SINGAPORE - High Court judge Chan Seng Onn will become a Senior Judge of the Supreme Court in January 2022, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) announced on Monday (Nov 15).
Japanese judge Yuko Miyazaki will be an International Judge of the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) from Jan 5, 2022, to Jan 4, 2024. American judge Christopher Scott Sontchi will be an International Judge of the SICC from July 4, 2022, to Jan 4, 2024.
These appointments by President Halimah Yacob were announced in a PMO statement.
Separately, two judges will have their appointments extended and two Senior Judges will be reappointed.
Justice Judith Prakash, Singapore's first and only female Judge of Appeal, will have her appointment extended by two years after her current term ends on Dec 18.
Judge of the Appellate Division Woo Bih Li will have his appointment extended by another three years after his current term ends on Dec 30.
Justice Andrew Ang and Justice Lai Siu Chiu - the first female judge of the Supreme Court - will be reappointed as Senior Judges, with their new two-year terms starting on Jan 5, 2022.
With the appointments, the Supreme Court will have 28 judges, including the Chief Justice and four Judges of Appeal, along with one Judicial Commissioner, four Senior Judges and 18 International Judges.
Justice Chan, 67, graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree from the National University of Singapore in 1986 and obtained his Master of Law degree from Cambridge University in 1987.
He was appointed Judicial Commissioner in 1997 and left the post in 2001 to become solicitor-general.
He returned to the Bench as a High Court judge in 2007.
As a judge, his areas of focus are in technically complex disputes in building and construction, shipbuilding, intellectual property and criminal matters.
For 14 years, from 2007 to 2021, he was the president of the Industrial Arbitration Court - which serves as the last resort when other avenues of resolving an industrial dispute have failed.
He has also been a member of the Council of Law Reporting since 2008.
Justice Chan's appointment as a High Court judge was extended on Jan 4, 2019, for a two-year term upon his retirement. It was extended for another year on Jan 4 this year and the term ends on Jan 3 next year.
He will begin his two-year term as Senior Judge on Jan 5.
