One of my favourite things about a career in arbitration is the opportunity to open the doors to arbitration for new generations of practitioners. 🚪

With thanks to Olga Boltenko for the invitation, I guest-lectured at the University of HK LLM in ADR programme last week covering a comparative review of arbitration as a dispute resolution method. 👩‍🏫

⚖️ We discussed the dispute resolution spectrum - from dispute resolution processes which give greater control to the parties to processes which involve binding third-party decisions.

📝 We discussed how important design choice is in drafting a dispute resolution clause and the art of balancing simplicity with flexibility to fit specific circumstances.

💡 We discussed different forms of "appropriate" dispute resolution including expert determination, mini trials, mock arbitrations, neutral evaluation, baseball or "final offer" arbitration, decentralised justice systems and blockchain arbitration.

🌎 We compared domestic and international arbitrations, as well as investment treaty and commercial arbitrations.

🤝 It was also fantastic to hear from Joon-Nie Lau, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Singapore International Mediation Centre, about developments in mediation, including in relation to the Singapore Convention.

🙌 Thank you very much to the students who engaged so actively! 

The highlight of my “Typhoon Day’ yesterday: participating in an arbitration clause mock negotiation organised by the CIETAC Hong Kong Arbitration Center as part of China Arbitration Week!

⭐️Participants in the negotiation were:

🔹John Crook (Walkers)

🔹Olga Boltenko (Fangda)

🔹Andrew Chin (Gallant)

🔹Edward M Taylor (Shearman & Sterling)

🔹Elizabeth Chan (陳曉彤) (although not sure I fall into the “great” category)

💡Topics we discussed included:

⭐️Do stipulating deadlines in an arbitration (e.g., for rendering an award) or committing to short timeframes actually reduce costs? Or might it introduce unnecessary complexity and cause the parties to rush when taking more time might reduce costs?

⭐️Being able to choose your arbitrator is one of the most popular features of arbitration. Would requiring that one of the arbitrators have expertise in crypto be too prescriptive?

⭐️Do multi-tiered clauses help or delay an arbitration? What are the appropriate deadlines to set for a negotiation, mediation and arbitration - and in what order?

⭐️The choice of substantive law. It is important to consider the implications of the choice of law. For example, in our workshop, applying one law would raise arbitrability and enforcement issues because crypto transactions were banned in that jurisdiction. While the other preferred option for governing law recognised the validity of crypto transactions, crypto assets are categorised differently under different laws and regulations. As a result, the different categorisation may lead to uncertainty and potentially significant differences in valuation.

⭐️ Reasons for choosing Hong Kong as the seat: a robust procedural framework for arbitration and a thriving legal community with relevant legal and linguistic expertise.

⭐️ Reasons to choose CIETAC HK. Check out their impressive statistics for 2022:

- 4000+ new cases accepted

- Parties from 69 countries & regions

- 840 cases involving multiple parties

- 822 cases involving multiple contracts

- 1 case involving 596 contracts!

- 5600+ arbitrator appointments

- 4300 + hearings

Thank you very much to CIETAC HK for the invitation to speak and to Brad Wang, Jintao Ou and Chengyuan Zhang for their organisation.

We had 500+ attendees, which is fantastic!

*****

周六的“台风日”重头戏：参加了由中国国际经济贸易仲裁委员会香港仲裁中心组织的“仲裁条款模拟谈判”，这是“中国仲裁周”的一个重要活动！

⭐参与谈判的有：

🔹John Crook (Walkers)

🔹Olga Boltenko (Fangda)

🔹Andrew Chin (Gallant)

🔹Edward M Taylor (Shearman & Sterling)

🔹Elizabeth Chan (陳曉彤)

💡我们讨论的话题包括：

⭐在仲裁规定里设定最后期限（例如，做出判决）或承诺较短时间内完成仲裁程序会降低成本吗？或者它是否会引入不必要的复杂性，并导致当事人再花更多的时间处理任务，或者导致当事人为了降低成本而匆忙地敷衍了事？

⭐能够选择仲裁员是仲裁最受欢迎的特点之一。但是要求其中一名仲裁员具有加密专业知识是否过于教条化？

⭐多层次条款有助于还是延迟仲裁？为谈判、调解和仲裁设定适当的截止日期，并按何种顺序进行？

⭐实体法的选择。考虑法律选择的影响很重要。例如，在我们的研讨会中，适用一种法律会引发可仲裁性和执行问题，因为该司法管辖区禁止加密交易。而另一种首选的管辖法则承认加密交易的有效性，但不同的法律和法规下，加密资产的分类不同。因此，不同的分类导致不确定性和潜在的估值差异。

⭐选择香港作为仲裁地的原因：一个健全的仲裁程序框架和一个拥有相关法律和语言专业知识的繁荣法律社区。

⭐选择CIETAC HK的原因。查看他们2022年的令人印象深刻的统计数据：

• 接受的新案件超过4000起

• 来自69个国家和地区的当事人

• 涉及多方的案件840起

• 涉及多份合同的案件822起

• 1起案件涉及596份合同！

• 5600+次仲裁员任命

• 4300+次的听证会的举办

非常感谢CIETAC HK的邀请，并感谢Brad Wang、Jintao Ou和Chengyuan Zhang的组织。

我们有500多名的与会者参与，这真是令人兴奋的数字！

𝐇𝐊 𝐀𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐅𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬: As part of China Arbitration Week, the CIETAC Hong Kong Arbitration Center is hosting a negotiation workshop on a dispute resolution clause relating to a proposed blockchain transaction on Saturday, 2 September 2023.

