SIMI LAUNCHES TWO INITIATIVES TO PROMOTE THE DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH OF MEDIATION

Singapore, 15 January (Wednesday) – Riding on the momentum of the Singapore Convention of Mediation signed in August 2019, and to facilitate the development and growth of mediation, the Singapore International Mediation Institute (SIMI) today announced that it will set up a public service platform, named ‘SIMI Look and Hire’, or SIMILAH in short, to enable members of the public to access the services of professional mediators. It has also donated funds to the Singapore Management University (SMU) to establish the ‘National SMU-SIMI Collaborative Dispute Resolution Award’ to nurture mediation talent.

The SIMILAH platform is a revolutionary step forward in the way that the public will be able to engage with mediation professionals. Traditionally, most parties in a dispute will have to seek help individually with their respective mediation centre or independent mediators. This is a time-consuming task for a time-sensitive matter. With the SIMILAH platform, parties may now send in a request, guided by carefully curated questions, which will then be sent out to SIMI's accredited and certified mediation centres and professionals.  

In this way, parties will have access to greater choices with less effort. More importantly, since all the mediation centres and professionals are SIMI members, there is an assurance of quality. All requests will be vetted by SIMI prior to release, thus ensuring that only legitimate requests are sent out. This new initiative will benefit the public-at-large, as SIMI will not be collecting any intermediary fee for this service. With the signing of the Singapore Convention in 2019, this marks yet another milestone in putting Singapore on the mediation world map with a world’s-first.

[Photo: (L-R): Prof Joel Lee, NUS Faculty of Law. He is also Chairman, SIMI; Mr Alvin Cheng, Senior Lecturer, Law Programmes, SUSS School of Law; Asst Prof Dorcas Quek Anderson, SMU School of Law; Prof Goh Yihan, Dean, SMU School of Law; Mr Marcus Lim, CEO, SIMI.  Image courtesy of SIMI.]

The ‘National SMU-SIMI Collaborative Dispute Resolution Award’, established today through a memorandum of understanding, seeks to provide recognition for law students from SMU, National University of Singapore and Singapore University of Social Sciences who have excelled in international collaborative dispute resolution (CDR) competitions, or who have contributed significantly to the growth of mediation and negotiation in Singapore.

For a period of five years commencing academic year 2019-20, up to four students will be granted the Award annually, with each award valued between $500 and $2,000. All full-time undergraduates or postgraduates in any year of study in the above-mentioned tertiary institutions may apply. SIMI will shortlist the awardees in consultation with the above named institutions’ law faculties.  Application for the first Award will open soon, more information will be announced on SIMI’s website at www.simi.org.sg.

CEO of SIMI, Mr Marcus Lim, said, “We are very excited about this initiative. It is critical that we recognise and incentivise talented students in this field.  We are extremely proud of their contributions and achievements in the field as representatives of Singapore, and hope this award will encourage them to pursue this profession with passion and ambition to be the collaborative dispute ambassadors of tomorrow.”

Commenting on the timely launch of the SMU-SIMI Collaborative Dispute Resolution Award, Dean of the SMU School of Law, Professor Goh Yihan, remarked, “We are heartened to see our students’ increasing passion for mediation and negotiation. Their exposure to these skills in law school equips them with practical problem-solving skills that will be invaluable to their future legal careers. We are honoured to jointly launch this Award with SIMI to recognise the efforts of Singapore law students in contributing to CDR in Singapore and to further hone their skills in CDR competitions."

SMU Assistant Professor of Law Dorcas Quek Anderson, who is also Faculty Advisor to the Mediation and Negotiation Student Club at the University, added, “We are very glad to have this opportunity to encourage law students to pursue their interest in consensual ways of resolving disputes.  Lawyers in today’s legal landscape need to effectively advance their client’s interests in a range of settings, including litigation in court and mediation. There is also research suggesting that CDR training helps lawyers overcome common cognitive biases and thus give objective and sound advice to their clients.” [1]

[Photo: (L-R) Asst Prof Dorcas Quek Anderson, Mr Marcus Lim and Prof Joel Lee taking questions from the floor regarding the new SIMILAH platform and the National SMU-SIMI Collaborative Dispute Resolution Award.  Image courtesy of SIMI.]

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Enclosures:

    Annex 1: Fact Sheet - Why Collaborative Dispute Resolution?

    Annex 2: Fact Sheet - SMU and Collaborative Dispute Resolution (research, curriculum, competition)
 

[1] https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/af0e/b27907ade5e2850f8e083636640c27f1cfde.pdf

SIMI-SMU press release_final.pdf