Exploring alternative dispute resolution mechanisms – latest updates

Caroline Berube is the Managing Partner of HJM Asia Law (with offices in China and Singapore). She is admitted to the New York Bar, the Singapore Bar, holds a BCL (civil law) and an LL.B. (common law) from McGill University in Montreal and studied Chinese law at the National University of Singapore. Caroline has been working in Asia for more than 27 years with SMEs, MNCs and foreign banks, advising them in the field of commercial law, intellectual property, human resources and M&A in the Asia Pacific region. With an extensive presence on the ground in Asia for 27 years. Caroline is well versed in the opportunities and risks associated with most Asian jurisdictions.

Joan Vidal is a partner at JAUSAS, a firm formed through the merger with NADAL & VIDAL DE LLOBATERA, where he was a founding partner. With over four decades of experience, his practice focuses on Corporate and Company Law, Distribution, Commercial Contracts, and Litigation. Previously, he served as Secretary of the Board of AgrEvo—the crop protection subsidiary of HOECHST and SCHERING—where he managed corporate and commercial legal matters. Earlier in his career, he was an associate partner at PINTO (now PINTO RUIZ DEL VALLE). A Law graduate from the University of Barcelona, he also completed courses at the Universities of London and Leiden on transnational sales and American Law. Fluent in Catalan, Spanish, English, French, and Italian, he is also proficient in German. Vidal is a member of the Barcelona and Girona Bar Associations, the IBA Committee M, and the Associazione Internazionale di Giuristi di Lingua Italiana, and has taught and lectured extensively on commercial contracting at national and international levels.

Shan (Tessa) Wang is a partner of Zhong Lun Law Firm (Shanghai office), with a focus on cross-border and domestic dispute resolution, white-collar defense, and internal investigations.

Jalal El Ahdab (Jil Ahdab) is a partner in the Dispute Resolution Group for Bird & Bird in Paris, the head of the Arbitration Department in France and a member of the Firm’s Dispute Resolution practice in Dubai and Casablanca, where he offers clients longstanding and cross-border expertise in managing international disputes and arbitrations. Jalal’s practice-area is international business law, with a focus on international disputes and foreign investments, notably in Europe, Africa and the MENA region. Having acted as a counsel, arbitrator and expert in over 150 cases, Jalal has in-depth experience in managing complex disputes including shareholders' rights, suits against States, class actions, breach of negotiations and bank guarantees, in all sorts of sectors, including sports, medias and the fashion industries. In addition to being a regular speaker at international arbitration conferences, including at the IBA, Jil has co-authored two books: 'Arbitration with the Arab Countries' (published by Kluwer in 2011), and a book on Arbitration Law and Practice in France, written jointly with Professor Daniel Mainguy of the University of Paris 1 – Sorbonne (published by LexisNexis in 2021). Jalal is qualified to practice in Beirut (Lebanon), Paris (France) and New York (USA), and is equally fluent in Arabic, English and French.