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Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon: Welcome address at the Judiciary Volunteers Appreciation Lunch 2024
Judiciary Volunteers Appreciation Lunch 2024
Welcome Address
Wednesday, 27 November 2024
The Honourable the Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon
Supreme Court of Singapore
1. Good afternoon, and a warm welcome to this year’s Judiciary Volunteers Appreciation Lunch. We host this event each year to express our deep appreciation for the tremendous contributions of all the volunteers who support the Judiciary’s various programmes for litigants and court users. I have emphasised on several occasions that advancing access to justice is, and must be, a key priority for our Judiciary. The reality we face today is that a significant number of our actual and potential court users are self-represented persons.(1) This makes it necessary to rethink the way we design and draft our processes and rules, so that this is not done with only lawyers and judges in mind. In short, securing access to justice has become one of the most pressing challenges that our courts face today. At the same time, it is also one of the most meaningful aspects of the Judiciary's work. All of you, our court volunteers, through your diverse range of contributions, play an extremely important role in supporting these efforts and making access to justice a reality for the court users that you interact with.
2. Today, we will be presenting three categories of awards to our volunteers.
3. First, we will present Long Service Awards to five of our court volunteers, namely:
(a) Mr Lim Soon Hock and Mr Loh Guo Wei, Melvin, who have each worked with us for ten years;
(b) Mr Lim Sing Lip, Philip and Mr Chew Yew Kuen, Michael, who have each worked with us for 15 years; and
(c) Mrs Chia Swee Tin, who has worked with us for 20 years.
4. On behalf of the Judiciary, let me express our gratitude to each of these award recipients for their unwavering dedication in supporting the work of our courts over these considerable periods of time.
5. Next, we will be presenting the 2024 Outstanding Court Volunteer Awards to two volunteers for their exceptional contributions in the past year. Let me briefly introduce each of the recipients of this award:
(a) First, Dr Ronald Paul Ng receives the Outstanding Court Volunteer Award in the Open category. Dr Ng is an accredited mediator and a Principal Mediator of the Singapore Mediation Centre, and he has been actively involved in mediating criminal cases as a Court Volunteer Mediator in the State Courts’ Court Dispute Resolution Cluster for the past 11 years. Notwithstanding his demanding schedule as a haematologist at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Dr Ng volunteered on 38 occasions over the last three years – including eight occasions between April last year and March this year – and I am told he has achieved an impressive settlement rate of 100%. In the course of this work, he has demonstrated outstanding professionalism, great diligence, and a passion for resolving disputes through mediation.
(b) Next, Mr Lau Kah Hee receives the Outstanding Court Volunteer Award in the Advocate and Solicitor category. Mr Lau has been a Court Volunteer Mediator with the State Courts for the past eight years, and he is also an accredited mediator with the Singapore Mediation Centre, among numerous other appointments. Despite his busy practice, Mr Lau volunteered on a remarkable 58 occasions between April last year and March this year, and he has volunteered on a total of 133 occasions over the last three years. This is a truly commendable record, and Mr Lau’s tireless contributions have greatly assisted the work of the State Courts’ Community Courts and Tribunals Cluster.
6. Last but certainly not least, we will present the Legal Assistance Scheme for Capital Offences (or LASCO) Award to Mr Mervyn Cheong Jun Ming, who received three nominations for this award from the Bar. Mr Cheong has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to supporting the LASCO scheme and has taken on several significant LASCO cases in the past few years. He has been praised not only for his own performance as lead counsel, but also for his mentorship of junior counsel in their development as advocates.
7. Let me, on behalf of the Judiciary, warmly congratulate and commend each of the award recipients on their sterling contributions. Let me also thank each and every one of our volunteers for so generously giving your time, energies and expertise to support these aspects of the Judiciary’s work. All of you are distinguished by your desire to give back to the community, and every time you answer a call to serve, you make a real impact on the lives of the court users who are navigating our justice system. In doing so, you have also assisted us, the Judiciary, in advancing our mission of delivering justice to all our users, and we are deeply grateful. I hope that your experiences as a volunteer have been as fulfilling for you as they have been meaningful to the Judiciary and to all who have benefited from your contributions.
8. Thank you very much, and I hope that you all enjoy today’s lunch.
(1) See Sundaresh Menon CJ, “Reimagining the Rule of Law: A Renewed Conception”, address at the final session of the Singapore Courts’ Conversations with the Community (20 September 2024) at para 24.
Topics:
Volunteers
2024/11/28
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