Devbonnp WL SGE.o home thesundaytimes May 24, 2009 MINISTRY OF LAW — Slew of measures to boost S’pore’s legal hub status RC. Vijayan Singapore's legal services will grow in depth and quality to support key sectors in the economy, position the sector as an engine of and strengthen Singapore's legal in- frastructure The Law Ministry's addendum to the President's Address high- lights several areas in which it will act to create more buzz. It will review the liberalisation of legal services here in the wake of the recently introduced Qualifying Foreign Law Practice Scheme. ‘The Government has awarded six licences to foreign heavyweight firms, four of which have already started operating. The other two will do so by next month. ‘Thelr presence is contributing to the upbeat mood about Asia and Singapore's role asa legal hub. ‘To grow its hub status, Singa- porg is developing a strong arbitra- tion capability and becoming a ven- ‘ue of choice for international arbi- tration in the Asian ‘The ministry’s efforts to pro- mote Singapore have included es- tablishing Maxwell Chambers, the world’s first integrated dispute reso- lution complex, due to open either {n late July or early August. ‘The complex will house several top arbitral institutes like the Inter- national Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Com- merce. Developing a legal service hub will see a demand for good-calibre lawyers. The iiinistey will put in Bla a iobuot Hameyon te meet this need, including revamping the Caiteria for admission to the Singa- pote Bar. Te will strengthen the legal infra- structure by reviewing the laws in several areas such as the Criminal Procedure Code and the Legal Aid ! and Advice Act, and work towards omnibus insolvency legislation. twill also develop Singapore as a regional intellectual property (IP) education and training hub. Tt intends to review the intellec- tual property laws and regime here, draw more IP service firms as well as promote the developnient of skilled IP professionals. Itis also working with the Minis- try of Information, Communica- tions and the Arts to develop a na- tional spatial data infrastructure ‘known as the Singapore Geospatial Collaborative Environment. This is a map-based data bank ‘with data centrally collected from various sectors such as health, homeland security and emergency services to serve as an information exchange for both the public and. private sectors. The move will not only boost public-sector efficiency, but will al- ‘0 offer potential for new business ‘opportunities.