ALA Media Release: Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon makes major contributions as President of the ASEAN Law Association

Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon makes major contributions as President of the ASEAN Law Association

1. At the 14^th ASEAN Law Association General Assembly to be held on 19 to 21 October 2023, The Honourable the Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon will relinquish his post as the ALA President, to which he was elected at the 13th General Assembly in Singapore in July 2018.

    

2. The ASEAN Law Association (ALA) is a non-governmental organisation comprising of legal professionals across ASEAN. (More information on the ASEAN Law Association can be found at Annex A.)

    

3. A key part of Chief Justice Menon’s vision for ALA was to enhance the relevance of the association within the ASEAN community. He set out to strengthen ALA’s links with other ASEAN entities, particularly with ASEAN. At the 13^th ALA General Assembly in Singapore in 2018, the then-Secretary General of ASEAN, Dato Lim Jock Hoi, in a speech delivered by his Deputy Dr AKP Mochtan, called for the opening of pathways between ALA and ASEAN key agencies. The following year in 2019, when Chief Justice Menon called on Dato Lim, ALA submitted four concept notes ⁽¹⁾ to the ASEAN Secretariat for consideration. Since then, these concept notes have been placed before the ASEAN Senior Law Officials Meetings along with an updated concept note on an ASEAN protocol for communication with non-disputing states on issues of treaty interpretation. This is in addition to the Guidelines on Best Practices on the Enforcement of Arbitral Awards within ASEAN. These efforts reinforce ALA’s role as a think-tank in key areas of interests to ASEAN.

    

4. The establishment of the ASEAN Law Institute in 2019 by ALA provided the association with an entity that could provide sustained support for ALA in the pursuit of its objectives, overcoming the difficulties that ALA had faced in undertaking projects that were hitherto helmed by volunteers.

    

5. ALA has also sought to forge deeper collaboration with the ASEAN Secretariat. The ASEAN Secretariat explored a series of capacity-building programmes with ALA, with the inaugural instalment covering training on, among others, investor-state dispute settlement mechanisms slated to take place next year at the ASEAN Headquarters in Jakarta.

    

6. Another area of focus was the rejuvenation of ALA by encouraging and facilitating the formation of an ALA National Committee in the Lao PDR in order to complete the membership of ALA (which currently only represents nine ASEAN states). Chief Justice Menon visited the President of the People’s Supreme Court of Lao PDR in September 2023 and received positive feedback from his Lao counterparts that raised the possibility that ALA will be made complete in the near future.

    

7. The third, and certainly a very important area of focus for Chief Justice Menon during his term as ALA President, was the renewal of ALA. He holds the vision that the induction of young blood into ALA was key to its effectiveness and enduring utility to the ASEAN community in the years to come. With this in mind, two signature projects were established:

1. The Virtual Training Marketplace (VTM), which will be launched tomorrow, matches attachments and training opportunities offered by law firms in ASEAN to young lawyers across the region. The VTM is one of the central pieces of the collective effort to renew ALA, reaching out to the next generation of lawyers and drawing them into its ranks in an increasingly inter-connected ASEAN. Many leading law firms in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia have committed to provide training places. It is hoped that this list will grow to include more law firms in more jurisdictions so that, over time, the VTM will not only enhance the quality of the legal profession, but also nurture and grow an interconnected network of law practitioners in ASEAN. (More information on the VTM can be found at Annex B.)
   
   
2. The second is The ASEAN Moot, the inaugural edition of which is organised by ALA Malaysia and held at the 14^th General Assembly in Kuala Lumpur. It is envisaged that The ASEAN Moot will attract law students to take an interest in ASEAN law and will become the primary outreach mechanism for ALA in the universities of ASEAN. Today’s law students are the members and leaders of tomorrow’s ALA, and the continuation of The ASEAN Moot will be a key pillar of the efforts to ensure ALA’s vibrance and longevity. (More information on the ASEAN Moot 2023 can be found at Annex C.)

