Media Release: Appointment of Registrar of the Supreme Court

The President of the Republic of Singapore, on the recommendation of the Chief Justice, has appointed Ms Teh Hwee Hwee (郑慧慧) as the Registrar of the Supreme Court with effect from 9 Apr 2019, pursuant to section 61(1) of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act (Chapter 322). Mr Vincent Hoong (洪承利), the current Registrar of the Supreme Court, will be appointed Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court from 10 Apr 2019.

2. Ms Teh, who currently holds concurrent appointments as the Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court, Divisional Registrar of the Court of Appeal, Divisional Registrar of the Singapore International Commercial Court and District Judge, graduated from the National University of Singapore in 1992 with a Bachelor of Laws and obtained a Master of Laws from Harvard University in 1996. She has been admitted as an Advocate and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore and an Attorney and Counsellor-at-Law of the State Bar of New York. She was conferred the Public Administration Medal in 2012.

3. Ms Teh started her career in the Singapore Legal Service in November 1992 as one of the first women appointed to the post of an Assistant Registrar of the Supreme Court. Since then, she has held various other appointments, including in the Attorney-General’s Chambers, before returning to the Supreme Court and assuming the appointment of Senior Assistant Registrar in 2009 and Deputy Registrar in 2012.

4. With a special interest in cross-border commercial dispute resolution, Ms Teh served as the first Executive Director of the Singapore Mediation Centre when it was set up in 1997 and led the development of the centre during its formative period. More recently, she was heavily involved in the establishment of the SICC that was launched in 2015, and continues to play a key role in its development as a commercial court of choice in her capacity as the Divisional Registrar of the SICC.

5. Mr Phang Hsiao Chung (冯孝忠), who is currently Senior Assistant Registrar of the Supreme Court, will succeed Ms Teh as Deputy Registrar.

6. In respect of these appointments, Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon said, “I thank Vincent for his invaluable contributions as Registrar of the Supreme Court. He has not only done an excellent job in hearing cases, he has also successfully helped steer many of the Court’s reforms and initiatives, such as the management of cases in the High Court and appeals in the Court of Appeal as well as improvements to the practice and procedures in corporate insolvency and restructuring cases. I look forward to working with Vincent in his new appointment as a Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court. While we will miss Vincent at the helm of the Registry, I have every confidence that Hwee Hwee will be an outstanding replacement for him. I have worked closely with her over the last 6 years and she has done an excellent job heading the registry functions for the Court of Appeal and the SICC and I am certain that she will continue to excel in her new appointment with the extremely valuable support of Hsiao Chung and the rest of the Registry team.”

SUPREME COURT

1 FEBRUARY 2019

For media queries, please contact:

Ms Kuan Qian Ying
Assistant Director
Office of Public Affairs
Supreme Court of Singapore
DID: 6332 4582
Kuan_Qian_Ying@supcourt.gov.sg