Description

A disconnect exists between how many in the arbitration community (including arbitrators themselves) and the legal community at large (in particular judges) view the nature of arbitration. The former look at arbitration merely as a purely private process, not being anybody’s concern other than that of the parties, their representatives and the arbitrators. Others take a more controversial view: arbitration has now become an important facet of the administration of justice. This talk explores the relative arguments on both sides, but ultimately advocates the view that, for better or worse, arbitration has become a part of the administration of justice, and with it, extremely difficult, practical challenges have emerged for practitioners and arbitrators alike.

PROGRAMME

4.30PM     Registration

5.00PM     Welcome Speech by Zachary Sharpe, Partner – Jones Day Singapore

5.05PM     Speech by Guest-of-Honour, The Honourable Justice Kannan Ramesh

5.10PM     Lecture by The Honourable Geoffrey Ma

6.10PM     Q&A Session moderated by Professor Tan Cheng Han

6.40PM     Dinner Reception

BIO OF THE HONOURABLE GEOFFREY MA

Geoffrey Ma is the former Chief Justice in Hong Kong, having retired in January 2021. He joined the Hong Kong Judiciary in 2001 as a judge of the Court of First Instance of the High Court, becoming a Justice of Appeal in 2002 and was appointed as the Chief Judge of the High Court in 2003 until his appointment in 2010 as Chief Justice. Prior to the Judiciary, he was in private practice as a barrister in Temple Chambers in Hong Kong (QC 1993, SC 1997). He also practiced in Singapore as an Advocate and Solicitor in David Chong & Co. Subsequent to his retirement from the Hong Kong Judiciary, he now practices as an arbitrator and mediator in Hong Kong (Temple Chambers), Singapore (David Chong Law Corporation) and London (Brick Court Chambers). He is on the SIAC Panel of Arbitrators, HKIAC Panel of Arbitrators and the HKIAC Panel of Mediators. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of Arbitration in Hong Kong: A Practical Guide (1st to 5th editions). He is an Honorary Bencher of Gray’s Inn and of the Middle Temple. He is an Honorary Professor in the University of Hong Kong, Honorary Chair and Professor of the Law School (University of Birmingham) and Honorary Professor in the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is a Member of the Advisory Board of the Commercial Law Centre of the University of Oxford. He is also a Patron of the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law.

BIO OF PROFESSOR TAN CHENG HAN (CHAIRPERSON)

Professor Tan Cheng Han, S.C. was Dean of the NUS law school from 2001 to 2011, Chairman of the NUS E W Barker Centre for Law and Business from 2012 to 2019, and Dean of the City University of Hong Kong School of Law from 2019 to 2022. He is presently the Chief Strategy Officer of NUS Law. His other current roles include being a Senior Consultant at Wong Partnership LLP, Chairman of Singapore Exchange Regulation Pte Ltd, President of the Asian Law Schools Association, and a member of the Singapore Business Federation’s Board of Trustees. He maintains an active practice as counsel and arbitrator and has received many arbitral appointments as sole, presiding and co-arbitrator.

Professor Tan has been active in public service. These include being Chairman of the Public Accountants Oversight Committee, the Media Literacy Council, NTUC First Campus and Caritas Singapore. He has also served as Deputy Chairman of Sport Singapore and the Singapore Exchange’s Listing Advisory Committee, as a member of the Securities Industry Council, the Corporate Finance Committee and the Advisory Council on the Impact of New Media on Society, and on the boards of the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore and the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority. Professor Tan has also sat as a member of the Military Court of Appeal and as a Specialist Judge.

Recent publications include: “The Metaverse beyond the internet” (2023) Law, Innovation and Technology, DOI: 10.1080/17579961.2023.2245677 (with Daniel Seng); “Vicarious Liability in the Law of Agency” [2022] 2 Journal of Business Law 164; “Implied Terms in Undisclosed Agency” (2021) 84 Modern Law Review 532; “Mixed Ownership Reform and Corporate Governance in China’s State-owned Enterprises” (2020) 53 Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law 1055 (with Wang Jiangyu); “Estoppel in the Law of Agency” (2020) 136 Law Quarterly Review 315; and a co-edited book, Intermediaries in Commercial Law (Hart, 2022) to which he contributed a chapter on “Agency, Artificial Intelligence and Algorithmic Agreements”.