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Counting The Cost Of Enlarging The Role Of Adr In Civil Justice, Dorcas Quek Anderson Jul 2022

Counting The Cost Of Enlarging The Role Of Adr In Civil Justice, Dorcas Quek Anderson

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Access to civil justice in many countries has been plagued by the common challenges of the high cost of litigation, inequality in parties’ financial resources, differing risk appetites and limited judicial resources. Singapore, a common law jurisdiction, recently implemented radical changes to its civil justice regime with effect from 1 April 2022 in order to ensure affordability and timeliness of the civil justice process. As in the United Kingdom, these civil justice reforms are premised on the proportionality principle: they seek to achieve procedure that is proportionate to the claim value and the means of the parties, without unduly compromising …


Singapore: National Report For The Global Access To Justice Project, Tan K. B. Eugene Sep 2021

Singapore: National Report For The Global Access To Justice Project, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Global Access to Justice Project is gathering the very latest information on the impact of the world’s major justice systems, analyzing legal, economic, social, cultural and psychological barriers that prevent or inhibit many, and not only the poor, from entering and using the legal system. The country report for Singapore follows the common framework provided by the Global Access to Justice Project Questionnaire.


The Singapore Convention On Mediation: Supplying The Missing Piece Of The Puzzle For Dispute Resolution, Dorcas Quek Anderson Jul 2020

The Singapore Convention On Mediation: Supplying The Missing Piece Of The Puzzle For Dispute Resolution, Dorcas Quek Anderson

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In late 2018, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution to adopt the UN Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation and to make corresponding amendments to the Model Law on International Commercial Conciliation. The convention was named the Singapore Convention on Mediation (“Singapore Convention”) when it was signed by 46 countries on 7 August 2019, and will come into force on 12 September 2020. The Singapore Convention is meant to achieve for mediation what the New York Convention has done for international arbitration. Its future success is highly dependent on the sound application of its provisions by …


The Evolving Concept Of Access To Justice In Singapore’S Mediation Movement, Dorcas Quek Anderson Jun 2020

The Evolving Concept Of Access To Justice In Singapore’S Mediation Movement, Dorcas Quek Anderson

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article examines the key societal developments underpinning the growth of mediation in Singapore with the view to analysing the evolving conceptualisation of justice within mediation. The introduction of mediation corresponded with a shift from adversarial justice to an indigenous form of conciliatory justice, in which a respected mediator played an advisor role to the disputants and was trusted to ensure the fairness of the process. However, this trajectory was tempered by the need to ensure that Singapore mediation practice conformed with international practices concerning the protection of parties’ autonomy. The ambivalence concerning the mediator’s role has resulted in uncertainty …


Supporting Party Autonomy In The Enforcement Of Cross-Border Mediated Settlement Agreements: A Brave New World Or Unchartered Territory?, Dorcas Quek Anderson Jul 2019

Supporting Party Autonomy In The Enforcement Of Cross-Border Mediated Settlement Agreements: A Brave New World Or Unchartered Territory?, Dorcas Quek Anderson

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The last decade has seen a palpable rise of domestic and international instruments tofacilitate the enforcement of cross-border mediated settlement agreements. The EU MediationDirective required member states to provide for enforcement of such agreements. Common lawjurisdictions including Singapore, Ireland and Ontario have enacted legislation to allowmediated settlement agreements to be recorded as court judgments. Other countries haveprovided for such agreements to be akin to arbitral awards for enforcement purposes. Mostrecently, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) has agreedto create multilateral convention and to amend the Model Law on International CommercialConciliation to facilitate cross-border enforcement of commercial disputes …


Old Ethics In New Wineskins? Examining The Ethical Difficulties In Court Online Dispute Resolution, Dorcas Quek Anderson May 2019

Old Ethics In New Wineskins? Examining The Ethical Difficulties In Court Online Dispute Resolution, Dorcas Quek Anderson

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This post is based on a presentation made at the National Mediation Conference, Canberra, April 2019. The presentation has been drawn from two articles, Ethical Concerns in Court-Connected Online Dispute Resolution (2018) 1-2 International Journal of Online Dispute Resolution 20, and The Convergence of ADR and ODR within the Courts: The Impact on Access to Justice (2019) 38(1) Civil Justice Quarterly 126.


