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 Booӳ 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.
The Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) released stellar results for 2017 last week. There has been a 32% increase in cases filed and it has truly become a global player in the arbitration space with disputing parties coming from not only Asia, but also the Middle East and Europe and the United States. First and foremost, credit must go to the SIAC leadership and teams past and present for its continued success. However, SIAC's success and its ability to continue succeeding is also driven by the underlying arbitration ecosystem that has been carefully nurtured over the years in Singapore. Our judiciary has played an integral role in shaping the "Singapore brand" through the quality of its decisions relating to international arbitration. The Arbitration Bar has also played an integral role by constantly striving to raise our standards of practice and Singapore Lawyers are more than holding their own against the best of international arbitration Lawyers. Credit must also go to the Government in ensuring timely necessary changes to arbitration legislation and supporting the development of Maxwell Chambers. Read More
Dinesh Dhillon
President,
SIArb 2017-2019
In each issue of our newsletter, we interview an SIArb member to get their views on the alternative dispute resolution scene in Singapore, and to obtain some insight into what makes them tick. In this issue, we interview Mr. Jayems Dhingra, Chartered Arbitrator.