SINGAPORE Law and Practice Contributed by: Foo Yuet Min, Kong Man Er, Shumin Lin and See Chern Yang, Drew & Napier LLC
At the trial, the opening statements are frequent- ly taken to be read, although the court some- times requests oral opening statements to be made, after which the parties will usually present the evidence for their cases. Generally, the first party to proceed is the claim- ant, unless the burden of proof in the case lies with the defendant. Witnesses (and their evi- dence) are admitted by conducting examina- tion-in-chief, during which the witnesses confirm their identities and that the evidence deposed to in their affidavits is accurate. After the comple- tion of the examination-in-chief, the opposing side’s advocate will proceed to cross-examine that witness. A witness who has been cross- examined may be re-examined by the advocate of the party who called the witness, but only on matters that were dealt with in cross-examina- tion. Leading questions may be asked only dur- ing cross-examination. Once the claimant’s witnesses have been exam- ined, the claimant may close their case. If there is more than one claimant, they will present their cases in the order in which they appear on the record. Upon conclusion of the claimant’s case, the defendant may elect to submit that there is no case to answer – ie, that the claimant has not established a sufficient case for the defendant to answer. If no such submission is made, the defendant will be called upon to present their case. Examination-in-chief, cross-examination and re-examination of the defendant’s witnesses will then take place. Once all the evidence has been adduced, the defendant will close their case. A judge does not typically interfere with the man- ner in which a party conducts their case; any
interference will only arise out of a necessity to ensure that the appropriate trial procedures and rules of evidence are complied with. At the end of the trial, the trial judge will either deliver judgment immediately or, as is usually the case, reserve judgment to be delivered at a future date. If the judgment is reserved, the trial judge will also usually give directions for the fil- ing of written closing submissions and written reply submissions. Directions for oral submis- sions are also sometimes given. 7.2 Case Management Hearings Case Conferences After the commencement of proceedings and before the trial, the court will usually direct the parties to attend a case management conference known as a “case conference” (CC), heard by a registrar. The first CC is usually scheduled eight weeks after the originating process is issued in a case where the defendant is to be served in Sin- gapore, or 12 weeks after the originating process is issued in a case where the originating process is to be served out of Singapore. The registrar will inform both parties of the date of the CC and case management frame- work. Complex or high-value cases identified in accordance with the State Courts Practice Directions 2021 will use the Specially Managed Civil List framework, which contains a more rig- orous pre-trial management process. There are also dedicated frameworks for certain types of claims, lower-value claims and general claims filed in the District Courts. At a CC, each party’s lawyers will usually update the registrar on the status of the proceedings and the court will take control of and set the timelines and give directions for the proceed- ings. At a stage closer to the trial, each party’s
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