Strengthening Partnerships

INTERNATIONAL JUDICIAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION NETWORK

The International Judicial Dispute Resolution Network (JDRN) is composed of judiciaries from Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. Its mission is to advance the adoption of the judicial dispute resolution (JDR) process in judicial systems around the world to enhance the administration and delivery of justice. This is achieved by promoting the early, amicable, cost-effective and fair resolution of court disputes, without the need for a trial, through proactive, judge-led management of cases and the employment of alternative dispute resolution modalities.

To that end, the JDRN seeks to, amongst others:

• Develop and promote a set of best practice standards on the JDR process to serve as the benchmark for judiciaries.
• Support capacity-building efforts and the development of judicial competencies in the JDR process.

The Singapore Judiciary hosted the inaugural meeting of the JDRN over Zoom on 18 and 19 May 2022. At the meeting, the JDRN was formally established, with members agreeing that all decisions were to be taken by consensus and that the Singapore Judiciary would serve as the Secretariat. Members also approved that the Singapore Judiciary would be co-chair of the JDRN with the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, which would host the second JDRN meeting in New York City on 22 and 23 May 2023.

Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon (top row, centre) opened the inaugural meeting of the JDRN, which took place over two evenings (Singapore time) in May 2022.