A new campaign to market the UK as the jurisdiction of choice for commercial dispute resolution is aimed at Singapore - one of the major centres for arbitration.

Thousands of brochures are being sent to chambers of commerce and business venues in the country under the headline ‘Legal services are GREAT’.

The campaign will be opened in SIngapore today by Lord Keen of Elie QC, advocate general for Scotland and minister of justice spokesperson for the Lords. Justice secretary David Lidington is also due to speak next month.

The drive, which has the backing of ministers, judges and the legal profession at large, follows a similar campaign last year at the International Bar Association's annual conference in Washington, DC. 

Keen said: 'Our message is simple - the UK is, and will continue to be, one of the pre-eminent legal centres in the world. Today English law underpins more than a quarter of the world’s jurisdictions, and our law firms, courts and exceptional judges are held in the highest esteem right across the globe.  

'As one of our greatest exports, we want to ensure our legal services sector remains at the very heart of our future as a global, outward-looking, free-trading Britain.'

 Keen will travel from Singapore to Sydney where he is set to promote the campaign at the International Bar Association conference.

More than 200 foreign law firms from around 40 jurisdictions operate in the UK. In the 2015 International Arbitration Survey, London was the preferred seat of arbitration for 47 per cent of respondents and English law was the most frequently chosen governing law by a significant margin, selected by four in ten.

The move follows the launch of the second phase of the Law Society's 'Global Legal Centre' campaign.