New Heights In SICC’s Assessment Of Expert Evidence

Justice Philip Jeyaretnam is the President of the Singapore International Commercial Court and a Judge of the Singapore High Court. His focus since joining the Bench in 2021 has been in complex commercial cases, arbitration law, building and construction, company and trust law. He is also a member of the Judicial Service Commission, and the Presidential Council for Minority Rights. While in practice, he was a senior counsel, having been appointed at the early age of 38, and recognised as an expert in commercial litigation, arbitration and construction law in all major legal publications. In 2020, the Law Society conferred on him the CC Tan Award, which honours exemplars of professional values and integrity. He was managing partner of Rodyk & Davidson LLP from 2011, and, following its 2016 combination with Dentons, ASEAN CEO. Justice Jeyaretnam was the founding chairperson of the Society of Construction Law (Singapore), from 2002 to 2004, and served as the President of the Law Society during the years 2004 to 2007.

Mr. Gregory Vijayendran’s present practice encompasses a specialisation in litigation, arbitration and mediation of commercial disputes and chancery matters. He is also recognised expert in insolvency and restructuring as well as charities governance. Gregory has given expert witness testimony for overseas court proceedings. Gregory was appointed Senior Counsel in 2019. He has also been appointed as a Fellow of the Insolvency Practitioners Association of Singapore, the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators and the Singapore Institute of Directors. He co authored a chapter in Chesterman etal “Law and Technology in Singapore”(now in 2nd edition).

Upon graduation with a close to perfect academic record, Shobna was a Justices Law Clerk to the Chief Justice and the Court of Appeal bench until 2008. Shobna has worked with at least 3 Senior Counsel over her 15-year career. She thrives in appellate advocacy and high stakes cross border commercial disputes. Shobna has successfully argued cases and won all the way up to the Court of Appeal against Senior Counsel. Notably, she has acted as lead counsel on more than 6 appeal matters in the span of the last 2 years. 

On the arbitration front, Shobna has spent her entire career doing international arbitration, having handled arbitration matters in excess of billion dollars. She is currently a fellow of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators. Her cases range from telecommunications 

to pharmaceutical industry to solar/renewable energy, shareholder disputes and banking and finance related disputes. The jurisdictions involve include Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, India, USA and Africa.

Chen Siyuan is one of the associate deans at the SMU Yong Pung How School of Law. A graduate of NUS and Harvard, he specialises in evidence and procedure, having produced more than a hundred publications on those areas including in journals such as the Civil Justice Quarterly and International Journal of Evidence & Proof. His works, especially his books on evidence and procedure, have been cited by the Singapore and Indian courts, as well as the UK Law Commission. Siyuan has also been a Professorial Fellow at the AGC since 2018 and directs the international moots programme at SMU, which has seen SMU mooters feature regularly in the world championship rounds of major competitions such as the Jessup and Vis.

Prof. Leslie Chew SC is the founding and current Dean of the School of Law at the Singapore University of Social Sciences. He has practiced law in one form or another for over 4 decades. He was appointed Senior Counsel in 2000. In 2007 he was appointed a judge in the State Courts where he remained until his retirement in 2014. At the State Courts he was the Senior District Judge leading the Civil Justice Division. He retired from the judiciary in 2014. Upon his retirement from the Singapore Legal Service, he returned to law practice. Currently, he is a Senior Consultant at RHT Law Asia LLP. He has an active practice as an arbitrator in International Commercial Arbitrations.