Dear Fellow SCL(S) members,

Instead of citing 2020 as a challenging year, I would say it has been exciting and game-changing for the way we live our life, do our work, keep ourselves updated and stay connected (virtually).

As part of the newly formed Council, I am more than happy to update fellow SCL(S) members on what has been going on.

Covid-19 remains a hot topic as the construction sector is still gearing itself towards recovering, with the Singapore Government’s support in policies and funding and organisations like SCL(S) sharing and explaining the new legislation and schemes through our newsletters and webinars.

At SCL(S), we had the honour of esteemed speakers coming forward and sharing their views and experiences with our participants through the webinars. We were delighted to receive feedback that the sessions were both insightful and informative.

We had 2 webinars in the month of September 2020. “Bond Calls and Interim Relief” was held on 3 September 2020. Chaired by our immediate Past Chairman Mr. Toh Chen Han, our speakers Ms. Lynne McCafferty QC and Mr. Sanjay Patel of 4 Pump Court discussed and covered the purpose and structure of performance bonds and the various form of them; distinguishing between “demand guarantees” and “true guarantees” and a multi-jurisdictional survey of the grounds for challenging or restraining calls on-demand guarantees; ending with good interaction with the participants in Q&A session.

On 24 September 2020, we had Clifford Chance Asia’s Mr. Paul Sandosham speaking on "The Circuit Break - Picking up the Pieces”; the interesting interaction between Mr. Sandosham and the Chairperson Mr. Kelvin Teo, brought us through the complex and serious topic on COTMA 2020 [COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act 2020] in a lighter and easier way to understand the few key sections that were highlighted in the webinar.

What’s more exciting is that we have another upcoming webinar in October 2020, where Dr Colin Ong QC will speak to us on “Making or Breaking Your Case - What Makes an Effective Expert Witness”. I am sure the talk will shed a little light on the different perspectives of an arbitrator and a counsel.

Do look out for our announcements on our website, LinkedIn and SCL(S) News & Webinars emails.

Stay safe, stay healthy and we will get through this pandemic episode together, hopefully sooner.