This paper presents a preliminary study on the system reliability for the geotechnical design of braced excavations in soft clays. In this system reliability geotechnical analysis, both ultimate limit state (ULS) and serviceability limit state (SLS) are considered. Herein, the ULS failure refers to the basal heave failure, while the SLS failure refers to failures sue to excessive ground-surface settlement and excessive wall deflection. The major uncertain soil parameters are identified and modelled as multivariate normal and lognormal distribution in Monte Carlo simulations. This procedure for the system reliability-based geotechnical design of braced excavations in soft clays is demonstrated through a hypothetical case. Key failure mode affecting system reliability in various case scenarios is discussed. In addition to uncertainty in soil parameters, the model bias factors are also considered to quantify the uncertainty in system reliability analysis.