Media Release: International Conference on Court Excellence

1 The International Conference on Court Excellence, organised by the State Courts of Singapore, is held in The Fullerton Hotel, Singapore from 28 to 29 January 2016.

2 Themed “Judiciary of the Future”, the Conference brings together about 190 judicial officers, court administrators, policy makers, and experts from related fields from 18 countries to share their perspectives on the latest trends and developments in court administration. The topics that they will discuss at the Conference include:

• Leadership for the future
• Good governance and judicial ethics
• Innovations in court procedures and processes
• Courts of the future

3 The Honourable Chief Justice Marilyn L. Warren AC of the Supreme Court of Victoria delivered the keynote address on 28 January 2016. The other distinguished speakers include the Honourable Chief Justice Robert J. Torres, Supreme Court of Guam, and the Honourable Chief Justice Chris Kourakis, Supreme Court of South Australia. From Singapore, the Honourable Judge of Appeal Chao Hick Tin will speak on Leadership for the Future, and Justice Lee Seiu Kin will share his perspectives on Court of the Future for Singapore. District Judges of the State Courts will also present on the Integrated Criminal Page 2 Case Filing and Management System, the Community Justice Centre and the Simplification of Civil Processes.

4 The Conference will also deliberate enhancements to the International Framework for Court Excellence (IFCE). Launched in Singapore in October 2010 at the Asia-Pacific Courts Conference organised by the State Courts¹ , the IFCE is a framework² of values, concepts and tools by which courts worldwide may adopt to assess and improve the quality of justice and court administration. The Honourable Justice Valentyna Simonenko from the Supreme Court of Ukraine will share Ukraine’s experience in using court performance evaluation as a tool to promote judicial reform and build public trust and confidence in the judiciary. Speakers from the Family Court of Australia and the District Courts of New Zealand will share their courts’ implementation of the IFCE. The participants will also hear about the experience of Moldova in implementing the IFCE.

5 In his Welcome Remarks delivered at the Conference’s opening ceremony, Judicial Commissioner See Kee Oon, Presiding Judge of the State Courts, said: “The future, it has been said, is not fixed. We can only say with certainty that it will not be predictable. This Conference is but a glimpse into the possible futures of our respective judiciaries. Just as there can be new entrants to the justice system, there must be novel means to deal with alternative legal structures and innovative ways to meet the needs of our justice users. I am confident that the International Framework for Court Excellence with its newest modifications will be a foremost resource to help us deliver high quality services to our justice users.” 

¹ Then known as “Subordinate Courts”
² The IFCE was developed in 2008 by an International Consortium for Court Excellence comprising organisations from Europe, Asia, Australia and the United States. Singapore is a founder member of the Consortium; other members include the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration, the United States Federal Judicial Center and the National Center for State Courts. 

6 The opening ceremony was attended by The Honourable the Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, judges of Supreme Court, Singapore, and Mr Ng How Yue, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Law. 

Issued by: State Courts, Singapore
Date: 28 January 2016

Enclosed:
(i) Factsheet on the International Conference on Court Excellence
(ii) Conference Brochure 

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For further information or clarification, please contact:

(i) Ms Michelle Chiang, Assistant Director, Communications Directorate
Tel: 6435 5179 / 9722 6139
Email: michelle_chiang@statecourts.gov.sg

(ii) Mr Henedick Chng, Assistant Director, Communications Directorate
Tel: 6435 5652 / 9722 6139
Email: henedick_chng@statecourts.gov.sg 

Fact Sheet

A) Objectives of the International Conference on Court Excellence

As we advance into the first quarter of the 21st century, judiciaries worldwide are preparing themselves to meet the opportunities and challenges that are being presented to them. The International Conference on Court Excellence provides a platform for judicial officers, court administrators, policy makers, and experts from related fields to:

• discuss the latest trends and developments in court administration
• look into the role of leadership in shaping court excellence and introducing judicial reforms
• share the latest developments in court procedures and processes that have innovatively changed the ways justice is delivered
• explore new approaches for enhancing access to and the delivery of justice 
• share perspectives on the courts of the future

In addition, the Conference provides the opportunity for courts that have adopted the International Framework for Court Excellence (IFCE) to share their experience in implementing the IFCE and discuss how the framework may be enhanced to help courts improve their performances to address future opportunities and challenges.

(B) About the International Framework for Court Excellence (IFCE)

The IFCE was developed in 2008 by an International Consortium for Court Excellence comprising organisations from Asia, Australia and the United States. The State Courts of Singapore are a founder member of the Consortium; other members include the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration, the United States Federal Judicial Center and the National Center for State Courts.

