Founding Partner & Head of International Arbitration, Construction and Energy, Zulficar & Partners, Egypt; Professor of International Arbitration, Private International Law and English Contract Law, Cairo University; ICCA Member of the Governing Board; Chair of the ICC Governing Body for Dispute Resolution Services; President Elect of the CIArb (2025); Dean of the Africa Arbitration Academy; Member of the Curatorium of the Hague Academy of International Law; Member of the LACIAC Court of Arbitration; Member of the ITA Academic Council; Member of the Court, PCA; Fellow of the National Centre for Technology and Dispute Resolution (University of Massachusetts, USA); Associate Fellow of the Centers for Private International Law and Commercial Law (Aberdeen University, UK); and Member of the Inclusive Global Legal Innovation Platform on Online Dispute Resolution (iGLIP on ODR).

He is a world leading authority on ODR with more than 23 years of experience in the field. He is the co-editor (with Prof Ethan Katsh and Mr. Daniel Rainey) of the leading ODR treatise “Online Dispute Resolution: Theory and Practice” (2012 & 2021), and is the author of the Abdel Wahab Pandemic Pathway to Virtual/Remote Hearings.

He served as ‘Arbitrator’, ‘Legal Expert’ and ‘Counsel’ in more than 260 cases, involving parties from the Africa, Asia, Canada, Europe, the Middle East the United States and Latin America, and is recognized as a world-leading figure in international investment and international commercial arbitration, online dispute resolution, construction law & practice, Energy law and infrastructure disputes, African and Arab Laws, Islamic Shari’a, and private international law. He was shortlisted among the top five arbitrators for the GAR award for the best prepared and responsive arbitrator (2021). WWL: Arbitration & Global Elite Thought Leaders (2023) says “‘His sharp mind never ceases to amaze’ ‘He is one of a kind!’”. Chambers and Partners (2023)-Africa-wide says: “Mohamed Abdel Wahab is someone who is very brilliant and technically capable. He is very smart on the law, but also emotionally intelligent as well”. Legal 500 (2023) – Dispute Resolution: Arbitration says: “Mohamed Abdel Wahab: Highly respected, very experienced arbitrator, exhibiting highest standard of integrity and ethics”‘ and “knowledgeable in several system of laws: common law, civil law and sharia law”.

Sharyn Ch’ang is the PwC NewLaw Leader for Hong Kong and a co-founder of the NewLaw team in Asia Pacific. PwC NewLaw services include strategic legal practice transformation, use of legal technology and generative AI, and outsourcing solutions for the legal profession.

Sharyn has a distinguished 30-year career including as a law firm partner and general counsel, and has practiced in Australia, across Asia Pacific and at the global level. She also worked in the New South Wales Court of Appeal as Associate to the President of the Court of Appeal, and as a policy advisor for an Australian government agency.

Sharyn now specialises in working with lawyers and other stakeholders in the legal ecosystem, to assist lawyers to deliver high value legal work, whilst being innovative, efficient and cost-effective. These outcomes are achieved by reimagining the future of legal practice and law as a business, leveraging the right transformative processes and legal technology to resolve key pain points and improve productivity.

Sharyn is at the forefront of use of generative AI for legal practice, which has the potential to be game-changing for the legal profession. While she is fully cognisant of the actual and potential risks of use, she has hands-on knowledge how it can augment, not replace, the work done by lawyers. Her insights reflect a distinctive blend of legal and business experience, with a true appreciation for being a practising lawyer, and the operational realities, challenges and expectations of delivering legal services.

Her leadership in legal practice and contribution to the profession have been recognised with various awards including Winner of the 2021 Asia Legal Awards ACC Outstanding Achievement Award, 2020 Asian Legal Business Hong Kong Inhouse Lawyer of the Year award, and 2017 Asia Legal Awards Inhouse Counsel of Distinction award to name a few.

Simon leads the Asia disputes practice at Herbert Smith Freehills.  His practice covers commercial and investment treaty arbitration under all of the major arbitral rules, including HKIAC, ICC, SIAC, LCIA, ICSID and UNCITRAL.  Simon has particular expertise in complex and high-value disputes, notably claims in fraud and breach of warranty, as well as post-M&A, joint venture and shareholder disputes.  He has acted for governments, state-owned entities, sovereign wealth funds and corporations across a range of industries, including the energy, private equity, finance, hospitality and TMT sectors.  He also appears as an advocate in arbitration-related court proceedings.