Ethical Concerns In Court-Connected Online Dispute Resolution, Dorcas Quek Anderson Apr 2019

Ethical Concerns In Court-Connected Online Dispute Resolution, Dorcas Quek Anderson

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article examines the burgeoning trend of creating court ODR systems, focusing on the design aspects that are likely to raise ethical challenges. It discusses four salient questions to be considered when designing a court ODR system, and the resulting ethical tensions that are brought to the fore. As a fourth party, the ODR system not only replaces existing court functions, but enlarges the scope of the courts’ intervention in disputes and increases the courts’ interface with the user. Furthermore, certain ethical principles such as transparency, accountability, impartiality and fairness take on greater significance in the court context than in …


Expanding The Scope Of Dispute Resolution And Access To Justice, Masood Ahmed, Dorcas Quek Anderson Jan 2019

Expanding The Scope Of Dispute Resolution And Access To Justice, Masood Ahmed, Dorcas Quek Anderson

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This note considers recent civil justice reforms in England and Singapore in enhancing the role of ADR, in particular mediation, as a means of increasing access to justice. The English and Singaporean civil justice reforms reflect the continual efforts to encourage the greater utilisation of ADR for appropriate cases. The current range of mechanisms may be charted along a “continuum of madatoriness”, ranging from compulsory attendance at mediation orientation sessions; the utilisation of costs sanctions; having an opt-out system; and mandating mediation with no exemptions. However, the English and Singaporean experiences illustrate some of the drawbacks in penalising parties for …


The Convergence Of Adr And Odr Within The Courts: The Impact On Access To Justice, Dorcas Quek Anderson Jan 2019

The Convergence Of Adr And Odr Within The Courts: The Impact On Access To Justice, Dorcas Quek Anderson

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The complexion of justicewithin many judiciaries has changed dramatically through the influence of twoglobal movements – the modern alternative dispute resolution (ADR) movement andthe more recent development of online dispute resolution (ODR). The former waveled to the creation of multi-door courthouses, court-annexed mediationprogrammes and innovations such as judicial settlement conferences. In the last decade, the rapid growth of ODRhas precipitated more changes in the administration of justice. Online courts have been designed in Englandand Wales (the Online Solutions Court suggested by Lord Briggs) and BritishColumbia (the Civil Resolution Tribunal). This paper discusses theimpact of the ADR and ODR waves on …


Uncitral And The Enforceability Of Imsas: The Debate Heats Up, Nadja Alexander, Anna Luisa Howard, Dorcas Quek Anderson Sep 2016

Uncitral And The Enforceability Of Imsas: The Debate Heats Up, Nadja Alexander, Anna Luisa Howard, Dorcas Quek Anderson

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This is a first of four in a series of blog posts on Kluwer Mediation Blog. They were published in conjunction with the the 65th session of the UNCITRAL Working Group II on arbitration and conciliation. The Working Group has turned its attention to the settlement of commercial disputes and in particular on the preparation of an instrument on the enforcement of international commercial settlement agreements resulting from conciliation. (Note that in UNCITRAL speak, the term ‘conciliation’ is used interchangeably with ‘mediation’. ) In terms of the type of instrument, the Working Group is considering the possibility of a convention, …


Developments In Adr, Tania Sourdin, Nadja Alexander Jan 2013

Developments In Adr, Tania Sourdin, Nadja Alexander

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) processes are now widely used throughout Australia to resolve and manage disputes without the need to use traditional rights-based processes such as litigation. ADR usually refers to dispute resolution processes that are 'alternative' to traditional court proceedings. ADR is also now used as an acronym for 'assisted', 'additional', 'affirmative', or 'appropriate' dispute resolution processes within the Australian environment. ADR processes can be used across diverse areas, including commercial, legal, social, environmental and political fields. This paper identifies some key features and trends in the Australian ADR context.


The Right Of Access To Justice: Judicial Discourse In Singapore And Malaysia, Gary Chan Apr 2007

The Right Of Access To Justice: Judicial Discourse In Singapore And Malaysia, Gary Chan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This is an essay on judicial discourse in Singapore and Malaysia pertaining to the nature and scope of the right of access to justice, including access to justice for the poor. We will examine the statements and pronouncements by the Singapore and Malaysia judiciary in case precedents and extra-judicial statements. Some of the issues explored include the legal status of this right of access to justice (namely, whether it is a right enshrined in the constitution or merely a right derived from the common law and whether it is qualified by economic and other interests) and the associated rights of …