PMO Media Release: Appointments of International Judges to the Singapore International Commercial Court and Completion of Term on the Supreme Court Bench

Appointments of International Judges to the Singapore International Commercial Court and Completion of Term on the Supreme Court Bench

           The President of the Republic of Singapore, in accordance with Article 95(4)(c) of the Constitution, has appointed two International Judges (IJs) to the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC). Justice James Leslie Bain Allsop (欧颂律) and Justice James Michael Peck (詹姆斯.麦克尔.佩克) will be appointed IJs for a period of three years with effect from 5 January 2024.

Appointments of IJs to the SICC

Justice James Leslie Bain Allsop (Australia)

2       Justice James Allsop graduated from the University of Sydney in 1974 with a Bachelor of Arts and in 1980 with a Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours), where he also won the University Medal in law. He started his career as a practicing barrister in 1981 and was appointed Senior Counsel in New South Wales in 1994 and subsequently Queen’s Counsel in Western Australia in 1998. Justice Allsop had 20 years of experience in a wide variety of areas in commercial law in the private sector prior to joining the Court.

3        Justice Allsop was appointed the Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia in March 2013 and retired in April this year. Prior to that, he was the President of the New South Wales Court of Appeal from June 2008 to February 2013 and a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia from May 2001 to June 2008. He also served as an additional Judge of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory during the period 2003 to 2008.

4        In 2013, Justice Allsop was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for his distinguished service to the judiciary and to the law, for reforms he introduced to promote equity and access, and for his contributions to the administration of maritime law and legal education. He was promoted to Companion of the Order of Australia in 2023 for his eminent service to the judiciary and to the law, to organisational and technological reform, to legal education, and to insolvency law. Justice Allsop is also a Member of the American Law Institute, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, and Titulary Member of the Comite Maritime International. His areas of legal expertise include commercial law, maritime and transport law, insurance law, taxation, private and public international law, equity, public and administrative law, constitutional law, and criminal law. 

Justice James Michael Peck (United States)

5      Justice James Peck graduated from Dartmouth College in 1967 and from the New York University School of Law in 1971. He has over 40 years of experience in the private sector and was a partner in Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP where he worked in the business restructuring practice, prior to joining the Bankruptcy Court. Justice Peck was a Judge in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York from 2006 to 2014 and presided over the Chapter 11 and Securities Investor Protection Act cases for Lehman Brothers, which constituted the largest bankruptcy filings in US history. As a Judge, he also successfully mediated some of the most complex Chapter 11 cases, including American Airlines, General Motors, Residential Capital and Excel Maritime. His areas of focus include bankruptcy, creditors rights, business restructuring, financial contracts and derivatives as well as mediation and dispute resolution. He is a well-known American insolvency Judge and mediator who has handled and resolved some of the largest corporate insolvencies.

6      Justice Peck currently chairs the Business Bankruptcy Advisory Committee of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. By invitation, he is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and a member of the expert panel of the Panel of Recognised International Market Experts in Finance. Justice Peck is a past president of the International Insolvency Institute and was judicial chair of the American Bankruptcy Institute’s (ABI) annual New York City Bankruptcy Conference and co-chair of ABI’s advisory committee on safe harbours. He also served on the board of governors of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges and last held the position of the Chair (Global Head) of the Cross-border Restructuring practice of international law firm, Morrison Foerster LLP, where he also headed the Mediation Practice. 

7      Closer to home, Justice Peck is a founding member of the Advisory Committee of the Singapore Academy of Law’s Asian Business Law Institute. He is also listed as a qualified member of mediation panels of the Singapore Mediation Centre and the Singapore International Mediation Centre, and has been selected as a member of the Panel of Arbitrators of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre.

Completion of term on the Supreme Court Bench

8      Justice Quentin Loh (罗赐安), Justice Andrew Ang (翁安得烈) and Justice Lai Siu Chiu (赖秀珠) will complete their terms as Senior Judges on 4 January 2024. The Supreme Court is grateful for their invaluable contributions to the Judiciary and wishes them the very best in their future undertakings.

9      With these appointments and completion of term, the Supreme Court will have a total of 27 Judges (including the Chief Justice, three Justices of the Court of Appeal and four Judges of the Appellate Division), three Judicial Commissioners, four Senior Judges and 20 IJs from 5 January 2024.


Issued by: Prime Minister’s Office