Justice Tan Siong Thye: Speech at "Access to Justice – I am the Court User Experience" event

Speech by Senior Judge Tan Siong Thye
at
"Access to Justice
– I am the Court User Experience" event

17 July 2024

Good afternoon, colleagues.

Importance of providing access to justice through court service excellence

1.               It is enlightening that the Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon emphasises heavily on the importance of access to justice through court service excellence. We are in the business of dispensing justice to all manner of people that seek justice for all kinds of disputes. The judiciary plays a vital and critical function in ensuring that the disputes are resolved fairly and expeditiously.

2.               I would like to start by underscoring the great importance of our job. Justice and fairness are universal values that are cherished, revered and held up on a high pedestal by every society, culture, civilisation, religion, race and country. Our state flag and pledge also allude to justice and equality. Most, if not all court users, will pray and plead for justice and fairness when they appear before the court. Hence, what we do is not just any other job. The judiciary is a vital and indispensable institution that assists to bring about law and order as well as to establish social harmony by resolving fairly and justly the disputes that confront and trouble the people. People resort to the courts to have their problems solved fairly.

3.               Everyone in the judiciary has a role to play in the dispensation of justice. The first touch points are the front-line service counters and the experience at this point of interaction will either give a positive or negative impression of the SG Courts to the court users. The judiciary is a temple of justice and we must be able to provide succour, but not legal advice, and comfort to the court users when we dispend justice.

Access to justice through court service excellence

4.               Access to justice and court service excellence are very much intertwingled. Access to justice is one of the four values of SG Courts with the acronym name “FAIR”. It is represented by “A”, ie accessibility. A judiciary that does not provide good service or is not responsive to the needs of the court users will undoubtedly affect access to justice. A seriously dysfunctional judiciary may result in chaos and societal disharmony. People may even resort to taking the law into their own hands if they lose confidence and trust in the judiciary. This scenario must never happen. We must, therefore, play our part to ensure that there is excellent access to justice and that the judiciary offers the best possible court services to the court users.

Whole judiciary enterprise

5.               Lofty ideals can only be achieved if everyone in the judiciary plays his or her part conscientiously and with a heart for the court users. It is essential to emphasise that the task of enhancing access to justice is the solemn responsibility of everyone in the judiciary. This includes front-line service officers, registry officers, judicial officers and even those in supporting functions such as HR, Finance, IT, and so on. Everyone in the judiciary has a stake in this endeavour.

6.               The commitment to excellent court services must permeate every aspect of the judiciary and must reflect a unified dedication to the courts’ core values of fairness, accessibility, integrity and respect.

Trusted Judiciary – Ready for Tomorrow

7.               To be a trusted judiciary that is ready for tomorrow it is critical that the courts provide easy and simple access to justice, and there are excellent court services to court users, especially to the frequent court users like the members of the prosecution, the Law Society and others. In the pursuit of this focused mission, it is vital that there is a committed, driven and sustained leadership at every level to inspire, drive and rally the people in the judiciary. This is an on-going process and we have been doing it. The key is sustainability.

Leadership is key

8.               Leadership is not only crucial and vital, it is everything to achieve better access to justice through court service excellence. It starts from the top and permeates down the pyramid to every individual in the judiciary.

9.               In the pursuit of the Singapore Quality Award with Special Commendation by the then Subordinate Courts in 2011, the category that had the highest marks was leadership. The people in the judiciary must be galvanised and function as a cohesive and collaborative team to serve the court users and earn their respect.

10.               SG Courts have been the trend setters and trail blazers to the envy of many judiciaries world-wide. We are one of the founding members that established the International Framework for Court Excellence, a global standard for the courts of the world to aspire to.

Profile of court users

11.               It is necessary to know the profile of the lay court users so as to serve them better. The judiciary is unlike the Registry of Marriages (ROM). People who come to SG Courts are often anxious, afraid and have trepidation or worries. The people who go to the ROM are always happy and joyous. Hence, the mood and feelings of the people that come to SG Courts are completely different from those who go to the ROM. Therefore, the judiciary has to be kind and gentle in its dealing with the court users.

Showing empathy to the court users

12.               Everyone at every level of the judiciary has a very important role to fulfil the mission of SG Courts. This starts from the front-line service counters which, perhaps, may be the first point of interaction for the lay court users who are completely ignorant and, perhaps, bemused by the complex court processes. The lay court users face tremendous difficulty to understand and navigate the labyrinth of the complex legal processes. This is in addition to their own problems and issues. Therefore, the judicial procedure can be overwhelming for the lay court users. Our colleagues who deal with the lay court users have to be sympathetic and understanding so as to allay their concerns and not make the situation worse for them. The then Subordinate Courts with other partners established the Community Justice Centre specifically to assist litigants-in-person to navigate the complex judicial system as we understood their plights.

Challenges of our colleagues at the front-line service counters

13.               I am fully aware of the daily challenges that face our colleagues at the front-line service counters. It is really not easy. I had stepped into their shoes when I was the Chief District Judge. During my watch, on Public Service Day of each year I would serve the court users at the various service counters, such as the Small Claims Tribunal, Information Counter, Family Courts and others, with the assistance of our colleagues. It was indeed a huge learning journey for me. When I first started, I felt so very inadequate and incompetent. This made me realised the importance of our colleagues manning the front-line service counters. They had indeed discharged their duties professionally and with distinction. I was deeply proud of them.

