An ICC YAF Event

What Arbitrators Want from the Parties

a Multi-jurisdictional Fireside Chat

Event Brochure

7 September 2021

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We believe that through training and mentorship, we can mould the next
generation of leading international arbitration and ADR experts. Through ICC
Young Arbitrators Forum (YAF) we are able to better inform, connect and
inspire young professionals with interests in dispute resolution.

Open to those aged 40 and under, YAF provides a variety of opportunities for
individuals to gain knowledge, develop their skills and understand ICC’s arbitral
procedure and other dispute resolution services. Throughout the world, we hold
a number of educational and social events that give young professionals the
chance to discover best practices, discuss topical issues and network with
experienced practitioners.

https://iccwbo.org/dispute-resolution-services/professional-
development/young-arbitrators-forum-yaf/

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 ❖ Preface and Acknowledgment

Dear all,

By way of introduction, I am Minli Tang, a regional representative of the ICC YAF North
Asia Chapter.

How time flies with its rosy wings. It has been almost ten years since my first exposure
to international arbitration when I was an intern. I very much appreciate that, in this
interesting field, I have received generous guidance and help from outstanding
practitioners in various jurisdictions. All the past memories shining in those golden
years have made me grateful and have increased my passion for arbitration.

Since 2019, I have had the honour to serve as a representative of the ICC YAF. My
two-year term will come to an end in September. I had planned to hold my fourth and
last YAF event before saying goodbye. After thinking about many topics, I finally
decided to hold one sharing the arbitrators’ perspective.

The theme of this event comes from my previous lessons and insights. Though I still
have a long way to go in my career, I have felt deeply that every legal system is closely
related to the social and historical foundation behind it. The system has its own
rationality and superiority which adapt to its foundation, though the limitations are
inevitable.

On the international stage, with the diversification of transaction subjects and parties,
the corresponding foundation is no longer an isolated one but pluralistic. In the process
of international dispute resolution, practitioners need a rather humble and tolerant
attitude, not clinging solely to their own cognition and logic. We may serve as
intermediates to bridge gaps and misunderstanding.

Our professionalism not only comes from our knowledge of domestic legal systems,
but also from the understanding of our shortcomings and the strength of others. A
liberal mind should consider everything like an ocean accommodating hundreds of
rivers. By learning widely from others' strong points and considering the feelings of the
arbitrators, we may make even more convincing arguments.

When representing clients in international cases, should we ignore the diversification

that exists, we may inevitably encounter some embarrassing situations that the final
award rendered by the arbitration tribunal is poles apart from what we understood and
argued. Such gaps and conflicts between the understanding and expectations of
different participants are often more obvious in multi-jurisdictional cases in
international arbitration (that is to say that the governing law, the parties and arbitrators
may be from different jurisdictions).

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Therefore, in my last YAF event, I have invited some senior arbitrators to share their
scholarship. They represent the wisdom of the East and the West, common law and
civil law. They have practical experience in 7 different jurisdictions and have handled
various cross-jurisdictional cases as arbitrators.

Although having busy and tight work schedules, they have generously agreed to spend
time sharing their experience and insights with us. For this, I am very grateful. At the
same time, please allow me to show my gratitude to the IDRC for its technical support
of this event. Its CEO and many technical colleagues have provided great support to
this event and have helped me to conduct multiple rounds of testing to ensure smooth
progress on the event day.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep appreciation to all the panelists,
the IDRC, and our supporting staff, without whom I could not present you with this
event.

I hope you will find this event interesting and useful. I very much appreciate your
support to the ICC YAF and I wish my successors every success during their tenure.

Yours sincerely

Minli

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Prof. Charles Debattista
Head of the Chambers
Arbitration, Trade & Advocacy
36 Stone
(England & Wales, Malta)
(HK, Australia, England & Wales)
Leng Sun Chan, SC
Advocate and Arbitrator
Duxton Hill Chambers
(Singapore, Malaysia, England &
Wales)
Damian Hickman
CEO
IDRC
❖ Panelists
Friven Yeoh Ian Gaunt
Partner, Co-leader, Global Member Board of Directors
Maritime London
Sidley Austin LLP
Past President of the LMAA
(England & Wales)
Lucy Martinez Nicole Dolenz
Independent Arbitrator and Partner
Counsel
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
Martinez Arbitration
(Paris, New York)
(Australia, New York)
❖ Host
Dr. Minli Tang
ICC YAF
Representative
Senior Associate
AllBright Law Offices
(China, New York)
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 Prof. Charles Debattista

Head of the Chambers

36 Stone
Formerly Professor at the University of Southampton
Visiting Professor at the University College London
cdebattista@36stone.co.uk

Charles has a busy and successful practice, both as an advocate and as an arbitrator,
in dry shipping and international trade disputes, in which areas he also has a thriving
advisory practice.

