Preparing the Lawyer of the Future: Lok Vi Ming SC

Mr Lok Vi Ming SC, Managing Director of LVM Law Chambers LLC and Deputy Chairman of SIMC, suggests that with the increasing complexity of cases, mediation has become increasingly popular. Disputants know they don’t have to go to court for a result - they can find finality and satisfaction in a successful negotiated settlement facilitated by a neutral, a mediator.

Watch the full interview or read the interview transcript below. We thank Vi Ming for sharing his views.

My name is Lok Vi Ming. I’m a lawyer in private practice. And I am presently now the Managing Director of LVM Law Chambers practice which I started about four years ago. I do quite a fair bit of international arbitration, regional arbitration disputes in court, and of late, quite a lot of mediation as well.

Q: What are your thoughts on mediation and the recent trends?

Mediation is really for parties and for lawyers, who are serious about finding a resolution to the problems, finding a way to move forward and really closing the dispute behind them.

We have seen in the last couple of years, especially with the increasing complexity of litigation, that to resolve a case needs a lot of skill sets on the part of the lawyers, not just good lawyering skills, not just really hard work and preparation for the hearing. But really also an understanding of what the case involves; an understanding of what it is the clients really want, and how to reach the point where clients can find a good closure to the case. Sometimes parties are forced to fight, but it’s not always the case. If parties are prepared to consider mediation together with other dispute resolution platforms – neutral evaluation, adjudication, negotiation – can all come together to bring parties to a point of settlement.

Q: What would you say to someone who is still unsure about using mediation for their dispute?

Now I can tell you that in the course of my practice, I haven’t met a client who doesn’t want to win. And I haven’t met a client who doesn’t want to resolve his problems. And the misconception a lot of lawyers have is that their clients just want to fight, and their clients want to win. And the only way to win is to win in court. Now, litigation and mediation are not mutually exclusive. And we have known that over the years and last few years, at least with the increasing complexity of litigation cases, that litigation can encompass negotiation, can encompass Neutral Evaluation on specific points, and certainly can and must encompass mediation at some point. And we are seeing now clients coming up to us, asking us about mediation even before the courts have proposed mediation. And why is that? Why is that so? Because mediation is developing into a trend, where parties know that litigants or parties to a litigation need not find finality in litigation, and they can find the result in a successfully negotiated settlement between themselves under the guidance of a neutral, trained mediator. And that is a trend I see developing.

And for lawyers who haven’t sort of warmed up to that trend, or who are not aware of that trend. My advice is get on to this bandwagon. Know this train is in town, but it may leave you and may leave town without you and that’s what you should avoid.