SYNOPSIS

Mediation and Expert Determination are some of the contemporary Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) methods used internationally and to a growing extent locally to resolve disputes including those in the Engineering and Construction Industry. In fact, some Engineering and Construction contracts contain express provisions making mediation as a mandatory pre-condition to arbitration. Lately, Expert Determination clauses are also being featured in contemporary Forms of Contract.

Mediation has been put on a firmer footing with the enactment of the Mediation Act 2012 (Act 949) and the implementation of the Chief Justice’s Practice Direction 2/2022. It is also used extensively by the courts in Court-Annexed Mediations as well as on an “ad hoc” basis for pre-action mediations.

Expert Determination on the other hand was introduced to this country by PAM for its latest suite of Building contracts. Recently, the Borneo International Centre of Arbitration and Mediation (BICAM) launched the BICAM Expert Determination Rules on 15 April 2025 and commenced with the empanelment of Experts for a wide-ranging spectrum of disputes including engineering and construction disputes.

In view of the above developments, it is imperative for every practitioner, especially the engineers, to be familiar with the workings of Mediation and Expert Determinations. Hence, this one-day course has been specially formulated with the above in mind and to serve as a comprehensive introduction to the nature and workings of these newly emerging methods of ADR.


BIODATA OF SPEAKER

Ir. Harbans Singh K.S. is a Professional and Chartered Engineer, Chartered Arbitrator, Mediator, and Adjudicator. He is a Council Member of the Borneo International Centre for Arbitration and Mediation (BICAM). Called to the Malayan Bar in 1995, he is at the moment however not in active practice as an Advocate and Solicitor. He commenced his career with the Public Works Department (JKR),Malaysia before joining an international German consultancy practice with whom he worked locally and then in Koblenz, Germany as a designer, resident engineer and contract administrator. Later, Ir. Harbans served with a local consultancy firm in various professional capacities and presently is heading HSH Consult Sdn. Bhd and HSKS Dispute Resolution Chambers. He is a regular contributor to “The Ingenieur”, “The Malayan Law Journal”, “The Law Review” and other publications and is the recipient of a number of awards. Ir. Harbans is also the author of a series of four books entitled ‘Harbans’ Engineering and Construction Contracts Management’, co-author of “Construction Law in Malaysia”, “Practice and Procedure of Mediation” and “The PAM Contract 2006”, contributor to ‘The Malaysian Standard Precedents and Forms (Vol.N)’ and is a regular speaker at courses/seminars and conferences both locally and internationally.