After the momentous move from the grand old Supreme Court and City Hall buildings to the modern new Supreme Court building in 2005, we had a historic change of leadership in 2006. Chief Justice Yong Pung How retired and passed the baton of leading the Judiciary to Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong.

For the Supreme Court Registry, 2006 continued to be a busy year. This Annual Report records the work of the Supreme Court in the past year.

Caseload in the Supreme Court remained steady at around the annual figure of 15,000. The disposal rate continued to be high – cases concluded stood at 98% of cases filed. The target of concluding 85% of writs within 18 months of filing was exceeded, with 88% concluded within 18 months. The targets for waiting periods for the various processes were also met in 2006. In particular, trial dates were available within 3 weeks of set down for writs and within 4 weeks of preliminary inquiry for criminal cases.

Active case monitoring carried on with an eye not only on timelines but also on effective management of the cases. For complex cases, special monitoring was introduced to allow the trial Judge to preside over interlocutory appeals and give pre-trial directions. This has resulted in more effective and better controlled trial proceedings. For pre-trial conferences (PTCs) before Registrars, a pilot programme was started to conduct electronic PTCs (e-PTCs) for admiralty matters, with consent of the parties. Under this programme, lawyers may update the court of the case progress via email and Registrars may also give directions via email. As a result, physical attendance of lawyers is dispensed with, saving much time and expense.

Civil procedure underwent a major reform when the originating processes were streamlined from four modes to two modes. The transition for the change went smoothly. The Electronic Filing System was modified and the Registry workflow was reviewed. There was a conscious effort to ensure that lawyers were fully prepared for the reform. Briefing sessions were conducted and articles setting out the details of the changes were published.

A review of the knowledge management strategy was done and measures were taken to improve the gathering and dissemination of information within the Supreme Court. Specialist teams were set up to monitor legal developments around the world, and to capture valuable knowledge within the Court. Staff members attended a series of lectures on legal principles and procedures to gain knowledge and understanding of the court processes which they support.

A great deal of resources was committed to ACES, the information technology project to overhaul the Registry workflow and database. With ACES, intelligence and logic will be built into the electronic registry workflow to enable the Registry staff to work in a smarter manner. Information will be harnessed in a more comprehensive manner for effective case management and monitoring. Targeted to be implemented in phases in 2007, this project will dovetail with the development work of i-ELS due to move into full gear in 2007.

The revamp of the Supreme Court website brought us honour in 2006. The new website features a more navigation-friendly design, greater use of plain English, more information about court processes and procedures, and makes available the latest grounds of decisions and media summaries for important decisions. Our efforts were recognised by the international community and the Supreme Court website was awarded the top placing in the Justice Served Top 10 Court Website Competition for 2006, amongst a pool of 3,500 entries.

In the area of organisational excellence, the Supreme Court was re-certified for the Singapore Quality Class and also garnered the gold award for the Singapore HEALTH Award in 2006.

I would like to thank everyone who has played a part in our journey in the past year. The officers and staff were fully committed and worked extremely hard. The lawyers were generous with their support. The court users and members of the public were very understanding.

My team and I will continue to administer our justice system with vigour and passion. There is much work to be done in 2007. The journey towards excellence never ends.

Koh Juat Jong
Registrar, Supreme Court of Singapore

back to top

Next Section: Constitution and Jurisdiction