In addition to his work as counsel, Simon regularly sits as arbitrator and has experience as presiding arbitrator, co-arbitrator and sole arbitrator across a range of institutional and ad hoc cases.  He was also recently appointed to the ICC Court in Paris.  Simon is dual-qualified in Hong Kong and England and Wales, with higher rights of audience in both jurisdictions.  In recognition of his advocacy skills, Simon became a King's Counsel in 2020.  He was named International Lawyer of the Year by Benchmark Litigation in 2021 and is ranked in Band 1 by Chambers & Partners.

Teresa Cheng is a Senior Counsel, Chartered Engineer, Chartered Arbitrator and Mediator, with a distinguished record of public service in the Hong Kong SAR. From January 2018 to June 2022, Ms Cheng was the Secretary for Justice of the Hong Kong SAR. Ms Cheng specialises in a wide range of legal areas, including construction, international commercial contracts and investment arbitration, and is an experienced practitioner in international arbitration and mediation. She is frequently engaged as counsel or arbitrator in complex international commercial/investment disputes. She is one of the Founder Members of the Asian Academy of International Law, Past Vice President of the International Council of Commercial Arbitration, Past Vice President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, and Past Chairperson of Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre. In 2008, she became the first Asian woman elected through a global election as President of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. She served as Deputy Judge/Recorder in the High Court of Hong Kong from 2011 to 2017, and she was also a member of the World Bank’s Sanctions Board. Ms Cheng is a Fellow of King’s College in London, and she established the International Arbitration and Dispute Settlement Course at the Law School of Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, and is an Adjunct Professor as well as the Course Director.

Mr Cheung Kwok-kwan has been the Deputy Secretary for Justice since 1 July 2022.

Mr Cheung was a solicitor in private practice in Hong Kong with the qualifications of China-appointed Attesting Officer and Civil Celebrant of Marriages before joining the Department of Justice. He was a Non-Official Member of the Executive Council, and a member of the Legislative Council as well as the District Council.

He has also served as a member of Hong Kong Housing Authority, the Non-Executive Director of Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation Limited, the court member of the University of Hong Kong, a member of Standing Committee on Disciplined Services Salaries and Conditions of Service, and the Chairman of Practice and Examination Committee of Hong Kong Estate Agents Authority.

Cristián is currently the managing partner of the Chilean office of Cuatrecasas and Global Co-Head of the International Arbitration practice at the firm. He acts regularly, both as counsel and arbitrator, in international commercial and investment arbitration. He is a current member of the HKIAC Council and previously served as member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration in Paris, counsel at the Secretariat of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, and associate at Shearman Sterling in New York.

Cristián has been a professor at the law school of Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile for several years, and has lectured on commercial law, international contracts and international private law. He has also been a guest lecturer at several universities, including Sciences Po and ESSEC Business School (Paris), Fundaçao Getulio Vargas (Sao Paulo) and IE Business School (Madrid).

He studied Law at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, and then pursued a LLM degree at Columbia University in New York, and graduate studies on Spanish law at the Universidad de Alcalá in Madrid.

Mr. Gary GAO is a partner of Zhong Lun Law Firm and the Head of Compliance & Regulatory Department. Gary is a skilled litigator and arbitrator with near 30 years experiences handling complex, cross-border arbitration, litigation as well as sophisticated commercial disputes. He has represented clients or acted as arbitrator, in commercial arbitration before the ICC, HKIAC, SIAC, CITEC, SHIAC and other arbitral institutions.

Gary is familiar with the strategic planning of dispute resolution in multiple jurisdictions, the collection, screening and rules of proof of cross-board document production. He often acts as an expert witness on Chinese law in international litigation or arbitration proceedings.

Karl Hennessee, FRAeS, is SVP Litigation & Investigations at Airbus, where he leads the Group’s global activities in these areas. Separately, he lectures at various Universities and occasionally sits as arbitrator and serves on the board of directors of companies and nonprofits.  He previously served as Chairman of the Governing Body of the ICC Court of International Arbitration and is now a member of the HKIAC Council as well as its Appointments and Rules Committees. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the International Council of Commercial Arbitration, the IBA Mediation Committee, the Advisory Council for the School of International Arbitration at Queen Mary University of London and on the Board of the Toulouse Capitole Law School.