The IFCE is a quality management system designed to help courts improve their performance. It represents an all-encompassing approach to achieving court excellence, rather than a more limited focus on particular aspects of court governance, management, or operations. It consists of the following:

• A Framework of universal core values, seven areas of court excellence aligned with those values, as well as concepts and tools by which courts worldwide can voluntarily assess and improve the quality of justice and court administration. 
• A self-evaluation process using the Court Excellence Self-Assessment Questionnaire that evaluates a court’s performance against seven areas of excellence, and provides guidance for courts to improve their performance. 
• The Global Measures of Court Performance include eleven focused, clear, and actionable core court performance measures aligned with the values and areas of court excellence of the Framework.

The Consortium will regularly edit and revise the Framework to reflect new developments for improving how courts and justice-system partners deliver services.

For more information on the Consortium and IFCE, please visit www.courtexcellence.com. 

(C) Conference speakers

The distinguished speakers are:

S/N	Name of Speaker (in alphabetical order)
1.	Amitabha Mukherjee World Bank
2.	Justice Brian Preston SC Chief Judge, Land and Environment Court, New South Wales, Australia
3.	Justice Chao Hick Tin Judge of Appeal, Supreme Court, Singapore
4.	Chew Kwee San Vice Chairman, Board of Directors, Community Justice Centre
5.	District Judge Chiah Kok Khun Civil Justice Division, State Courts, Singapore
6.	Chief Justice Chris Kourakis Supreme Court of South Australia
7.	Judge Colin Doherty National Executive Judge, District Courts of New Zealand
8.	Daniel J. Hall Vice President, National Center for State Courts, USA
9.	Professor Gregory Reinhardt Executive Director, Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration
10.	Deputy Presiding Judge Jennifer Marie State Courts, Singapore
11.	Joanne Gray Registrar, Land and Environment Court, New South Wales, Australia
12.	Judge Dr Kanok Jullamon Supreme Court, Thailand
13.	Keith R. Fisher Senior Counsel, National Center for State Courts, USA
14.	Laurie Glanfield AM Deputy President, Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration
15.	Justice Lee Seiu Kin Supreme Court, Singapore
16.	Dr Lisa Yarwood Senior Law and Policy Adviser New Zealand Law Commission
17.	Chief Justice Marilyn Warren AC (keynote speaker) Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia
18.	Mark Beer Chief Executive and Registrar, Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts
19.	Martin Jackson Acting Director, Strategic Business Development, Court and Tribunal Services, Western Australian Department of the Attorney General
20.	District Judge May Mesenas State Courts, Singapore
21.	Judge Michael Jarrett Federal Circuit Court of Australia
22.	Principal District Judge Ong Hian Sun Criminal Justice Division, State Courts, Singapore
23.	Papinder Kaur Senior Director, Infrastructure Development and Procurement Directorate, State Courts, Singapore
24.	Justice Peter Murphy Family Court of Australia
25.	Ramesh Siva Lead eGovernment Specialist, World Bank
26.	Chief Justice Robert J.Torres Guam
27.	Justice Robert McDougall Supreme Court of New South Wales, Australia
28.	Judicial Commissioner See Kee Oon Presiding Judge, State Courts, Singapore
29.	Magistrate Simon Young Queensland Magistrates Court, Australia
30.	Chief Magistrate Steven Heath Magistrates Court of Western Australia
31.	District Judge Tan Boon Heng Executive Director, Singapore Judicial College
32.	Tomas Verteletskyy Monitoring, Evaluation and Court Performance Specialist for the USAID Fair, Accountable, Independent and Responsible (FAIR) Judiciary program in Ukraine
33.	Justice Valentyna Simonenko Supreme Court of Ukraine, Chair of the Council of Judges of Ukraine
34.	Yohan Liyanage Chief Registrar, Judiciary of Fiji

Please refer to the conference website www.courtexcellenceconference.com for information about the speakers.

(D) Participating countries and organisations

The participants of the Conference are from:

Country (in alphabetical order)	Organisation
Indonesia	MSI Consulting Kepanjen District Court - East Java Pengadilan Negeri Batulicin Indonesia
Japan	Supreme Court of Japan
Kazakhstan	Supreme Court of Republic of Kazakhstan
Marshall Islands	Marshall Islands Judiciary
Myanmar	Office of the Union Supreme Court
Namibia	High and Supreme Court Ministry of Justice Office of the Attorney General
New Zealand	High Court of New Zealand
Singapore	3HP Architects Pte Ltd Central Narcotics Bureau Family Justice Courts Housing & Development Board Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore Immigration & Checkpoint Authority Intellectual Property Office of Singapore Law In Order Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore Ministry of Defence Ministry of Manpower National University of Singapore Singapore Police Force State Courts Supreme Court Syariah Court The Community Justice Centre
Sri Lanka	Judicial Service Commission of Sri Lanka / Ministry of Justice
Thailand	Office of the Judiciary The Administrative Court of Thailand
Ukraine	Odesa Oblast Court of Appeals Council of Judges of Ukraine USAID FAIR Justice Project
United States of America	Tyler Technologies
Zimbabwe	Judicial Service Commission

Translation of Key Terms