We look forward to the new Supreme Court building being the meeting place for people in the legal sector.

On Saturday, 18 June 2005, the Supreme Court had her last official working day in the two old memorable buildings – the old Supreme Court building and the City Hall building.

With the close of an old door, comes the opening of a new door.

On Monday, 20 June 2005, the Supreme Court started operations in the modern and functional new Supreme Court building across the road. The road was renamed from Colombo Court to Supreme Court Lane.

The momentous move of the Supreme Court went well, with no major hiccups. Planning for the move had started many months before, with detailed tagging of furniture and equipment, regular briefings, elaborate written guides and numerous on-site inspections.

There were also other preparatory efforts to facilitate the move while we were still at the old buildings. X-ray machines were installed in the old buildings so that the staff, lawyers and court users would be used to the screening routine. The Electronic Queue Management System had a trial run in the City Hall building before the move, to expose lawyers to the system and to iron out bugs. Selected hearings were conducted with pilot runs of the Digital Transcription System to test the integrity and functionality of the system.

The stores and the library were the first to move. Then, the Judges moved their offices, followed by the staff in front line operations such as the Legal Registry, and finally the staff in backroom operations such as the Corporate Services Directorate. The telephone lines and the computer systems, including the Electronic Filing System, were successfully migrated. The enhanced security system in the new building was implemented in phases.

In the weeks before the move, lawyers had been invited for orientation tours of the new building, to familiarise them with the layout of the courtrooms and chambers. The tours carried on into the first few weeks after the move. The lawyers responded enthusiastically and came in large numbers. The trouble taken by the lawyers to attend the orientation tours has helped to ease the transition. Friendly and helpful feedback from the lawyers has also helped to improve the functionality of the building. Lawyers adapted quickly to the new environment without fuss.

The new building houses not just the Supreme Court, but also other key institutions in the legal fraternity. The Singapore Academy of Law (SAL), with its popular bistro; the Singapore Mediation Centre; the Legal Service Commission; the Industrial Arbitration Court; the Disciplinary Committee Secretariat and the Land Appeals Board all have their offices in the new building. The Supreme Court Auditorium was the venue for the SAL Annual Lecture. It also hosted seminars and events organised by law firms and other organisations. More significantly, 259 fresh law graduates had their Postgraduate Practical Law Course lectures in the auditorium almost daily from August to November 2005. We look forward to the new Supreme Court building being the meeting place for people in the legal sector.

At the same time as the move, the new Supreme Court website at www.supremecourt.gov.sg was launched. A virtual tour of the building on the revamped website allows anyone to learn about the layout and facilities in the new building. The new website continues our journey towards greater transparency of the justice system by providing more information on court procedures and services in a user-friendly manner. This is in addition to the availability of the latest Supreme Court judgments on the website free of charge, since January 2005.

Together with all my officers and staff in the Supreme Court, I would like to thank the lawyers, members of the public and all our court users for their warm encouragement and support during the transition to the new building.

I am proud to state that along with the move to the new building, we have also continued our journey for organisational excellence with the successful re-certification of both the ISO 9001:2000 Standard and the People Developer Standard this year.

With the move behind us, we look forward to implementing the simplification of the modes of commencement of proceedings next year. We will also work intensively on the Electronic Litigation System in the coming year, as well as explore ways to increase awareness of Singapore judgments both locally and internationally.

I owe it to my team of highly committed and hardworking officers and staff for what we have achieved this last year. We promise the same dedication and diligence in the years to come.

KOH JUAT JONG
Registrar, Supreme Court of Singapore