IT Law Series: Electronic Documents, Signatures and Evidence

Associate Professor Hannah Yee-Fen Lim is uniquely qualified with double degrees in Computer Science and Law with Honours from the University of Sydney, where she went on to complete a Master of Laws by Research with Honours under a Telstra Scholarship. With more than 30 years of interdisciplinary legal experience, she is an internationally recognised legal expert and scholar on all areas of technology law, including AI and ethics, Blockchain and DLTs, Fintech, Cryptoassets, NFTs, data protection and privacy, cybersecurity, and intellectual property law.

Hannah served on the Advisory Panel of the Law Commission of England and Wales by invitation and has been advising its work on Crypto-assets, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, NFTs and property law. She has also been appointed as a legal expert advising international bodies such as the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), the United Nations (UNCITRAL), UNIDROIT (International Institute for the Unification of Private Law), and the World Health Organization on areas such as AI, Fintech, crypto-assets, Blockchain, Smart Contracts and the digital economy since 2018.

Hannah has authored hundreds of academic papers and 6 scholarly books on law and technology published by internationally esteemed publishers such as Oxford University Press (OUP). She wrote one of the pioneering and seminal books on Internet law, Cyberspace Law, first published by OUP in 2002, and both the first and second editions have been highly cited and adopted, with the 2007 edition still being sold. Another groundbreaking book written by Hannah is one of the first legal books on AI covering Autonomous Vehicles and the Law: Technology, Algorithms and Ethics published in 2018, which has also been highly cited and adopted.

She is also the author of Data Protection in the Practical Context: Strategies and Techniques published by Academy Publishing in 2017, which is a leading work on, not just Singapore law, but also on the EU's General Data Protection Directive (GDPR).

Hannah’s research has been cited with approval by senior judiciary, most notably by the High Court of Australia and the Singapore Court of Appeal.

Hannah has been awarded numerous large external grants throughout her career, including two Singapore National Research Foundation (NRF) grants worth more than SGD$1.1 million as Principal Investigator (PI) on legal issues pertaining to AI and data governance. She is currently PI or Co-PI in grants totalling more than SGD$58 million from NRF dealing with legal and ethical issues concerning AI and data governance. Hannah won the Research Excellence Award in 2012, 2014, 2018 and 2023 at NTU.

Hannah is a sought-after speaker and has presented at over 125 international meetings, including at Stanford University and Oxford University. She is also a regular contributor to the news media and has been interviewed live by the likes of BBC TV News and CNA in Singapore and print media The Straits Times and The Business Times.

She is an Advocate and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore.

Shu Li is a Senior Software Engineer at GovTech. He is currently the product owner of Sign with Singpass, leading the development of the next version of the Singpass digital signature protocol.

Previously, he was the tech lead at GovTech's Open Government Products division, where he worked on the Signify and FormSG products. Shu Li holds a Master of Computing degree from the National University of Singapore.

Justice Lee Seiu Kin retired as Judge of the Supreme Court of Singapore in January 2024. He is a Senior Judge and continues, on a part-time basis, to hear cases in the High Court of Singapore. He is now a full-time arbitrator and mediator.

Justice Lee began his career in 1977 as a civil engineer in the Public Works Department (PWD), Singapore. He was registered as a Professional Engineer in 1983. After obtaining his legal qualifications in 1987, he joined the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) as Deputy Public Prosecutor and State Counsel, then Senior State Counsel. In 1991, he was called to the Singapore Bar. He served as Judicial Commissioner from 1997 to 2002 and was appointed Solicitor-General from 2002 to 2006. He was appointed Senior Counsel in 2003. He was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court of Singapore in April 2006. In his 18 years on the Bench, Justice Lee dealt with virtually the entire gamut of cases filed in the High Court with a focus on building & construction, complex litigation, intellectual property, and information technology cases. From 2006 to 2022, Justice Lee was a member of the Legal Services Commission.

In 1988, Justice Lee joined the AGC computerisation committee, marking the start of more than three decades of involvement in the technology transformation of the legal sector in Singapore.

He was appointed a director of the Computer Information Systems Division in 1989, which was responsible for the digitalisation of files and research material as well as transforming the AGC from a paper-based to an IT-based organisation.  He was involved in the conceptualisation, and then took charge of the development, of LawNet, which had its roots as a portal providing digital access to Singapore Statutes, electronic application for legal requisitions for property conveyancing, and data in the then Registry of Companies.

When the Singapore Academy of Law took over the management of LawNet in 1995, Justice Lee continued to steer its development - initially as project manager, and later as chair of LawNet Management Committee. LawNet very soon became the primary source of electronic legal research for the local legal sector, serving as a one-stop portal providing a comprehensive suite of information and transactional solutions for Singapore and the global legal community. Under his stewardship, the LawNet Management Committee (renamed Legal Technology Cluster Committee in 2015) drove the sector's IT transformation and published the Legal Technology Vision in 2017. This five-year roadmap aimed to promote the use of technology to enhance operations in Singapore's legal sector, launching various national initiatives that included the Future Law Innovation Programme in 2018. This programme brought together lawyers, technopreneurs, investors, academics, and regulators to transform the delivery of legal services.

Justice Lee also chaired the review committee on the Electronic Filing System (EFS), launched in 2000, which was Singapore's first-generation digital court system. He then led the committee in the Supreme Court to develop the next generation Electronic Litigation System (eLit), which is a case-centric e-document system to replace the EFS. eLit was launched in 2013 and continues to be used in the Singapore judiciary.

Justice Lee also took a special interest in developing procedures and practices for online trials, becoming the first judge in the High Court to conduct a fully online trial in July 2020 amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2017, mainly for his contributions to the IT transformation of the courts and the legal sector, Justice Lee was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal by President Halimah Yacob. In 2022, the Singapore Computer Society conferred on him the Digital Achievers Award in recognition of his contributions to the development of IT in the legal sector.

Justice Lee has presided over a number of ground-breaking cases in disputes involving information technology, an area that he has been intimately involved in throughout his legal career. He participated in the development of the case law in Singapore on electronic discovery and has delivered judgments in the new areas of crypto-currency and NFTs. The following are the judgments of Justice Lee in the IT space:

·          National Skin Centre (Singapore) Pte Ltd v Eutech Cybernetics Pte Ltd [2001] 3 SLR(R) 801

·          Sanae Achar v Sci-Gen Ltd [2011] 3 SLR 967

·          Breezeway Overseas Ltd and another v UBS AG [2012] 4 SLR 1035

·          CLM v CLN [2022] 5 SLR 273

·          Janesh v Unknown person (“Chefpierre”) [2022] SGHC 264

·          Razer v Capgemini [2022] SGHC 310

·          Rio Christofle v Tan Chun Chuen Malcolm [2023] SGHC 66

Mr Paul McClelland specialises in intellectual property law and commercial dispute resolution. Before joining IPOS International Pte Ltd, Paul was sole corporate counsel for a well-known Singaporean brand, where he was responsible for a broad range of commercial matters, including worldwide trademark registrations and oppositions, management of external counsel, contract review, and training.

He has experience working in private practice for both Singapore and Scottish law firms. His practice focused on intellectual property and commercial arbitration.

He also taught commercial law, intellectual property and real estate law at a Scottish university.