8th IBA Asia Pacific Regional Forum Biennial Conference Held in Hong Kong

The International Bar Association (IBA) hosted its 8th Asia Pacific Regional Forum Biennial Conference in Hong Kong, bringing together over 360 legal professionals from more than 30 countries worldwide to gather in Hong Kong. The Honourable Chief Justice Andrew Cheung Kui-nung, GBM delivered the keynote speech at the Opening. In the evening of the same day, the Secretary for Justice of the Hong Kong SAR, Mr. Paul Lam Ting-kwok, SBS, SC, JP, attended the Conference dinner and delivered a speech.

Conference Co-Chair, Winnie Tam SC from Des Voeux Chambers delivered the opening remarks, extending a warm welcome to the distinguished legal practitioners from various jurisdictions. In her speech, Winnie highlighted that the Conference provided overseas attendees with a unique opportunity to experience Hong Kong’s common law system under the “One Country, Two Systems” framework. The decision to hold the Conference in Hong Kong underscores its prominent role as a leading global legal and financial hub, with its continued influence in connecting Chinese mainland with global jurisdictions.

Winnie pointed out that the Asia Pacific region is the world’s fastest-growing economy, combines diverse cultures, traditions, and legal systems. It is also a hub for finance, technological innovation, and manufacturing. As emerging markets and large-scale infrastructure projects bring immense opportunities, the community also face challenges from the legal perspective, including cross-border disputes, investment risks, and data privacy concerns. Legal professionals must be innovative and take lead in addressing these challenges effectively.

Hong Kong serves as an important window for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Through organising international legal conferences, it enabled the legal community from the Mainland to forge closer contacts with other legal organisations, as well as accelerated the pace of “going global” for the Mainland’s legal profession.

More than 20 representatives of the Hong Kong legal professions were invited to moderate and participate in the panel discussions. The Chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association, Jose Maurellet SC from Des Voeux Chambers also attended the first day of the Conference. He highlighted the growing prominence of arbitration in global legal services and expressed expectations to explore the potential of cross-border legal services with various civil litigation experts and expand cooperation opportunities.

On the same day, Look Chan Ho from Des Voeux Chambers joined the panel discussion in the concurrent session titled “𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 – 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧”, discussing key judicial cases from various jurisdictions and providing in-depth insights into the broad implications of the interplay between insolvency and arbitration in the Asia Pacific region.

The session was moderated by Desmond Ang, Co-Chair of the IBA Asia Pacific Arbitration Group, and Joanne Lau, the Secretary-General of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre. Other distinguished panellists included Shamala Devi Balasundaram, Partner at Chooi & Company, Kuala Lumpur, Ila Kapoor, Partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, New Delhi, Delhi, Ravi Moloo, Partner at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, New York and Chie Nakahara, Partner at Nishimura & Asahi, Tokyo.

On Day 2 of the 8th IBA Asia Pacific Regional Forum Biennial Conference, Jose Maurellet SC, Chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association and member of Des Voeux Chambers, moderated Plenary Session 1 – “𝐋𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐁𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬”, attracting nearly 100 legal professionals from various jurisdictions.

As moderator, Jose Maurellet SC led an in-depth discussion on the strategic challenges and practical issues associated with cross-border legal practice. He highlighted the increasing number of cases involving both common law and civil law systems, which has fostered closer and more frequent collaboration between legal teams from different jurisdictions. He also underscored the unique position of Hong Kong and mainland China’s legal communities, which, due to their familiarity with both legal systems, serve as effective intermediaries for cross-border legal matters.

The session further explored the differences between the legal systems in mainland China and common law jurisdictions, covering topics such as distinctions in legal and litigation procedures, the role of commercial courts versus arbitration, arbitration legislation, and the enforcement of domestic and international arbitral awards.

The distinguished panel featured Frederique Gilain-Huneeus Gilain-Huneeus, former Chief Legal Officer at BFAM Partners (Hong Kong) Limited, Hong Kong SAR; Ningning (Henry) Huang of Grandall Law Firm – People’s Republic of China, Shanghai; Mary Lim, Director of the Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC), Kuala Lumpur; Ali Malek KC of 3 Verulam Buildings, London; and Ian Mann of Harneys, Hong Kong SAR.

Calvin Cheuk from Des Voeux Chambers joined the panel discussion “𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐝𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐝: 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐦𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬”, one of the Day 2 concurrent sessions of the 8th IBA Asia Pacific Regional Forum Biennial Conference.

The session provided a comparative analysis of statutory adjudication regimes from Hong Kong S.A.R, Singapore, Malaysia, and the UK, alongside insights from India, Korea, and Japan on their respective construction dispute resolution mechanisms and their evolution over time.

The session was moderated by Loshini Ramarmuty, Partner at Skrine, Kuala Lumpur, and featured speakers including Sathiaseelan J., Partner at Allen & Gledhill LLP, Singapore; Hangil Lee, partner at Bae, Kim & Lee LLC, Seoul; Mohammed Shameer, Partner at Trilegal, Bengaluru, Karnataka; and Kaori Sugimoto, Partner at Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu, Tokyo.