Excusable or not? Consequences on contract performance in international arbitration

Darius Khambata SC

Darius J. Khambata, Senior Counsel, holds an LL.M. from the Harvard Law School and practices before the Supreme Court of India, the Bombay High Court and a number of other High Courts and Tribunals across India.

He has held two distinguished public law offices, as Advocate General for Maharashtra from 2012 to 2014, and before that, as Additional Solicitor General of India for three years. On his term as Advocate General coming to an end the Cabinet of the newly elected Government of Maharashtra recorded its “highest appreciation of the meritorious and distinguished service” rendered by him, a signal honour.

Mr Khambata has a large and varied practice and has appeared in numerous significant constitutional, corporate and commercial matters and domestic and international commercial arbitrations.

In 2014 he was conferred with the ‘Arya Chanakya Puraskar’ award for law, in 2017 he was conferred with the ‘Senior Counsel of the Year” award by Legal Era and in 2019 with the award “Living Legend of Law” by the Bar Association of India. He is currently a member of SEBI’s Takeover Panel. Previously, he was a member of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Committee to recommend new insider trading regulations. He was part of the Law Commission of India’s Committee that in 2014-2015 recommended substantial amendments to the Arbitration & Conciliation Act 1996.

Mr. Khambata has been a Vice-President of the London Court of International Arbitration and is currently a member of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre’s Court. He also sits on the Advisory Council to the Maharashtra National Law University, Mumbai. He is a member of One Essex Court, London and also has his own chambers in Mumbai.

Ariel Ye

Ariel Ye has more than 30 years of experiences in cross border commercial dispute resolution. As a senior partner of King & Wood Mallesons’ Arbitration and Dispute Resolution Practice Group. Ms. Ye has long been recognized as a leading expert in PRC-related dispute resolution in the Asia Pacific region.

Ms. Ye focuses on international arbitration and cross-border dispute resolution.

She is one of the few most respected Chinese lawyers in the field of international arbitration. Currently Ms. Ye is a member of the Court of Arbitration of SIAC and chair of the One Belt One Road Subcommittee of IBA under Asia Pacific Forum.

Ms. Ye is also an arbitrator listed in the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), SIAC, HKIAC and other arbitration institutions.

Gaetan Verhoosel

Gaetan is a co-founding partner of Three Crowns LLP, an international arbitration specialist firm. He has practiced international commercial and investment arbitration for the past 20 years, both as advocate and arbitrator. He presently serves as the Senior Co-Chair of the IBA Arbitration Committee and teaches at King's College School of Law in London. He previously served as a legal advisor in the Legal Affairs Division of the WTO.

Kap-You (Kevin) Kim

Kap-You (Kevin) Kim is a senior partner at Peter & Kim in Seoul. He was previously a senior partner at Bae, Kim & Lee LLC, where he worked for the past three decades in various roles, including as the co-founder and head of the International Arbitration Practice and the head of the Domestic and International Disputes Group.

Over the past 30 years, Kevin has acted as counsel, presiding arbitrator, coarbitrator or sole arbitrator in more than 300 cases of international arbitrations under various arbitration rules. Presently, he is involved in several investment and commercial arbitrations.

Among other positions that he holds, Kevin is presently Vice President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, Advisory Board Member of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) and Chairman of the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board’s (KCAB) International Arbitration Committee.

In the past, Kevin has served as Secretary General of ICCA (2010–2014), member of the LCIA Court (2007–2012) and Vice Chair of the IBA Arbitration Committee (2008–2010).

Koh Swee Yen

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." Clients applaud Swee Yen as someone who "always brings her A-game to everything she does and someone you want in your corner in a life or death situation”.

Matthew Gearing QC

Matthew Gearing QC is a partner in Allen & Overy’s Global Arbitration group. He is widely regarded as a leading arbitration practitioner; in particular he was appointed Queen's Counsel (England & Wales) in February 2014.

Matthew has acted in a large number of complex and high profile arbitrations around the world, both commercial arbitrations and investment treaty arbitrations. His experience includes arbitrations under the ICC, UNCITRAL, SIAC, HKIAC, KLRCA, SCC, LCIA and ICSID Rules. The subject matter of the disputes has related to joint venture agreements, manufacturing and high technology sectors, disputes relating to complex financial products, and a wide range of disputes in the energy and resources sector.

As well as being a Queen’s Counsel (England & Wales), Matthew is a Solicitor-Advocate qualified in Hong Kong. He routinely appears as advocate in his cases. He has also sat as arbitrator in a wide range of matters, as sole and party appointed arbitrator and as Chair.

Matthew was Chairperson of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre from 2017 to 2020. In addition, he is a past Co-Chair of the LCIA Young International Arbitration Group. He is on the HKIAC, SIAC and KLRCA panel of arbitrators. He is also on Prime Finance’s panel of Dispute Resolution experts.

Matthew is a joint editor of "Russell on Arbitration" (23rd and 24th Editions) a leading text book on arbitration in England & Wales, and has written and spoken widely on arbitration.

Sapna Jhangiani QC

Sapna Jhangiani QC specialises in international arbitration, and is called to both the English Bar and the Singapore Bar. She practised in London, New York and Dubai, before commencing practice in Singapore in 2011, where she is a Partner at Clyde & Co Clasis Singapore.

Sapna has managed cases spanning a number of industries under local and international sets of arbitration rules, including those of the ICC, SIAC, LCIA, SCMA, DIAC, DIFC-LCIA, AIAC, LMAA, HKIAC, and the UNCITRAL Rules. She has represented clients in arbitrations seated in Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, London, Paris and Mauritius, and governed by the laws of Singapore, London, PRC, Hong Kong, India, Myanmar, France, Malaysia, UAE, Korea and Mauritius, amongst others.

Who's Who Legal has described her as "a top name for international arbitration in Singapore", and "a charming advocate, who is well respected within the arbitration fraternity."

Sapna is a Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators, an IBA Asia Pacific Arbitration Group Ambassador, a member of the SIAC Users' Council, the SCMA Procedure Committee, and the ICC Singapore Arbitration Group. In addition, she is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and the Vice Chair of the Singapore branch. She holds an undergraduate degree from Oxford University and a diploma in international commercial arbitration from Queen Mary University London, in which she graduated with distinction.