30 March 2020
How would you describe yourself in three words?
OCD. Alive. Grateful.
How did you first get involved in arbitration work?
When SIAC was born in 1991, the caretakers of court litigation battled a system bogged down by a serious logjam of older cases. It did not take long for arbitration to enjoy the imprimatur of disputants and their legal advisors. I took part in CIArb trainings to equip myself. It was a case of get on the bus or be left behind.
In the course of your work, do you notice a trend in clients preferring arbitration over litigation as a form of dispute resolution?
Definitely. Arbitration has become the darling of lawyers and disputants, in a trend that has continually arced upwards in the last two and a half decades.
What is the most memorable arbitration or arbitration related matter that you were involved in, and why?
An ongoing investor-state dispute where I sit as a party nominated arbitrator. The case is being heard in stages at the Peace Palace, The Hague and involves time-worn issues often encountered in ISDS. The landscape is littered with the evolution of the diametrically varying perspectives of practitioners and jurists across the globe on oft-encountered issues. The ad hoc (and frequently opaque) resolution of such issues by numerous separate tribunals (often in dramatically divergent ways) leads one to the inexorable conclusion that perhaps the time has come for an international investment court.
What advice do you have for a young fellow practitioner interested in arbitration work?
Be persistent and dogged.
Pursue learning relentlessly.
Show up at arbitration related events.
Most of all, believe in yourself.
What are the challenges you think arbitration practitioners will face in the upcoming years?
Serious competition from international courts such as the Singapore International Commercial Court and other forms of ADR. Arbitration users such as in-house counsel will also require much more pro-active and innovative case management approaches from counsel and arbitrators alike.
With the establishment of the Singapore International Mediation Centre and the introduction of the SIAC-SIMCArb-Med-Arb Protocol, do you see mediation as now having a bigger role to play in assisting parties to resolve their disputes?
This is self evident. Arbitrators need to be armed with mediation skills. Common law lawyers need to overcome their understandable aversion to an arbitrator switching hats and acting as a mediator, and vice versa.
Who is the person(s) who has had the greatest impact and/or influence on your career?
Michael Hwang SC, my pupil master who blazed a trail in arbitration. CJ Sundaresh Menon, VK Rajah SC, JA Steven Chong and Minister Shanmugam have been tremendous mentors.
If you weren’t in your current profession, what profession would you be in?
A park ranger in a remote wilderness haven.
What’s your guilty pleasure?
A car with way more horsepower than rationality would require.
What is one talent that not many people know you have?
Having all the skills to run a provision shop. Was conscripted to assist my dad in his provision business from the age of 9. Grating coconuts, weighing/packing essentials such as flour and sugar, delivering newspapers (which mostly meant making effective escapes from the neighbourhood dogs) and similar pleasures.
Fill in the blank: “Arbitration is to dispute resolution as salt is to ___”
....tears!