Dr Eliza Mik has joined the CUHK Faculty of Law in January 2021. Before joining academia, she worked in-house for a number of software and telecommunications companies in Australia, Poland, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates. She advised on software licensing, technology procurement, digital signatures, and e-commerce regulation. Her PhD focused on the private law aspects of e-commerce and on general problems of transaction automation. From 2014, Eliza’s research has centered on smart contracts and the use of artificial intelligence in transaction automation. Eliza has advised the World Bank and the Monetary Authority of Singapore. At present, she is a member of the UNCITRAL Expert Group for the Digital Economy, a member of the Inclusive Global Legal Innovation Platform on ODR (iGLIP, Hong Kong), a Research Associate at the Tilburg Institute for Law, Society and Technology (TILT, Netherlands) and an Affiliate Researcher with the Centre for AI and Digital Ethics at the University of Melbourne (CAIDE, Australia).

Ms Kim Rooney is an international arbitrator, barrister and accredited mediator. Before becoming a full time arbitrator and barrister, Kim was a partner of White & Case LLP heading its Hong Kong based Asian international dispute resolution practice.

Kim’s other roles include serving as:

- Member of the ICC’s International Court of Arbitration.

- Board Member of eBRAM International Online Dispute Resolution Centre Limited.

- Chair of the Hong Kong Law Reform Commission’s Sub-committee on Third Party Funding for Arbitration, to the conclusion of its reference in 2016.

- Member of the Hong Kong Department of Justice’s Committee on Provision of Space in the Legal Hub.

- Member of the Council of the Hong Kong Bar Association and chair of its International Practice Committee.

Kim was a Senior ADR Expert in an EU funded project in the Indonesian public sector (2013-2016). She was a member of the ICCA/Queen Mary Taskforce on Third Party Funding for Arbitration.

Dr Thomas So is a partner of Grandall Zimmern Law Firm.  He advises on shareholders- and equity-related disputes, property-related litigation, libel litigation and media-related litigation work, and litigation and arbitration in the PRC. He represents banks and financial institutions, property developers and corporations as well as Mainland China enterprises on securities- and equity-related disputes.

Thomas has acted as Arbitrator and Mediator in shareholders and other disputes and is on a number of panel of arbitrators in Asia. He has also acted as Deputy Judge at the District Court (18/11/2002-13/12/2002) and Temporary Deputy Registrar at the High Court (8/12/2003-10/1/2004). He is a China-Appointed Attesting Officer (appointed by the Ministry of Justice of PRC). He was the President of the Law Society of Hong Kong (6/2016 – 6/2018) and is a solicitor-advocate with rights to appear in the higher courts in Hong Kong.

Thomas was praised by The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2010/2011 for providing "sound knowledge" and "practical solutions" to clients. Chambers Asia Pacific 2011 describes Thomas is "instrumental in many cross-border cases". Thomas speaks English, Cantonese and Mandarin.

Huawei Sun is a Senior Counsel at Zhong Lun Law Firm. She specializes in international arbitration and has broad experience representing international and Chinese clients resolving a wide variety of cross-border disputes conducted under major arbitration rules around the world. Huawei has particular experience of complex and parallel proceedings involving different jurisdictions. She has expertise in public international law and is assisting China in defending treaty claims brought by foreign investors. Huawei also sits as arbitrator in CIETAC and HKIAC proceedings. Huawei is a HKIAC’s Council Member and co-chair of IBA Asia Pacific Arbitration Group. She had international law firm experience having worked at Allen & Overy for more than 7 years responsible for China-related arbitration matters.

Dr.  Christopher To is a chartered arbitrator, certified adjudicator and accredited mediator, chartered engineer, chartered information technology professional, barrister-at-law and a law professor (adjunct) who is on the panels of various leading global alternative dispute resolution bodies.  He has arbitrated, adjudicated and mediated a variety of cases and is representing clients in cases within the dispute resolution field.

Christopher is currently a barrister at law at Gilt Chambers and the Programme Director of the LLM in Arbitration and Dispute Resolution at the City University of Hong Kong and was the Secretary-General of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (1998 to 2008). He is the Chairperson of the Hong Kong Mediation Council (a wholly owned entity of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre), Chairperson of the Hong Kong Mediator Accreditation Association Limited, Mediator Accreditation Committee (the body that accredits mediators in Hong Kong), Chairperson of Construction Dispute Resolution Committee of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers and Chairperson of the Hong Kong Institute of Directors. He is also the Chairperson of the Buildings Appeal Tribunal, Member of the Securities and Futures Appeals Tribunal and an Advisory Member of the Accounting and Financial Reporting Council.