Issued by: ASEAN Law Association (Singapore)  

Date: 19 October 2023

^{(1) Promoting legal convergence in the area of enforcement of foreign arbitral awards and international settlement agreements, promoting awareness of ASEAN legal instruments and their implementation, establishing a panel of experts that the ASEAN Secretariat may consult in specific legal areas, and supporting ASEAN Member States’ compliance with ASEAN Instruments.}

Annex A
ASEAN Law Association

1. The ASEAN Law Association (ALA) is the only regional law association in the world that has a membership encompassing the gamut of the legal profession – from judges to private legal practitioners to legal counsel in private and public entities to law academics.
2. Established in 1979, ALA has held 13 General Assemblies (normally held once every three years) where the President and Secretary-General are elected to steer the association until their successors are elected at the next General Assembly.
3. Under its Constitution, ALA is committed to helping promote peace and prosperity in ASEAN through legal cooperation and the advancement of the rule of law. This is done by promoting close relations, cooperation and mutual understanding amongst legal professionals in the region, specifically by collaboration in the area of legal research and working towards harmonization of laws. The value proposition that ALA brings is its unique combination of a range of legal professionals in a non-governmental setting that provides a diversity of views devoid of any political influence or affiliation.
4. In the first three decades of its existence, ALA has established a strong regional network of legal professionals who have met annually at the meetings of its Governing Council. The main output of ALA has been its signature ASEAN Law Conference held in conjunction with its General Assemblies as well as a range of publications that have been published, including a book entitled “ASEAN Legal Systems” published in 1995. This was the first comparative study of the legal systems in the component jurisdictions of ASEAN.After ALA established its website in 2005, the book was published electronically with regular updates.
5. For more information on the ALA, please refer to https://aseanlawassociation.org.

Annex B
Virtual Training Marketplace

1. The concept for the Virtual Training Marketplace was first endorsed by the Governing Council in Singapore in July 2018.
2. The VTM is a web portal that showcases training opportunities for young lawyers in ASEAN. These training opportunities are in the form of internships, attachments or courses in specific areas of law and legal practice, and are hosted by major law firms in ASEAN capital cities.
3. The objective of the VTM is to open up training placements for young lawyers across ASEAN. Such cross-border exposure will improve the technical competency of lawyers and encourage the adoption of best practices infused with regional insights, thereby enhancing the quality of legal services in ASEAN. The VTM will also facilitate networking of lawyers and law firms in the region.
4. The training opportunities in the Virtual Training Marketplace are open to qualified lawyers practising in ASEAN who are members of the ASEAN Law Association (ALA).
5. The participating law firms from ASEAN include:
   1. Indonesia: Juniver Girsang & Partners, Santoso, Martinus & Muliawan Advocates, SSEK Law Firm and Swandy Halim & Partners
   2. Malaysia: MahWengKwai & Associates, O S Kim & Associates
   3. Singapore: Clifford Chance, Drew & Napier LLC, Harry Elias Partnership LLP, Herbert Smith Freehills, Joseph Tan Jude Benny LLP, Norton Rose Fulbright LLP, Oon & Bazul LLP, Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP, Shook Lin & Bok LLP, Tan Rajah & Cheah, Tito Isaac & Co LLP, Virtus Law LLP, Wee Swee Teow LLP, White & Case, Withers KhattarWong LLP, and WongPartnership LLP.
   4. The Philippines: LGTON Law
6. For more information on the VTM, please refer to https://aseanlawassociation.org/virtual-training-marketplace/

Annex C
ASEAN Moot 2023

1. The ASEAN Moot 2023 will be held over 2 days with 10 participating teams from ASEAN. The objective of the Moot is to introduce and expose law students to ASEAN legal instruments and legal issues. This is to build and strengthen the organisational framework for regional cooperation in the study of and research of the laws of the ASEAN countries with a view to harmonise those laws for an inclusive and sustainable economic development.
2. The moot will feature an arbitration matter. For more information, you may wish to visit ASEAN Moot 2023.