MinLaw and the ICC Court announced their collaboration at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)—a milestone agreement—in Singapore on June 28. Under the terms of the MOU, MinLaw and the ICC Court will also work together to develop and promote Singapore as a seat and venue for arbitration in Asia through advancing thought leadership, developing talent and arbitration services and undertaking joint marketing.

The MOU was signed by Han Kok Juan, deputy secretary of MinLaw and Alexis Mourre, president of the ICC Court, witnessed by Indranee Rajah SC, senior minister of State of MinLaw and Ministry of Finance and John Danilovich, secretary-general of ICC at the 3rd ICC Asia Conference held in Singapore last week.

The ICC Court, headquartered in Paris, is one of the world’s leading arbitral institutions. In 2016, it administered almost 1,000 arbitral cases from around the world. The Singapore office will be the Court’s fourth overseas case management office—after Hong Kong, New York and Brazil—giving it a peerless global footprint. The new Singapore office is expected to commence operations in the first quarter of 2018 at Maxwell Chambers. It will take up about 2,000 square feet in the new Maxwell Chambers Suites, a conserved heritage building, which will be an expansion of Maxwell Chambers when the refurbishment works are completed in 2019.

The ICC Court has welcomed the conclusion of the MOU, emphasizing that the new case management team will form part of a unique international arbitration hub in Asia. “With its two case management teams in Hong Kong and Singapore, as well as its representative office in Shanghai, the Court is now able to offer a unique international arbitration platform across the entire Asian continent,” said Mourre.