He has had extensive experience in charterparty work, bills of lading, Incoterms disputes,
letters of credit, ship management issues and general commercial contract disputes.

Charles is a member of the Baltic Exchange, of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, of

the Singapore Chamber of Maritime Arbitration, of the Hong Kong International
Arbitration Centre and a Supporting Member of the London Maritime Arbitrators
Association. In a previous life, Charles was a Professor of Commercial Law and Director
of the Institute of Maritime Law at the University of Southampton. He is now a Visiting
Professor in the Faculty of Laws at University College London.

Charles has taken appointments as arbitrator since 2002, since when he has written or
sat in well over 200 arbitrations. He regularly sits under LMAA, LCIA and ICC Rules and
also in ad hoc arbitrations. Charles has sat as sole arbitrator, as chairman of tribunals
and as a party-appointed arbitrator. Several of his Awards have been confirmed on
reference up to the Courts and has yet to suffer a successful challenge. Charles is a
member of the Shanghai International Arbitration Center’s (SHIAC) panel of foreign
arbitrators.

Charles has written prolifically in his areas of expertise and is closely associated with the
drafting and development of COGSA 1992, Incoterms 2000, 2010, and 2020, the Uniform
Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (the UCP 600) and the Singapore Sales
Form. His writing has frequently been cited in courts in the UK.

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 Friven Yeoh

Partner
Co-leader, Global Arbitration, Trade & Advocacy
Sidley Austin LLP (Hong Kong Office)
fyeoh@sidley.com

Friven is a co-leader of the Sidley’s Global Arbitration, Trade and Advocacy practice and
a member of the Litigation and Regulatory group.

Friven has extensive experience in the resolution of complex business disputes across
industries and has represented clients in international arbitrations conducted under
various institutional and ad hoc arbitration rules including those of the ICC, HKIAC,
CIETAC, SIAC, JCAA, LCIA, SCC, UNCITRAL and CAS. He has also represented clients
in a variety of commercial litigation and regulatory investigations involving product risk
and liability, energy, corporate affairs, competition, and financial services matters. Friven
has also served as tribunal chair or co-arbitrator in many international arbitrations before
major arbitral institutions.

Friven has been recognized as a leading lawyer for arbitration by several publications,
including Chambers & Partners, Legal 500, Benchmark Litigation, Who’s Who Legal, and
Euromoney’s Expert Guides.

Prior to joining Sidley, Friven was the managing partner at the Hong Kong office of
another leading U.S. law firm. He is fluent in English, Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese.

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 Ian Gaunt

Independent Arbitrator
Member Board of Directors
Maritime London
Past President of the LMAA
ian.gaunt@virgin.net

Ian is a graduate of Cambridge University, a barrister (non-practising) and full-time

professional arbitrator in maritime and commercial cases. Ian regularly sits as the
president, sole arbitrator, and co-arbitrator in both institutional and ad hoc arbitrations
under the LMAA Terms, the ICC and LCIA Rules, etc.

Ian is a member of the Baltic Exchange, a member of the Board of Maritime London, a
full member of the London Maritime Arbitrators Association, and a member of the
arbitration panels of the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission
(CIETAC), the China Maritime Arbitration Commission (CMAC), the Shanghai Arbitration
Commission, and the Shanghai International Shipping Institute.

From 1999 to 2008 Ian was Senior Vice President-International of Carnival Corporation
the world’s leading cruise shipping company and responsible to the Chief Executive for
contracting and implementation of the group’s large-scale shipbuilding programme. From
2003 to 2008 he was also a main board director of the UK P and I Club. From 2017 to
2020, Ian served as the President of the London Maritime Arbitrators Association.

Ian is the co-author, with Simon Curtis and William Cecil, of the 5th edition of The Law
of Shipbuilding Contracts.

