Research Forum: The Expanded Scope of Dispute Resolution in Civil Justice
This research forum is a follow-up to a 2018 research event supported by the SMU Centre for Commercial Law in Asia (CCLA) which culminated in a Civil Justice Quarterly special issue. Titled Expanding the Scope of Dispute Resolution and Access to Justice: The Use of Mediation in the Courts, this event explored access-to-justice issues arising from the courts’ expanded role in providing and encouraging the use of mediation in common law countries. Judge of Appeal Belinda Ang was the keynote speaker and other speakers included both academics and judges.
Within almost a decade, the scope of dispute resolution for managing commercial disputes has rapidly broadened. It thus seems timely to evaluate the access-to-justice implications arising from the expanded scope of dispute resolution in civil justice systems. This research forum, made possible by the Yong Pung How Fellowship and supported by CCLA, brings together key to discuss these salient issues. A few trends in civil justice will be examined:
(a) The first…
Fee(s): By Invitation only. Contact: ccla@smu.edu.sg. Speaker Details: 1) Professor Lola Ojelabi (RMIT University)
2) Associate Professor Masood Ahmed (University of Leicester)
3) Associate Professor Dorcas Quek Anderson (Singapore Management University)
4) Professor Chen Siyuan (Singapore Management University)
5) Professor Andrew Higgins (University of Oxford)
6) Professor Rachael Mulheron (Queen Mary University of London)
7) Assistant Professor Aaron Yoong (Singapore Management University)
8) Chong Kai Sheng (Siraj Omar LLC)
9) Jordan Chia (SG Courts). RSVP: By Invitation only. Type: Seminars & Workshops. Subject: Law. Audience: SMU Faculty & Staff. Current Student. Alumni.
Wednesday, April 22, 2026, 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM.
Level 4 Function Lounge
Singapore Management University
Yong Pung How School of Law
55 Armenian Street
Singapore 179943.
Canada-Asia Artic Dialogue
Fee(s): By Invitation Only. Contact: ccla@smu.edu.sg. RSVP: By Invitation Only. Type: Seminars & Workshops. Subject: Law. Audience: SMU Faculty & Staff.
Monday, April 27, 2026, 9:00 AM – Tuesday, April 28, 2026, 1:00 PM.
Meeting Room 5.01, Level 5
Singapore Management University
Yong Pung How School of Law
55 Armenian Street
Singapore 179943.
STARI Lunchtime Seminar - Can VAT Help Address Inequalities?
Everyone wants fair taxation, but what do we mean by it? What impact can taxation have on inequalities? To what extent should the tax system be used to redress them? And do we (truly) want it to do so? This paper present a novel approach to addressing VAT regressivity, away from exemptions and reduced rates, by proposing the adoption of a progressive VAT: a single-rate, broad-base, VAT, whereby tax paid on consumption is re-paid to lower income households in real-time, at the moment of purchase. Such a system can effectively eliminate regressivity, while minimizing the political economy, cash-flow, and welfare stigma obstacles that are often associated with standard welfare transfers used in modern VAT systems. It would also have other significant advantages, particularly in terms of compliance incentives.
Fee(s): Fee: SGD54.50 per pax incl. 9% GST. Contact: ccla@smu.edu.sg. Speaker Details: Professor Rita de la Feria
Chair in Tax Law, School of LProfessor Rita de la Feria aw
University of Leeds
Rita de la Feria is Professor of Tax Law at the University of Leeds, and a Visiting Professor of Law at Oxford University. She was appointed Tax Reform Advisor to the Government of Timor-Leste in 2026, and she is a member of the Advisory Panel of the UK’s Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) since 2023.
Her research focus primarily on tax law and policy, and she has published widely in that… RSVP: . Type: Seminars & Workshops. Subject: Law. Accounting. Audience: SMU Faculty & Staff. Current Student. Public. Academic Community. Professionals.
Tuesday, May 5, 2026, 12:15 PM – 1:45 PM.
Meeting Room 5.04, Level 5
Singapore Management University
Yong Pung How School of Law
55 Armenian Street
Singapore 179943.
For more info visit law.smu.edu.sg. 6th Asia-Pacific Private Law Conference
Fee(s): By Invitation Only. Contact: ccla@smu.edu.sg. RSVP: By Invitation Only. Type: Seminars & Workshops. Subject: Law. Audience: SMU Faculty & Staff.
Wednesday, May 6, 2026, 9:00 AM – Thursday, May 7, 2026, 1:00 PM.
Learning Labs 3 & 4
Singapore Management University
Kwa Geok Choo Law Library
55 Armenian Street
Singapore 179943.
Yong Pung How Professorship of Law Lecture: Corporate National Identity: What Lawyers Are Missing
Who determines the national identity of a corporation, and on what basis? The standard legal tests — incorporation, real seat, corporate control through equity ownership — have long provided a working answer. That answer is no longer sufficient. Corporate national identity has become a site of intense contestation and a first-order governance issue for boards, states, and markets — a development with profound practical and scholarly consequences.
The stakes are especially high in Singapore, which has become the preferred redomiciliation destination for major Chinese firms seeking to mitigate geopolitical exposure. For lawyers, business leaders, and policymakers, understanding corporate national identity through the legal facet alone now produces material blind spots. This lecture introduces a framework that exposes what the traditional legal lens misses. The implications reach across cross-border M&A, corporate governance, and the capacity of corporate law to absorb the geopolitical pressures now reshaping i…
Fee(s): Complimentary. Contact: ccla@smu.edu.sg. Speaker Details: Professor Dan W. Puchniak, Yong Pung How Professor of Law, Singapore Management University
Director, Centre for Commercial Law in Asia, Singapore Management University
European Corporate Governance Institute; Co-Editor, Independent Directors in Asia (Cambridge University Press)
Dr. Dan W. Puchniak is the Yong Pung How Professor at the Yong Pung How School of Law (SMU) and a Research Member of the European Corporate Governance Institute. He is a leading authority on the law concerning independent… RSVP:
Seats are limited. Registration closes 8 May 2026 or when the capacity limit is reached, whichever is earlier. Type: Seminars & Workshops. Subject: Law. Audience: SMU Faculty & Staff. Current Student. Alumni. Academic Community. Professionals. Public.
Thursday, May 21, 2026, 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM.
Level 4 Function Lounge
Singapore Management University
Yong Pung How School of Law
55 Armenian Street
Singapore 179943.
For more info visit site.smu.edu.sg.