Singapore Legal Service
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SINGAPORE LEGAL SERVICE 2019 IN REVIEW OUR MISSION The mission of the Legal Service Commission is to maintain a dedicated corps of officers with integrity and ability to staff the Judiciary, the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Legal Service departments of various Ministries and other arms of Government. 2019 IN REVIEW 1 CONTENTS 2 The Judicial Branch 9 The Legal Branch 21 Ministries, Legal Service Departments and Statutory Boards/Statutory Bodies THE JUDICIAL BRANCH 2019 IN REVIEW 3 THE JUDICIAL BRANCH The Judicial Branch of the Legal Service is a key component of the Singapore The Supreme Court Judiciary, and is presided over by the Supreme Court Registry and Chief Justice. The Legal Service Officers Justices’ Law Clerks (“LSOs”) in the Judicial Branch serve in The Registry of the Supreme Court the Supreme Court Registry, the Justices’ supports the work of the Court of Appeal, Law Clerks (“JLC”) pool at the Supreme the High Court and the Singapore Court, the Office of the Chief Justice International Commercial Court at the Supreme Court, the Singapore (“SICC”). It is led by the Registrar, who Judicial College (“SJC”), the State Courts, is assisted by the Deputy Registrar, Senior and the Family Justice Courts (“FJC”). Assistant Registrars, Divisional and Deputy Divisional Registrars, and Assistant The LSOs in the Supreme Court Registry Registrars (collectively, “registrars”). are supervised by the Registrar of the In their judicial capacity, the registrars Supreme Court. hear a wide spectrum of matters in the High Court. These include applications The JLCs and the Office of the Chief (e.g., for summary judgment or striking Justice, including the Office of out), mortgage actions, taxation, and Transformation and Innovation (“OTI”), assessments of damages. The registrars come under the direct oversight of the also play an important role in judicial case Chief Justice. management in the High Court, where orders and directions are given for the just, The LSOs in the State Courts and the FJC expeditious and economical disposal of are supervised by the Presiding Judge of causes or matters through the conduct of the State Courts and the Presiding Judge pre-trial conferences. of the FJC respectively. Some registrars additionally serve in the Divisional Registry of the Court of Appeal and/or the Divisional Registry of the SICC. In these capacities, they assist the Judges of the Court of Appeal and the SICC, including the International Judges, in the management of cases in those courts. 4 SINGAPORE LEGAL SERVICE THE JUDICIAL BRANCH Beyond their judicial roles, the registrars The JLCs are appointed for a term of two contribute significantly in shaping, years and receive the unique privilege of reviewing and implementing court mentorship by the Judges and Judicial processes, as well as reforms to enhance Commissioners of the Supreme Court. the administration of justice. Major In their first year, they are assigned to the initiatives that the registrars worked on Judges and Judicial Commissioners of in 2019 include the establishment of the the High Court. They then clerk for the Appellate Division of the High Court, Chief Justice and Judges of Appeal in their the continuation of the work of the Civil second year. Justice Commission and the Criminal Procedure Rules Committee, and the As of 31 December 2019, there were ongoing development of a new standard- 33 LSOs in the Supreme Court Registry setting body of procedural rules for the – the Registrar, the Deputy Registrar, SICC. four Senior Assistant Registrars and 27 Assistant Registrars. The Deputy The registrars also supported the Chief Registrar and two Senior Assistant Justice and the Judges of the Supreme Registrars were concurrently designated Court on various international the Divisional Registrar of the Court engagements and key strategic initiatives of Appeal, Divisional Registrar of the in 2019. These include the 41st ASEAN High Court and Divisional Registrar of Law Association Governing Council the SICC, while five Assistant Registrars Meeting, the 7th Council of ASEAN Chief were concurrently designated Deputy Justices Meeting, the 3rd Singapore-China Divisional Registrars of the Court of Legal and Judicial Roundtable, as well as Appeal or of the SICC. The registrars are work relating to the Standing International further concurrently appointed as District Forum of Commercial Courts and the Judges or Magistrates in accordance with Judicial Insolvency Network. written law. Thirty-six JLCs served in the Supreme Court in 2019. The Supreme Court Bench is also supported by JLCs, who provide research Teh Hwee Hwee (Ms) assistance to the Judges and Judicial Registrar Commissioners of the Supreme Court. Supreme Court 2019 IN REVIEW 