Amy is a Counsel at CMS Hasche Sigle, Hong Kong LLP. Amy’s practice focuses on complex transnational disputes, particularly international commercial and investment arbitration. She has extensive experience advising and representing multi-national and stated-owned enterprises, listed companies, states, governmental and public entities and institutions. She has represented clients and worked on high-stake arbitration cases under the rules of ICC, HKIAC, SIAC, CIETAC, LCIA, SCC, JCAA, SHAC, THAC, ICSID, ICDR, DIS, and ad hoc UNCITRAL. Her clients come from a wide range of jurisdictions and industries, including the life-science and biotech, green energy, finance, and aerospace sectors.

Amy is based in Hong Kong since 2020 and has worked in Paris, New York, and Shanghai before. She is qualified in the State of New York (USA) and Paris (France). She is fluent in Chinese, English, and French.

Dr. Jane Willems specializes in international investment law and international arbitration. She is an Associate Professor of Law and the Associate Director of the LLM in International Arbitration & Dispute Settlement, at Tsinghua University School of Law, Beijing (since 2015).

Dr. Willems has served as arbitrator or chair in numerous international commercial arbitrations involving ICC, HKIAC, KCAB, CIETAC, BAC and UNCITRAL Rules and in investor-state arbitration (ICSID, PCA-UNCITRAL). She has also served as counsel for the Lao PDR in BIT based investment arbitration proceedings.

Dr. Willems is a member of the Advisory Board of the Asian Academy of International Law (AAIL). She is the delegate of AAIL at the UNCITRAL Working Group III (Investor-State Dispute Settlement Reform). 

She is admitted to practice to the Bar of the State of California and to the Bar of Paris. She holds a Ph.D. in Law.

Recent publications include:

-             Jurisdiction Focus, Country Focus: Laos, Asian Dispute Review, July 2022, 142-149

-             International Business Courts: A New Era for Dispute Resolution? in INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION IN TIMES OF ECONOMIC NATIONALISM, Arp, Polanco (Ed), Kluwer, 2022, Chap 10

-             Law and Practice of International Arbitration in China (1994-2019) [In French: Droit et pratique de l’arbitrage international en Chine (1994-2019)], RIDC 4-2019 1025-1048

-             Party Autonomy and the Selection of Non-State Norms in International Commercial Contracts, HKLJ 2018 Vol. 48-3 951-991;

-             The Arbitrator’s Jurisdiction at Risk: The Case of Hybrid and Asymmetrical Arbitration Agreements in The Powers and Duties of an Arbitrator, Kluwer (2017);

-             “Investment Disputes under China's BITs: Jurisdiction with Chinese Characteristics?” in Investment Law and Arbitration in the Asia-Pacific, CUP (2019);

-             The Settlement of Investor State Disputes and China: New Developments on ICSID Jurisdiction, SCJIL&B, Vol. 8 (2011) 1-62;

-             Sino-Foreign Joint Ventures Contract Disputes before International Arbitrators [In French] Larcier (2015) etc.

Horace Wong is a Senior Counsel with a substantial legal practice in Hong Kong. He is the Co-Head of Rede Chambers, and an experienced arbitrator and mediator.  Mr. Wong is a member of the Panel of Arbitrators of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre, and a member of its Proceedings Committee.  He is also a member of the Panel of Arbitrators, Mediators and APEC Neutral, Electronic Business Related Arbitration and Mediation (eBRAM), and a member of the Panel of Arbitrators of the Brazillian Centre of Mediation and Arbitration.  He is appointed by the Hong Kong Government as an arbitrator under the Labor Relations Ordinance, and an appointed Mediator in respect of the Investment Agreement under the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA).  Mr. Wong has served as a Deputy Judge and Recorder of the High Court of Hong Kong, and as Chairmen and Deputy Chairmen of many statutory authorities and tribunals, including the Town Planning Appeal Board, Administrative Appeals Board, Buildings Appeal Tribunal, Unsolicited Electronic Messages (Enforcement Notices) Appeal Board, and the Inland Revenue Board of Review.  He is the Honorary Lecturer of the University of Hong Kong and a Visiting Professor of Peking University, School of Transnational Law, and has lectured in many universities, including the Hong Kong University, the Peking University, and the University of International Business and Economics. He was appointed as a Justice of the Peace in 2014.