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State Courts Centre for Dispute Resolution

The State Courts Centre for Dispute Resolution (SCCDR) was established on 4 March 2015 by The Honourable the Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon. The SCCDR employs a judge-led Court Dispute Resolution (CDR) process to ensure that cases in the State Courts are managed robustly. In addition to judge-led case management, the SCCDR also conducts Neutral Evaluation, Judicial Mediation and Conciliation to facilitate the resolution of Civil, Criminal and Tribunal matters without trial.

Neutral Evaluation is a process in which the Judge reviews the case and provides an early assessment of the merits of the case. During Neutral Evaluation, the parties, with their respective lawyers, will present their case and the key evidence to the Judge, who will then provide his view of the parties’ likelihood of success at trial.

Judicial mediation is a process by which the Judge-mediator, facilitates and guides the parties in negotiating a mutually acceptable settlement to their dispute. The Judge does not offer specific solutions for the dispute. Instead, he helps the parties to focus on finding their own solutions that meet their concerns.

Conciliation is a process by which a Judge-conciliator facilitates an agreement between the parties on an optimal solution for their dispute. The Judge-conciliator will guide, assist and encourage the parties to reach an optimal solution by actively suggesting measures or proposals that may resolve the issues in dispute. Ultimately, the decision as to whether to agree to a settlement of the dispute rests with the parties. SCCDR will consider the use of Conciliation more widely after reviewing the results of the pilot phase which is scheduled for implementation in the third quarter of 2018.

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