Arbitration is first and foremost a product of the parties’ consent and an arbitration clause is the instrument through which the parties simultaneously divest domestic courts of the jurisdiction to decide the parties’ dispute and instead authorize an arbitral tribunal to take up the task. In this respect, the drafting of an arbitration clause is the key determinant of the scope of an arbitral tribunal’s jurisdiction and powers.
The IBA’s guidelines helps drafters of arbitration clauses to identify and avoid certain pitfalls by providing both a foundational framework of general principles as well as specific guidance on selected issues such as the drafting of multi-party or multi-contract arbitration clauses. The speakers will take participants through the guidelines and share examples of how certain principles contained therein manifest during the conduct and practice of arbitration proceedings.
The first session of this webinar series will address the IBA Guidelines for Drafting International Arbitration Clauses.
Swee Yen Koh WongPartnership, Singapore; Vice Chair, IBA Arbitration Committee
Ms. Helen Shi is a partner of Fangda Partners based in the Beijing office. She also serves as an ICC Court Member. Her practice focuses on dispute resolution, including international commercial arbitration and litigation. Recognized by Chambers & Partners as “an icon of arbitration”, Ms. Shi has handled more than 100 cases, representing many multinational companies and large domestic enterprises in a breadth of disputes, including equity acquisitions, oil and gas projects, hotel management, aircraft leasing, and construction disputes in litigation before Chinese courts and in arbitration cases before the ICC, the AAA, SIAC, HKIAC, CIETAC and ad hoc arbitrations under UNCITRAL rules.
She has heard over 50 cases (including CIETAC and ICC cases) as arbitrator. She has also provided Chinese legal opinions and testified as an expert in a number of China-related overseas court cases and arbitrations, including an arbitration conducted before HKIAC and an ad hoc tribunal in London, and court proceedings in Hong Kong and Canada. She is qualified in China and the State of New York.
Chambers & Partners remarks: “Helen is widely considered as one of the leading practitioners in the arbitration arena. She is especially well known for handling SIAC and HKIAC cases and is regularly instructed by entities from the energy, media and investment sectors. She receives praise from many sources, one of whom remarks: ‘She is a client-oriented person and we have had good experience working with her. In terms of professional knowledge and ability to handle our needs, she is superb.’”
Who’s Who Legal says: “Helen Shi is an acclaimed lawyer, recommended for her strong experience as both counsel and arbitrator in international commercial disputes.”
Sae Youn Kim
Sae Youn Kim is a senior partner in Kim & Chang’s International Arbitration & Cross-Border Litigation Practice. Ms. Kim practices primarily in the areas of international litigation and arbitration with an emphasis on commercial and international law.
Before joining Kim & Chang, she served as a judge at various Korean district courts, practiced as a partner in two major Korean law firms, and led the international dispute resolution practice in one of them. Ms. Kim is licensed to practice in Korea and New York. She is a Commissioner of the Korea Trade Commission, an officer of Arbitration Committee of the International Bar Association, a vice chair of the Dispute Resolution and Arbitration Committee of the Inter Pacific Bar Association, and an alternate member of the ICC Court. She is regularly selected as a leading lawyer by publications such as Chambers Global, Who’s Who Legal, Legal 500, and Asialaw.
Sheila Ahuja
Sheila Ahuja is a Partner in Allen & Overy's Global Arbitration group based in Singapore. She advises on a wide range of arbitration matters and arbitration related court proceedings, involving jurisdictions such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Myanmar, Malaysia, Japan and in particular India. Sheila has particular experience of energy and infrastructure disputes, disputes arising from joint ventures and distributorship arrangements, and disputes relating to complex financial products. She represents clients in both commercial arbitrations and investor-State arbitrations. Amongst other positions, Sheila is Co-Chair of the Asia Pacific Arbitration Group Sub-Committee of the IBA, Co-Chair of the Steering Committee of the Young MCIA and a member of the Proceedings Committee of the HKIAC. She speaks English, Hindi, Sindhi, Cantonese and Mandarin.
Swee Yen Koh
Ms Koh Swee Yen is a partner in the commercial and corporate disputes, and international arbitration practices at WongPartnership LLP.
Ms Koh is the vice chair of the IBA Arbitration Committee. She is also the vice-chair of the IPBA Dispute Resolution and Arbitration Committee, and a member of the editorial board of the ICC Dispute Resolution Bulletin and the ICCA-ASIL Task Force on Damages.
Ms Koh is recommended as a leading practitioner in various legal publications, including The Legal 500, Chambers Global and Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific. Most recently, she has been listed as one of the world’s leading arbitration practitioners in Who’s Who Legal: Arbitration 2020 and as a recognised expert in Commercial Arbitration in Experts Guides 2019: The World’s Finest Lawyers Chosen By Their Peers. Described as being "in a league of her own", "extremely talented" and "incredibly hard-working and persistent" with a "very deep understanding of the law" by Chambers Global, sources also praise her for a "keen sense of strategy" and "great ability to quickly grasp her clients' perspective and understand their commercial issues". The Legal 500 says that Swee Yen is the "go-to disputes lawyer in Singapore", with an "ability to zone right in on the issues with precision and confidence", and is "brilliant, decisive and fearless."