The Singapore International Dispute Resolution Academy (SIDRA) launched its International Dispute Resolution Survey 2020 Final Report (IDR Survey) on 3 July 2020 via webinar.  The IDR Survey is commissioned by the Singapore Ministry of Law and administered by PwC South East Asia Consulting, and examines how businesses and their legal representatives make decisions about cross-border disputes and their choice of dispute resolution mechanisms (arbitration, litigation, mediation, and hybrid mechanisms).

The launch began with the authors of the Survey (Nadja Alexander, Vakhtang Giorgadze, Allison Goh) giving an overview of the key findings of the Survey.  It was followed by two panels comprising dispute resolution users (lawyers, corporate executives, and in-house counsel), and dispute resolution providers, where they engaged the audience in a free-flowing discussion.
 
The panelists comprised:

1. Daryl Chew (Managing Partner, Shearman & Sterling Singapore)
2. Antony Cook (Regional Vice-President and Chief Legal Counsel for Corporate, External and Legal Affairs, Microsoft Asia)
3. Wong-Taur-Jiun (Head of Legal and Sustainability, Rabobank Singapore)
4. International Judge Anselmo Reyes (Singapore International Commercial Court)
5. George Lim, Senior Counsel (Chairman, Singapore International Mediation Centre)
6. Camilla Godman (Director of Membership at CIArb)
7. Michael Peer (Moderator, Head of Disputes Advisory at PwC Southeast Asia Consulting)

The panelists took questions from the audience via the Question and Answer function on Zoom.  The first panel discussed the potential of the increased use of mediation following the Singapore Convention on Mediation which establishes an expedited enforcement regime for international mediated settlement agreements, the user experience with arbitration, litigation and mediation relating to speed and costs, and the expectations of users when they choose a particular dispute resolution mechanism.  The second panel comprising of the providers of dispute resolution mechanisms discussed innovations in the delivery of dispute resolution mechanisms through the increased use of technology, how systems were made more efficient, particularly in Covid-19 times, to deliver the same standard of service to dispute resolution users, and issues of enforceability across arbitration, litigation and mediation.

The e-version of the IDR Survey can be accessed here: https://sidra.smu.edu.sg/sites/sidra.smu.edu.sg/files/survey/index.html

SIDRA had chosen the jacaranda tree (below) as its theme for the survey design as it represents wisdom and ethics.  This is consonant with the Survey findings, which reflect the collective wisdom of legal and corporate users who responded to our questionnaire.  We would welcome very much all comments on our Survey, and hope that it will be useful in understanding the international dispute resolution landscape.  

The SIDRA Team