Media Release: Extension Of Appointment Of Presiding Judge Of State Courts

EXTENSION OF APPOINTMENT OF PRESIDING JUDGE OF STATE COURTS

          The President of the Republic of Singapore, in accordance with section 8A(1) of the State Courts Act 1970, has extended the appointment of Justice Hoong Seng Lei Vincent (洪承利), as the Presiding Judge of the State Courts till 11 April 2025.

2.       Justice Hoong was appointed the Presiding Judge of the State Courts on 1 April 2020 for a period of three years, and his term will end on 31 March 2023.

Justice Hoong Seng Lei Vincent

3.       Justice Hoong was appointed Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court on 10 April 2019 and elevated to Judge of the High Court on 3 January 2020. His appointment as a High Court Judge was extended for a period of three years on 12 Apr 2022 upon reaching his retirement age of 65.

4.       As the world grappled with Covid-19, the State Courts had effectively navigated the pandemic under Justice Hoong’s leadership. He introduced wide ranging measures to enhance the resilience of State Courts operations, while instituting fundamental redesigns to the mode in which State Courts hearings were conducted.  This ensured continued delivery of justice for State Courts’ huge volumes of cases, amidst stringent safe management measures. Justice Hoong also oversaw the clearance of the backlog of cases arising from the vacation of hearings during the two-month Circuit Breaker period.  By rationalising the deployment of judicial officers and intensifying the schedule of hearings, the State Courts cleared the backlog within a year, bringing disposition rates back to an even keel. 

5.       By progressively increasing leverage on technology, Justice Hoong supervised the rapid expansion in remote delivery of State Courts’ services. These included asynchronous modes of conducting court dispute resolution hearings, fully remote Pre-Trial Conferences and Duty Registrar hearings, as well as State Courts’ very first fully remote criminal and civil trials. Asynchronous hearings were also introduced for the conduct of several civil processes.

6.       Justice Hoong oversaw a wide range of initiatives under his tenure which have served to enhance access to justice in different ways. These include the operationalisation of the specialist Protection from Harassment Court, educating the public on the criminal processes through publication of the Guidebook for Accused-in-Person in vernacular languages, as well as revamping the civil litigation processes (attendant upon the coming into force of the new Rules of Court in 2022).  He led the effort to establish the International Judicial Dispute Resolution Network comprising judiciaries from across the common law and civil law traditions to advance the adoption of the Judicial Dispute Resolution process in judicial systems around the world. He also oversaw State Courts’ chairmanship of the International Consortium for Court Excellence.

7.       As Presiding Judge of the State Courts, Justice Hoong has focused on judicial capacity-building.  His efforts included internally restructuring the State Courts clusters and rationalising deployment of judicial officers to ensure greater cross-exposure in different legal disciplines, while enhancing consistency in court registry practices. He also instituted a structured judicial mentorship framework to strengthen the sharing and retention of practical judicial expertise within the State Courts ranks.

Justice Hoong Seng Lei Vincent (洪承利)

Issued by: The Singapore Courts


State Courts

The State Courts comprise the District Courts, Magistrates’ Courts, Coroners’ Courts, Small Claims Tribunals, Community Disputes Resolution Tribunals and Employment Claims Tribunals. We hear about 90 per cent of the overall caseload in Singapore and about 99 per cent of the total criminal caseload. In addition, we conduct judicial dispute resolution to help parties resolve their disputes amicably without trial. Headed by the Presiding Judge of the State Courts, we are a trusted and forward-looking judiciary that is committed to administering justice with quality judgments, timely and effective dispute resolution, and excellent court services.

For more information, please visit www.judiciary.gov.sg.