Media Release: Appointment of Presiding Judge of the State Courts with effect from 1 January 2026

1. The President of the Republic of Singapore has appointed Justice Christopher Tan Pheng Wee (陈炳维法官) as Presiding Judge of the State Courts (PJSC) with effect from 1 January 2026. Justice Christopher Tan takes over from Justice Vincent Hoong Seng Lei (洪承利法官) who relinquishes the position he has held since 1 April 2020.

2. Justice Tan was appointed Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court on 1 October 2023 and appointed Judge of the High Court on 1 August 2025.

3. Justice Tan graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (1st Class Honours) from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 1998 and obtained a Master of Laws from Harvard University in 2003. He has accumulated considerable and varied experience through his numerous postings in the Legal Service, serving in agencies that included the Attorney-General’s Chambers, Competition Commission of Singapore, Monetary Authority of Singapore, Supreme Court and State Courts. Prior to his appointment as Judicial Commissioner in 2023, he was concurrently holding the position of Registrar of the State Courts (from May 2020) and Deputy Presiding Judge of the State Courts (from June 2022). 

4. As Judge of the High Court, his areas of focus have been in building and construction, shipbuilding, finance, securities, banking, complex commercial cases, company, insolvency, trusts, medical negligence tort claims, defamation, professional negligence, statutory torts and criminal trials. 

5. Justice Tan was awarded The Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2011.

6. Justice Hoong graduated from NUS with a Bachelor of Laws in 1982 and joined the Singapore Legal Service in 1984. He was posted to the then Subordinate Courts as a Magistrate. In 1986, he held the appointment of Assistant Registrar in the Supreme Court before returning to the Subordinate Courts as a District Judge from 1990 to 1997.

7. Justice Hoong managed the Singapore Land Registry of the Ministry of Law from September 1997 to May 2001 before being seconded to the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) as Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Legal Officer, and eventually as Chief Executive from May 2009 to March 2015. During his tenure at the SLA, he also held concurrent appointments as the Registrar of Titles & Deeds and Controller of Residential Property from May 2000 to 31 March 2015 and as the Commissioner of Lands from August 2002 to April 2009. 

8. Justice Hoong was appointed Registrar of the Supreme Court in April 2015 and held that position until his appointment as Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court on 10 April 2019. He was appointed Judge of the High Court on 3 January 2020, and PJSC on 1 April 2020.

9. During his five-year term as PJSC, Justice Hoong steered the organisation through the Covid-19 pandemic and introduced a range of measures to enhance the resilience of State Courts operations, while instituting fundamental redesigns to the mode in which State Courts hearings were conducted. 

10. Under his leadership, the State Courts cleared the backlog of cases arising from the vacation of hearings during the Circuit Breaker period within a year, bringing disposition rates back to an even keel. The State Courts have sustained the post-pandemic transition to remote and asynchronous hearings, which were formally adopted for criminal pre-trial conferences and criminal case disclosure conferences in June 2023. 

11. Justice Hoong also put in place a revamped five-year strategic map to ensure the State Courts remain committed to providing accessible justice through quality judgments, appropriate dispute resolution and innovative court services. The State Courts have continued to perform strongly on their caseload clearance rates and caseload disposition rates.

12. Justice Hoong advocated enhancing access to justice and advancing the administration and delivery of justice. He led the effort to establish the International Judicial Dispute Resolution Network comprising judiciaries from across the common law and civil law traditions to promote the adoption of the Judicial Dispute Resolution process around the world, and oversaw State Courts’ chairmanship of the International Consortium for Court Excellence, which was formed to develop an international framework for court excellence. Justice Hoong also placed emphasis on the professional development of judicial officers and court administrators to ensure they are continually equipped with the requisite skills and knowledge to better serve court users.

13. He was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Gold) in 2015.

14. Justice Hoong’s appointments as a Judge of the High Court and PJSC will end on 31 December 2025. 

15. The Judiciary would like to place on record its deep appreciation to Justice Hoong for his sterling contributions and dedicated service to the State Courts and the justice system. 

16. Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon said “I am deeply grateful to Justice Hoong who has led the State Courts with great distinction. He successfully led the State Courts through the pandemic, and ensured the operational stability of the Courts, thus preventing the build-up of a substantial backlog and then led the effort to rapidly clear what had accumulated. He has also been an enthusiastic champion of technological innovation and did an excellent job in working to ensure accessible justice for our citizens. Among his many innovative initiatives, he helped establish the international Judicial Dispute Resolution Network, a group of like-minded judiciaries from around the world striving to explore and implement best practices to promote alternative dispute resolution measures within judicial processes. In addition he has contributed significantly to our jurisprudence having authored a number of important and influential judgments especially in sentencing. He has my deepest appreciation for his distinguished service to the Judiciary and to the wider Public Service."

17. “I would also like to welcome Justice Christopher Tan as the new Presiding Judge of the State Courts. I am confident that the State Courts will continue to advance their mission towards accessible justice through quality judgments, appropriate dispute resolution and innovative court services under his leadership”. 

Issued by: Singapore Courts

Date: 1 October 2025