Management by walking

14.               Supervisors must walk the talk. Management by walking makes supervisors see shortcomings in the judiciary’s processes which will otherwise be not apparent to them. As a result of management by walking, court processes were streamlined and continuously improved for the benefit of the court users.

15.               Kaizen was introduced, institutionalised and robustly applied to remove redundant and irrelevant processes in the court system. The bail proceeding, which took 6-7 hours as stated in the then Court Charter, had suffered much complaints from the court users and lawyers. Using Kaizen methodology, the bail processing was significantly reduced to only 15 minutes when the irrelevant and unnecessary processes were removed.

16..               The huge crowds that gathered in the morning waiting for their cases to be dealt with at the mention courts, particularly Court 26, and the evening courts disappeared instantly when changes were made to the procedures. These changes benefited the court users tremendously and also made the court system more efficient and productive.

Why the State Courts remained at Havelock Square

17.               When the Subordinate Courts were at the Octagon building, we were bursting at the seams and were desperately in need of more space. URA offered us several land parcels which we found unsuitable. Eventually, URA gave us a good site along Outram Road. It was a difficult decision for us to decide whether to accept URA’s offer or to use the present site of the State Courts which was a car park and was much smaller than the land parcel at Outram Road. Ultimately, for the benefit of the court users, we chose the car park space as it was more convenient to the court users and it had good connectivity. This was in line with our strategic direction to render the best services to our court users.

Judicial officers play a vital role in upholding access to justice through court service excellence

18.               The commitment to uphold access to justice and prioritise court service excellence to court users is not confined to our colleagues at the front-line service counters. The judicial officers are a very important group of people in SG Courts who dispense justice and fair decisions to those who appear before them. The judicial officers are constantly in the public eye who quietly scrutinise the judicial officers critically and evaluate them to ascertain whether they are fair and impartial. The public and the parties that appear before the judges are often opinionated about the judges even before the decisions are pronounced. The old and often spoken adage that justice must not only be done but be seen to be done must be displayed at all times. In many instances, this is even more important than to deliver the fair outcome. The respect of the courts lies very much in the manner and the way the judicial officers deal and handle the parties during the proceedings.

Use of plain and simple English

19.               Judicial officers should, as far as possible, use simple language verbally and in their judgments and decisions so that lay persons can understand. The use of Latin should be discouraged as it is a language unfamiliar to the lay court users. We are not in a Latin speaking world.

Treatment of accused persons

20.               Judicial officers should not be case-hardened and insensitive to the plights of the parties that appear before them. Accused persons who appear in court should be treated with respect and dealt with humanely and professionally.

21.               When sentencing the accused persons, it must be done with sensitivity and the judge should respect them with dignity as after all they are human beings who have only failed to comply with the law.

Continuous training

22.                I believe that there must be continuous training to have quality judiciary. I was delighted that CJ Menon established the Judicial College when he first took office. When I was the Chief District Judge (CDJ), I too emphasised heavily on judicial training. Judicial officers were given the opportunity to have consultants observe the way they conduct their cases and the consultants would, thereafter, privately share their feedback with the respective judicial officers. Some judicial officers also had their training sessions videotaped and the tapes were kept by the respective judicial officers as their personal reference. The judicial officers found this training helpful and useful. This enabled them to be better judicial officers.

23.               There was also structured training for court administrators to enhance their technical competencies and interpersonal skills to achieve a deep sense of purpose.

Court service excellence - the DNA of SG Courts

24.               We should imbue court service-centric ethos as the DNA in SG Courts and the DNA be developed as a sustainable culture for all in the judiciary especially for the judicial officers who set the tone and progress of the cases.

Feedback from court users

25.               Soliciting feedback from the court users is important to establish a relevant court service excellence and access to justice culture. It is critical to understand deeply the perspective of the court users to ensure that the court services meet their needs and expectations.

26.               When I was the CDJ, I chaired the dialogue sessions with the prosecution and members of the Law Society so that I could feel the pulse of the regular court users first hand. It was also to signify to the court users that I took their feedback seriously. Every feedback and proposals were attended to and followed up. If any feedback and proposals were not feasible I would explain with cogent reasons to the court users why their proposals could not be implemented.

27.               Engagement with the regular court users was necessary to build rapport and to seek their co-operation and support. Hence, I initiated the annual tripartite lunch.

Leveraging on technology

28.               Leveraging on technology to enhance access to justice and court service excellence is no longer a glamorous initiative but a vital necessity. The court processes and the way we function must be constantly revolutionised to enhance court users’ experience and increase productivity. One of the major and game changer IT projects that was introduced during my watch was the Integrated Case Management System (ICMS). Basically, ICMS digitised most of the criminal processes and it made the criminal justice system paperless and much more accessible to the court users.

Conclusion

29.               Access to justice through court service excellence is critical for the administration of justice. Leadership by example at every level is vital to drive this solemn mission.

30.               The judiciary has to change with the times to remain relevant. If the judiciary remains static then the story of the melting ice berg will unfold to the detriment of the judiciary.

31.               The late Steve Job of Apple Incorporation once said if you wish to go fast do it alone and if you wish to go far do it together. I agree but it is not necessarily binary. I shall add on to what Steve said: if you wish to go fast and far, do it with a cohesive, motivated and committed team.

32.               I hope you find the sharing useful. We must commit ourselves to a high standard of excellence to enhance access to justice. This will ensure the court users receive the support, guidance and respect they deserve while navigating the complexities of the judicial system. This will, undoubtedly, make a meaningful difference to the court users’ experience.

33.               Thank you.