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞:

✅It will be a fun format: a negotiation rather than a panel.

✅Great speakers:

🔹John Crook (Walkers)

🔹Olga Boltenko (Fangda)

🔹Andrew Chin (Gallant)

🔹Edward M Taylor (Shearman & Sterling)

🔹Brad Wang (CIETAC HK)

🔹Horace Cheung Kwok-Kwan (Deputy Secretary for Justice of the HKSAR Government)

🔹Elizabeth Chan (陳曉彤) (although not sure I fall into the “great” category)

✅Networking opportunity with those working/having an interest in the Greater Bay Area

✅The issues covered will be very interesting, including: 

🔹Seat of the arbitration

🔹Substantive law 

🔹Multi-tiered dispute resolution

🔹Emergency arbitration

✅The case will involve a proposed Bitcoin transaction, which raises all kinds of interesting nuances.

✅Spend your Saturday morning with me!

𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐮𝐩 𝐧𝐨𝐰:

📅Saturday, 2 September 2023

🕧10:00-12:00 HKT 

🏃In-person only

📍Function Hall, 1/F, Main Wing, Justice Place, 18 Lower Albert Road, Central, Hong Kong

🔗RSVP: https://lnkd.in/gKnq6uR7  

*****

重要活动通知：作为中国仲裁周的一部分，CIETAC HONG KONG 将于2023 年 9 月 2 日-周六举办一场讨论区块链交易争议解决条款的谈判研讨会。 

本次会议的特色: 

✅将采取一种新颖有趣的形式——谈判，而非传统的小组讨论。 

✅杰出的嘉宾：  

🔹John Crook (Walkers) 

🔹Olga Boltenko (Fangda) 

🔹Andrew Chin (Gallant) 

🔹Edward M Taylor (Shearman & Sterling) 

🔹Brad Wang (CIETAC HK) 

🔹Horace Cheung Kwok-Kwan (Deputy Secretary for Justice of the HKSAR Government)

🔹Elizabeth Chan (陳曉彤)

申请参加这次会议你的收获是：

✅与在大湾区工作/感兴趣的人建立联系的机会，扩展你的人脉。

✅更深入的了解和仲裁有关的知识： 

🔹仲裁地 

🔹实体法 

🔹多层次争议解决 

🔹紧急仲裁 

✅特色之一是：此案将涉及拟议的比特币交易，这会引发各种有趣的讨论。 

✅和我一起度过周六早上吧！ 

欢迎大家积极参与和注册报名

📅2023 年 9 月 2 日星期六 

🕧10:00-12:00 香港时间 

🏃线下活动（仅限面对面） 

📍香港中环下亚厘毕道18号律政中心主翼一楼多功能厅 

🔗回复：https://lnkd.in/gKnq6uR7 

🌏 Back in Beijing after four years, and what an amazing experience it's been! 🌏

I had the privilege of participating in the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) Beijing Academy on 10-11 May.

The Academy is a rigorous, hands-on, in-person course that dives deep into improving written advocacy through panel discussions and workshops.

From drafting notices of arbitration to emailing prospective arbitrators, drafting procedural requests, and witness outlines, it was a comprehensive learning experience.

It was an absolute pleasure to facilitate several workshops on the first day of the conference alongside the fantastic Arthur Dong.

Sharing our insights and learning from the participants was an enriching experience.

Moreover, I had the fantastic opportunity to connect with members of the Chinese arbitration community.

Overall, the SIAC Beijing Academy was both fun and informative. It's always great to see the global arbitration community come together to share knowledge and experience.

Thank you very much to Cunyuan Zhang for the invitation to participate in this year's Academy!

I'm excited about facilitating at the Singapore International Arbitration Academy in Beijing on 10 May!

Last time I was in Beijing for two weeks, I enjoy five Peking duck meals, with each meal more delicious than the last.

On a more serious note, please join us for what will be a fantastic academy on "A Typical Arbitration Proceeding: Written Advocacy | 10 - 11 May 2023".

I am lucky enough to be a facilitator alongside some of the most thoughtful and creative thinkers in the arbitration world. (Check out the list of faculty!)

Thank you very much to Cunyuan Zhang for the invitation.

More details, including registration, are below.

***********************

SIAC Beijing Academy – A Typical Arbitration Proceeding: Written Advocacy | 10 - 11 May 2023

Join us as participants of this intensive two-day course will be provided with the fact scenario of a hypothetical case and will be guided through the stages of a typical arbitration proceeding, as they craft a case theory, draft the Notice of Arbitration, Response to the Notice of Arbitration, select and interview their arbitrators, prepare for their first Preliminary Meeting and Mock Application for Consolidation, prepare a request to produce documents, responses to their opposing counsel's request to produce, as well as draft the outline of a witness statement.

Register here now to secure a spot as spaces are limited:

https://lnkd.in/gNQwmybR