5 THE JUDICIAL BRANCH Office of the Chief Justice Singapore Judicial College The Chief Executive (Office of the Chief The SJC serves the learning and Justice) (“CE”) oversees administrative development needs of judges. In 2019, and operational matters for the Supreme one focus of SJC’s local programmes was Court and the FJC. In 2019, the CE led on “deep-dive” sessions in collaboration efforts to support the 3rd Singapore-China with its partners, such as the insolvency Legal and Judicial Roundtable, held in masterclass, probability and statistics series Beijing on 28 August 2019, resulting and legal technology modules. The SJC in the signing of a Memorandum of continued to undertake paid customised Understanding on Advancing Continuing local and foreign engagements. Judicial Education between the Supreme Court and the Supreme People’s Court The SJC’s international programmes of the People’s Republic of China. reached 239 more participants from 11 Closer to home, the CE oversaw the jurisdictions, bringing its alumni close to development and realisation of the Judicial 1,500 foreign judges and officials from 87 Heritage Gallery. jurisdictions. The SJC was invited to speak at the biennial International Organization The OTI was established in 2019 to drive for Judicial Training Conference and the transformation efforts across the entire Korean Judicial Research and Training Judiciary. Led by the Chief Transformation Institute International Conference. As and Innovation Officer, the OTI is involved for international collaborations, SJC in a wide range of transformation activities continued to work closely with the Chinese and the implementation of the Courts of National Judges College and embarked the Future roadmap. on implementing the memorandum of understanding signed between the Supreme As at 31 December 2019, there were three Court of Singapore and the Supreme LSOs in the Office of the Chief Justice. People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China relating to judicial education. Juthika Ramanathan (Ms) The SJC also held productive institutional Chief Executive exchanges with the United States’ Federal Office of the Chief Justice Judicial Center and other American courts. 6 SINGAPORE LEGAL SERVICE THE JUDICIAL BRANCH The SJC’s empirical judicial research counsellors and social workers. One of its initiative generated high quality research programmes is the “Early Engagement of relevant to innovating court policies and Offenders Below 21 Years” initiative, which practices. Three research proposals were targets eligible youthful offenders even prior accepted in 2019, making a total of 15 to the conclusion of criminal proceedings, approved projects. to prevent them from reoffending. The initiative puts suitable youthful offenders As at 31 December 2019, there were two in touch with various community LSOs in the SJC. stakeholders, to empower them to change their lives for the better. This reinforces the Foo Chee Hock court’s sentencing policy geared towards Dean the rehabilitation of youthful offenders. Singapore Judicial College To enhance access to justice and court processes in the civil sphere, the State Courts introduced the pre-action protocol for The State Courts business-to-business debt recovery claims via the State Courts Practice Direction 2019 was a memorable year for the State 144. By providing more information and Courts. We bade farewell to the “Octagon” encouraging negotiation between parties building and moved into our new home at an early stage, the protocol provides in the State Courts Towers, which house a framework for parties to resolve such 53 courtrooms and 54 hearing chambers, disputes informatively, timeously and as well as various public facilities such as a inexpensively. Business Centre and a Help Centre. The State Courts also contributed to public The State Courts Heritage Gallery was legal education through the publication of opened in the first official event held in the two books authored by Judicial Officers State Courts Towers. The Gallery seeks to of the State Courts. The first book – preserve the State Courts’ shared heritage “Practitioners’ Guide on Damages Awarded and share the State Courts’ transformation for Defamation Cases in Singapore” – seeks journey through the years with the public. to clarify both the law and the adjudication process of the tort of defamation in To deliver better court services, the State Singapore. The second book – “Law Courts Centre for Specialist Services and Practice of Tribunals in Singapore” – was launched to provide counselling elaborates on the critical role tribunals and psychological services to court users play in the administration of justice in by a team of experienced psychologists, Singapore. 2019 IN REVIEW 7 THE JUDICIAL BRANCH The State Courts are committed to leveraging