Singapore International Arbitration Centre caseload crossed the 1000 mark in October 2020: Meanwhile Australian lawyers still unable to compete despite Anglosphere privileges

 by Ganesh Sahathevan

Singapore's Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam SC announced early this month that The Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) registered 1,005 cases for the first 10 months of this year, more than double the annual caseload of 400 in each of the last few years. In doing so it breached the 1,000 case threshold. 

Australia's legal fraternity on the other hand continues to struggle to attract market share, despite the advantage of providing common law expertise in this part of the Commonwealth at least a century before Singapore.

Additionally the advantage of being part of the Anglosphere, which  once meant  that “proximity to Asia and time zone advantages” was a strong selling point, seems to have been lost. 

How and why Australian lawyers lost their capacity to compete in this region is a matter that needs to be addressed. The legal fraternity is large and it is a resource that can be harnessed so that it makes a better contribution to the economy.

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TO BE READ WITH

Singapore arbitration centre opens New York office, achieves record caseload

K.C. Vijayan

Senior Law Correspondent

• PUBLISHED
  DEC 11, 2020, 9:43 PM SGT

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SINGAPORE - The Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) opened a representative office for the Americas in New York last week, with a record-breaking announcement that its 2020 caseload had crossed the 1,000 mark.

It registered 1,005 cases for the first 10 months of this year, which is more than double the annual caseload of 400 in each of the last few years.

The new office, its fifth outside Singapore, will also further bolster its reputation as an international arbitration institution that will have a global reach, lawyers told The Straits Times on Friday (Dec 11 ).




Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam said as much at the virtual launch of the New York office when he noted that one of the biggest users of the SIAC are parties from the United States (US).

The largest number of cases in 2018 came from US parties, he said, pointing out that they have consistently been one of SIAC's top 10 foreign users in the last five years.

"It has been SIAC's intention for some time now to open an office in the US. There is significant demand, as seen from the caseload breakdown since 2014. US direct investments in the Asia-Pacific exceed US$800 billion (S$1 billion) and that is expected to grow further."
He also said that "in this part of the world, arbitration has become an extremely important means of resolving disputes which may arise from investments.

"If you look around Asia, I think most people would agree SIAC is considered the top arbitral institution."

SIAC's four offices in Asia are located in India (which has two offices), South Korea and China.

The SIAC, viewed as a crown jewel in Singapore's legal landscape, is led by Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, who is chairman of the SIAC board of directors, and Mr Gary Born, president of the SIAC Court of Arbitration.