46 LAWYERMONTHLY FEBRUARY 2023 become much more supportive of ADR processes, in no small part due to years of efforts from bodies like UNCITRAL and the many large international arbitral institutions around the world. The Singapore Convention coming into force recently has also helped move the needle in terms of creating awareness among governments about the usefulness of ADR processes in helping to grease the wheels of their economies. As a result of all this, the ADR scene in Asia today, particularly in Singapore, is especially vibrant and deep, with an even brighter future on the horizon. How has government support contributed to these developments? Without government support, a lot of this growth might possibly have come anyway, but almost certainly at a much slower pace. Government support, whether from the Singapore government or others, has been instrumental in driving change at many levels, whether by passing arbitration and mediation-friendly laws, by helping the courts understand ADR better, by creating specialist bodies like the Singapore International Commercial Court which provide deep support to the ADR processes, or by resourcing various efforts and initiatives that have driven awareness and growth. Government support has also made large-scale events possible, in terms of making access to a country straightforward and fuss-free, by lending weight in the form of highprofile government officials attending and speaking, and by reaching out to their counterparts in other countries to raise awareness of the event in their respective jurisdictions. The Singapore Convention is a high-profile example of what government support can achieve, where the years of contribution by various bodies from around the world resulted in a groundbreaking international treaty that strengthens the international dispute resolution framework. To use a generic example, what might two companies involved in an IP dispute stand to gain by bringing their dispute to a Singapore hearing centre rather than the courts? In this example, one major advantage is the ability to shape the nature of the outcome using a negotiated settlement that can cover disputes ranging across multiple jurisdictions. For example, a dispute over a trademark infringement may
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy Mjk3Mzkz