Keynote Speech at Grand Opening of Maxwell Chambers Suites by Minister K Shanmugam

08 AUG 2019

8 Aug 2019 Posted in Speeches

Good evening

Your Excellencies

Mr Philip Jeyaretnam SC, Chairman, Maxwell Chambers

Directors of the Maxwell Chambers’ Board

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Introduction

It’s a pleasure to join all of you here for this Grand Opening.
I’ve met many of you, particularly those who came for the Singapore Convention on Mediation (SCM) and the various events this week.
As all of you know, this has been an extremely busy week for Singapore, and for the legal scene.
On the 5th, we had the launch of the INSOL Asia hub in this building early this week.
Yesterday, we signed the Singapore Convention. 46 countries have signed. It is a milestone development for international trade.
Today, the American Arbitration Association – International Centre for Dispute Resolution (AAA-ICDR) President, Ms India Johnson, was here to announce their expansion in Singapore, which will be their Asian hub – a significant expansion.
This Grand Opening of Maxwell Chambers is another significant event.
These developments together underline the fact that Singapore is an extremely important, if not the best legal jurisdiction in Asia. It’s been the result of several years of planning, focus, and working together with the lawyers in Singapore and international practitioners.
The developments will help us, in my view, to cement our position as an international legal hub and the leading hub in Asia. All of this has created tremendous opportunity for both our lawyers and international lawyers present in Singapore.
Ten years ago, when we set out on this journey, many of our lawyers were concerned.
For example, should Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC)’s panel be opened up? Should foreign lawyers be allowed to practise? Should we allow foreign lawyers to come and argue a case governed by foreign law?
It sounds like a no-brainer today. But these were serious questions 10 years ago.
In one stroke, we changed all of that. We have international firms, and we allow foreign lawyers to practise, when it doesn’t have anything to do with Singapore law.
I told the lawyers that they will benefit when we open up, when we compete. We will succeed by being an international hub and international centre, and they have been proven right. Our lawyers have never been busier in the international arbitration scene.
Many of them have significantly upgraded themselves.
Yesterday, I spoke to Bernard Hanotiau, one of the leading luminaries in the international arbitration scene. Ten years ago when we set up the panel, he was one of those I courted; I said, “will you come and help us, and be on our panel?”.
He said 10 years later, he doesn’t recognise the scene anymore. It’s completely changed. It’s vibrant. It’s first-rate.
We intend to push on, do more on litigation, arbitration, mediation, and insolvency. The expansion of Maxwell Chambers is part of this plan.

Maxwell Chambers
Nine years ago, when we opened the Chambers, it was the world’s first integrated dispute resolution complex. It has both best-in-class hearing facilities, and institutions and practices. We wanted to put dispute resolution institutions, practitioners, and hearing facilities all in one place.
When it first opened, it was nominated by the Global Arbitration Review as one of the “Best Developments” in the arbitration industry.
Over the years, Maxwell Chambers has become a leading venue for institutions, arbitrators, and mediators.
It hosts a number of institutions – the SIAC, the Singapore International Mediation Centre (SIMC) and several international institutions. 12 of them, and 6 have their case management offices here.
That is the highest concentration within a facility in the world.
The international institutions include the World Intellectual Property Organisation Arbitration and Mediation Centre – the first overseas office outside Geneva, ICC’s first regional office in Asia, ICC International Court of Arbitration, and the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s first case management office in Asia.
As I said earlier, we are happy that AAA plans to significantly expand its operations in Asia, and has chosen Singapore as its regional headquarters, and case management centre.
The new Maxwell Chambers Suites will add 120,000 square feet of floor space, as you’ve heard earlier, three times its current size, with 15 more hearing rooms added to the current 22.

SIDRA Survey
I said something about the Singapore International Dispute Resolution Academy’s (SIDRA) survey when we had the cocktail reception on the 6th. The survey was conducted by the Singapore International Dispute Resolution Academy, to really understand the needs of businesses in the context of dispute resolution.
More than 300 respondents, 100% users, both legal counsel and business executives involved in international commercial disputes. Based on what they told us quite clearly, arbitration is the most commonly used dispute resolution mechanism today, which is not surprising.
The reason why they chose arbitration is enforceability. Enforceability is a critical factor when businesses choose a dispute resolution option. Arbitral awards are widely enforceable in 160 contracting states under the New York Convention.
Businesses are also increasingly choosing hybrid processes, compared to standalone mediation. Again, enforceability was a key consideration. We all know the arb-med-arb protocol; it deals with the issue of enforceability.
Now, with the SCM, mediation can also offer a standalone, enforceable process.
In the medium term, it will also be useful, together with arbitration. With both a mediation clause and an arbitration clause, parties can go for arbitration, and back to mediation, and it is enforceable.
We are not stopping here. We are also continually reviewing our legislative framework, to ensure it remains relevant.
In 2017, we introduced third party funding for international arbitration proceedings. We have received good feedback.
We now have plans to allow third party funding for domestic arbitration proceedings, and for prescribed proceedings in the Singapore International Commercial Court.
It is likely to come into effect early next year.
I will also make another announcement, that may be of interest to those here. My Ministry is considering another change, that is significant – conditional fee agreements, to cover specific categories of proceedings.
We will go out with public consultation in the coming weeks, and seek feedback and views. This can give a substantial boost to arbitration and mediation. It can also mean more work for our legal profession.
We want to be the city in people’s minds, when people consider dispute resolution.
On this note, I also want to thank Mr Jeyaretnam, Chairman of Maxwell Chambers, for his leadership and contributions.
Philip, as many of you will know, has a very successful private practice. He is the Global Vice Chair of Dentons Rodyk, and has an extremely busy court schedule and duties managing an international firm and practice.
He has been the Chairman of Maxwell, for nine years, since 2010.
During this period, he has led Maxwell Chambers from strength to strength, and helped to turn my ministry’s vision into reality.
The demand for use of Maxwell Chambers has grown tremendously.
The best testament of his and the board’s contribution is that the building quickly ran out of space. It needed to expand.
Despite his busy schedule and the Board’s busy schedules, they took a very hands-on approach on the refurbishment of Maxwell Chambers Suites.
They oversaw the expansion of hearing facilities, paid attention to every user’s feedback, and worked with management to ensure that the services remained top-notch.
We thank him.
I am confident that Philip will lead Maxwell Chambers to even greater heights, which is a very public way of asking him to stay on and do more National Service.

Conclusion
Let me end by saying a few words about Maxwell Chambers.
It is rich in history, cultural and heritage value. It was constructed in 1928, when Singapore was a British colony.
Formerly the old traffic police headquarters for 70 years, many former Traffic Policemen still remember this building. In fact, a number of them are with us today.
It was last used as the Red Dot Building.
The new Maxwell Chambers Suites that you see today preserved the key elements in the refurbishment. The façade has been restored to off white; the four courtyards reinstated to original open-to-sky configuration - very retro.
Hope that those of you who have not seen the building will be able to tour the building.
Once again, our pleasure to host the international community, the lawyers here in Singapore, and the foreign delegates who are staying on for our National Day tomorrow.
We wish you an enjoyable time in Singapore and thank you for all the support you have given for the Singapore Convention.
With that, let me thank everyone of you, and wishing that Maxwell Chambers more success.

Last updated on 17 Sep 2019