About this Seminar:

Singapore courts continue to see a flow of arbitration cases coming before it for judicial assistance. The two stages of the arbitral proceedings most commonly besieged with such issues involves the (i) enforcement of arbitration agreement, and (ii) setting aside of the award.

Singapore courts had on 7 occasions been asked to stay its own court proceedings in favour of arbitration (under s 6 IAA; Art 8 Model Law or Art II (3) New York Convention) and 9 cases were brought for it to set aside arbitral awards. The speaker will discuss these judicial decisions and will consider if there is any trend and best practice(s) being adopted by the Singapore courts.

One notable judicial decision that came out in 2015 arose from a question arbitrabililty of subject matter in the Court of Appeal judgment in Tomolugen Holdings Ltd and anor v Silica Investors Ltd and other appeals [2015] SGCA 57, where the speaker was appointed as amicus curiae. Another discussed the familiar chicken-and-egg situation of court and arbitral tribunal’s power to rule on an arbitral tribunal’s jurisdiction in the case of Malini Ventura v Knight capital Pte Ltd [2015] SGHC 225. Has the case of Malini Ventura finally settled the tension between courts and arbitral tribunal on jurisdiction issues?

The long protracted battle in the case of PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (Persero) TBK v CRW Joint Operation [2015] SGCA 30, resurfaced again in the Court of Appeal with an interesting dissent by Chan Sek Keong SJ. Will the latest decision put the issues arising in this matter to rest? 

The speaker will discuss these developments and engage attendees on these and other issues confronting the law in international arbitration in Asia. 

Seminar Programme: 

About the Speaker:  

Prof Lawrence Boo is the author of “Halsbury’s Laws of Singapore Volume 1(2) - Arbitration” (LexisNexis 2011 Re-issue), the chapter on Singapore in the book “International Handbook on Commercial Arbitration” (Kluwer 1996, 2002 and 2011 Supplements) and the regular contributor to the “Annual Review of Singapore” chapter on “Arbitration” since 2001. His papers have also been published in various international journals including the Journal of International Arbitration, Asian International Arbitration Journal, Asia Business Law Review, Chinese Yearbook of Private International and Comparative Law (Peking University Press), Dispute Resolution Journal (London) and the Asian Business Lawyer (Korea University). He is on the editorial board of the Oxford International Arbitration Series, (Oxford University Press) and a General Editor of the Asian International Arbitration Journal.

The “UNCITRAL Digest on the Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration 2012” is his latest published work which he completed (with Prof Frederic Bachand and Dr Stefan Kroll) in July 2012. Consistently ranked as one of Asia’s most “in demand” “leading individuals” in international arbitration from 2008 to 2013, Prof Boo has sat as arbitrator in more than 200 cases in many jurisdictions and written numerous awards. He has recently been designated by Singapore to serve on the ICSID Panel of Arbitrators.

About the Chairperson:  

Leng Sun heads the Dispute Resolution practice in Baker & McKenzie.Wong & Leow and is Baker & McKenzie’s Global Head of International Arbitration. He is qualified in Malaysia, Singapore and England. Leng Sun was appointed Senior Counsel in January 2011. In addition to years of experience in maritimerelated work, he has a broad commercial practice that covers international trade, insurance and company law. Leng Sun is President of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators (SIArb). 

He is a Chartered Arbitrator and is also on the panel of leading arbitral institutions. He is a Chairperson of the arbitration panel jointly appointed by the EU and Korea under the Korea-EU FTA. He is the Deputy President of the Maintenance of Parents Tribunal. Leng Sun was a legal officer of the United Nations Compensation Commission in Geneva and a SIACCIAC Observer to the UNCITRAL Working Group on Arbitration. He is the author of the book Singapore Law on Arbitral Awards and Co-Editor of Conflict of Laws in Arbitration. 

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