The 11th Hong Kong Arbitration Week (24-28 October 2022) concluded successfully this Friday. DVC’s Winnie Tam SBS SC JP, José-Antonio Maurellet SC and Benny Lo spoke at various seminars in Arbitration Week and shared their insights on topical issues in international arbitration.
On Day 1, Winnie Tam SBS SC JP joined Mariel Dimsey (Secretary-General of HKIAC), Jamii Quoc (Head of Legal Animoca Brands), Wesley Pang (Partner at Eversheds Sutherland) and Frankie Tam (Of Counsel, Technology, Eversheds Sutherland) at a breakfast seminar titled “What Happens in the Sandbox, stays in the Sandbox: Navigating and managing disputes in the universe of digital currencies, the Metaverse and NFTs”. The seminar was hosted by Eversheds Sutherland.
On Day 2, Jose Maurellet SC spoke at Harneys’ 1st panel about encouraging diversity in the appointment of arbitrators, moderated by Ian Mann of Harneys. Other panellists included May Tai, (Managing Partner at Herbert Smith Freehills), Rory McAlpine (Partner at Skadden Arps) and Wenhao Han (Partner at Harneys Shanghai). Winnie Tam SBS SC JP together with Chiann Bao (Arbitrator at Arbitration Chambers), John Choong (Partner at Freshfields) and Matthew Townsend (Partner at Reed Smith) spoke at the 2nd panel moderated by Andrew Chin of Harneys on how the use of online and virtual platforms have been reshaping the landscape of international arbitration, and the benefits of using soft law instruments to make arbitration a preferred forum for dispute resolution.
In the afternoon, Winnie Tam SBS SC JP joined the ICC Arbitration/ICC Hong Kong’s seminar titled “Transforming International Arbitration – Diversity, Digital Technology and ICC Arbitration” with Justin D’Agostino, MH (CEO and Partner at Herbert Smith Freehills), Joe L.(Independent Arbitrator; former Deputy Secretary-General of the HKIAC), Edward Liu MH (Partner at Haiwen & Partners), and Xin Zhang (Counsel at ICCIAC).
Winnie also spoke at the panel discussion curated by Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP on “Impartiality and Independence of the Tribunal“. The other panellists included Frances E. Bivens, (Partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP), Jonathan Chang (Counsel at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP), Pedro Maciel (Partner at Lefosse) and Jie Wang (CIETAC Arbitrator and Former Director of International Case Department of CIETAC).
On Day 3, Benny Lo, a Member of ORFSA Sub-Committee, Law Reform Commission of Hong Kong, spoke at the ADR in Asia Conference on the exciting new development of outcome-related fee structures for arbitration (ORFSA) with distinguished panellists Kathryn Sanger (Co-Chair, ORFSA Sub-Committee; Partner at Herbert Smith Freehills), Briana Young (Vice Chair, HKIAC; Co-Chair, ORFSA Sub-Committee) and Emily Tillett (Vice President, Burford Capital). The session was moderated by Kim Rooney of Gilt Chambers.
