Hwang, SC and Prof Lawrence Boo in February 2017, where the two Singapore lights exchanged views on a range of prickly arbitration issues.

SIArb is one of the key organisations working on the new Third Party Funding framework in Singapore. Legislation governing third party funding is supplemented by guidelines or practice notes issued by industry stakeholders. Thus, SIArb has released its draft Guidelines for Third Party Funders for public consultation. The Law Society is issuing its Practice Note for Practitioners and SIAC has its Practice Note for Arbitrators. A well-attended seminar on Third Party Funding to discuss the proposed best practices in March 2017 generated a lively debate and valuable feedback from the participants. I moderated the session which was led by Dinesh Dhillon on behalf of SIArb, Mr Thio Shen Yi, SC for the Law Society and Ms Delphine Ho, the Registrar of SIAC.

In March 2017, I was invited in my capacity as President of SIArb to deliver a talk to the Japan Association of Arbitrators on the training of arbitrators and the promotion of arbitration practices. The talk was followed by an enjoyable panel discussion where we exchanged Singapore and Japanese viewpoints on arbitration. The full capacity hall with very senior arbitrators in attendance demonstrates the level of interest in the subject and augurs well for the progress of arbitration in Japan.

The same month, a group of trainers led by Mr Naresh Mahtani conducted training for delegates from the Institute of Modern Arbitration in Moscow. We thank Mr Kevin Nash, Deputy Registrar of SIAC, for helping us to conduct the training. The delegates were very knowledgeable and the panel discussions following each segment were very useful.

It is very encouraging to its Council and members that SIArb is not just a training institute, but a think -tank that is consulted on law and policy. The interaction that SIArb is fostering with the wider arbitration community beyond Singapore gives it useful perspectives. We will work to share and disseminate these perspectives to our members, wherever you are based.