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Events & Speeches
"Hello And Goodbye" Get-Together
29 May 2003
New Chairman for the Singapore Mediation Centre
The Honourable Chief Justice Yong Pung How has appointed
the Honourable Judge of Appeal,
Justice Chao Hick Tin, to assume the chairmanship of the
Singapore Mediation Centre (SMC) with effect from 1 June
2003.
Justice Chao's appointment has been lauded by the legal and
other fraternities active in alternative dispute resolution
(ADR). With his amicable and approachable personality, and
his vast experience in leading top level operations, Justice
Chao is regarded to be eminently suitable for the
appointment as the chairman of our national mediation
centre. A brief introduction of Justice Chao is annexed
herewith.
The appointment of Justice Chao coincides with the new
direction charted for the SMC - The SMC will be the ADR
centre of choice in Asia, and will take the lead in
promoting Singapore as a dispute resolution capital and in
providing professionals engaged in ADR with new
opportunities to practice in the region.
The SMC has grown from strength to strength under the
leadership of the out-going chairman, Mr Goh Joon Seng. Mr
Goh has served unreservedly and has been an involved
Chairman since the inception of the SMC in 1997. The SMC has
now mediated more than 980 cases with a settlement rate that
is in the region of 80%. Of the 1,044 disputants who
mediated at the SMC and provided feedback, 84% reported cost
savings, 88% reported time savings and 94% would recommend
the process to others. Of the 900 lawyers who represented
their clients and provided feedback, 84% reported cost
savings, 83% time savings and 97% would recommend the
process to others. The training and other branches of the
SMC similarly flourished under Mr Goh's stewardship. In
fact, the SMC became self-funding in the last financial
year.
The success of the SMC and its reputation as a leading ADR
centre in Singapore and the region is directly attributable
to the work of Mr Goh. Mr Goh will continue to play a key
role in the centre's work.
The SMC has organised a get-together for its mediators,
neutral evaluators, major institutional clients and
supporters, and members of the legal profession, who have
always been supportive of mediation and the SMC. The event
is held to thank Mr Goh and to welcome the new chairman,
Justice Chao. The event will be held at the Raffles Hotel on
Friday, 30 May 2003. The Honourable Chief Justice Yong Pung
How, the Senior Minister of State for Law, Associate
Professor Ho Peng Kee and the Honourable Attorney General,
Mr Chan Sek Keong, will be gracing the event in full support
of the SMC.
Justice Chao will be announcing the direction that the
mediation movement in Singapore would take at the gathering.
Further, the use of mediation and neutral evaluation will
also be endorsed as an effective and efficient way to
increase productivity, and to reduce costs of conflicts and
of doing business during these hard economic times.
The SMC is a non-profit organisation guaranteed by the
Singapore Academy of Law (SAL) and is a flagship mediation
centre of Singapore. It was incorporated on 8 August 1997,
and was officially launched by The Honourable the Chief
Justice Yong Pung How on 16 August 1997. It is linked
institutionally with many professional and trade
associations in Singapore and overseas, and has the support
of the Supreme Court of Singapore, the Subordinate Courts of
Singapore and the SAL.
___________________________________________________________
Justice Chao Hick Tin, aged 60, was born in Singapore and
studied at Catholic High School. He received his legal
training at the University College London, where he obtained
his Bachelor and Masters of Law degrees in 1965 and 1966
respectively. He was called to the Bar as a barrister of the
Middle Temple in 1965. In 1967, he joined the Attorney-Generalís
Chambers, Singapore where he rose to become a Senior State
Counsel in 1979. In the meantime, he was admitted as an
advocate and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore in
1971. He became the Head of the Civil Division of the
Attorney-Generalís Chambers in 1982 and held that post until
his elevation to the Supreme Court Bench in October 1987 as
Judicial Commissioner. In November 1990, he was made a Judge
of the Supreme Court. In August 1999, he was appointed Judge
of Appeal.
Currently, Justice Chao is also the Chairman of the
Publications Committee of the Singapore Academy of Law and
the Chairman of the Singapore Branch of the ASEAN Law
Association.
Justice Chao is married with 3 daughters.
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