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 Chan Leng Sun, SC

Advocate and Arbitrator

Duxton Hill Chambers
lschan@duxtonhill.net

Leng Sun is a Senior Counsel of the Supreme Court of Singapore. He is a member of

the SIAC Court of Arbitration and the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR. He is the
former Global Head of Arbitration of an international law firm and the Immediate Past
President of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators (SIArb).

Leng Sun has a broad commercial practice that covers technical disputes, maritime law
(including sea, air and land transportation), international trade, insurance and company
law.

Leng Sun has acted as counsel or sat as arbitrator in arbitrations seated in Singapore,
Hong Kong SAR, Mainland China, Korea, Malaysia, London and USA under ad hoc and
institutional rules such as ICC, SIAC, SCMA, LMAA, ICDR, CIETAC, HKIAC and KCAB
rules. He is a Chartered Arbitrator and a Chairperson of the arbitration panel jointly
appointed by the EU and Korea under the protocol on cultural cooperation of the Korea-
EU FTA. He had also served as a legal officer of the United Nations Compensation
Commission in Geneva.

Leng Sun is the author of the book, Singapore Law on Arbitral Awards and Co-Editor of
Conflict of Laws in Arbitration. He is the Singapore country contributor to Tetley’s Marine
Cargo Claims (4th Ed). He has contributed chapters for numerous treatises, such as The
Role of Arbitration in Shipping Law, published by Oxford University Press (Goldby and
Mistellis eds, 2016, The Developing World of Arbitration, published by Hart Publishing
(Reyes and Gu eds, 2018) and ASEAN and the Belt and Road Initiative, published by
Academy Publishing (Bitas ed, 2021).

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 Lucy Martinez

Independent Arbitrator and Counsel

Martinez Arbitration
lucymartinez@martinez-arbitration.com

Lucy is an independent arbitrator and counsel with extensive experience sitting as

arbitrator (sole, co- and presiding) in ACICA, HKIAC, ICC, LCIA, and SIAC disputes,
including in expedited proceedings, governed by laws of Australia, England, Hong
Kong, India, Singapore, and Thailand.

Lucy also advises and represents private and sovereign clients in international
disputes relating to investment treaties and contracts, including in AAA, ICC, ICSID,
LCIA, UNCITRAL, and ad hoc arbitrations; reviews draft dispute resolution clauses
in contracts; and advises on various international pro bono projects.

Lucy has industry experience in energy (oil, gas, electricity, mining),

telecommunications, satellite technology, banking and finance, insurance and
reinsurance, trademarks, shipping, sports, supply of goods, gambling and leisure
sectors.

Lucy is also a sessional Lecturer in International Arbitration (part-time), TC Beirne

School of Law, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

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 Nicole Dolenz

Partner
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP (Paris Office)
ndolenz@orrick.com

Nicole has more than 20 years’ experience representing clients in international arbitration
and has outstanding knowledge in foreign investment disputes involving states and the
energy, infrastructure and construction sectors.

Dual trained in both civil and common law jurisdictions, Nicole has conducted arbitrations
under all the main international arbitration rules including the ICC, AAA, SCC,
UNCITRAL, ICDR and ICSID as well as local European arbitration institutions such as
the Vienna Chamber (VIAC), CEPANI, Swiss Chamber and DIS. Her cases have
spanned a variety of industries including oil and gas, nuclear energy, aviation,
construction, food and beverages, transportation, and insurance.

Nicole is frequently nominated to act as arbitrator and speaks and publishes regularly on
questions of international commercial and investment arbitration, notably, The
International Comparative Legal Guide to: Investor-State Arbitration 2019 – Country
Questions and Answers: France.

Before joining Orrick, Nicole had practiced in one of the biggest law firms in the world in
New York for six years, an Austrian firm in Vienna for five years and a major U.S. firm in
Paris for seven years.

Nicole is a former member of the Executive Board and Global Boards of ICDR Y&I and
practices in English, German French and has a working knowledge of Spanish and
Portuguese.

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 Damian Hickman

CEO
IDRC
https://www.idrc.co.uk/

Damian is the CEO of the IDRC, which he founded in 1999. Before this he was the
Manager of the Fleet Arbitration Centre which he joined in 1994. Damian’s main
responsibility is managing the centre and has been regularly consulted in the setting up
of other dispute resolution centres around the world.

Damian is a member of the International Arbitration Charity Ball Committee and

Compere/Partner of Law Rocks! – a charity fundraising battle of bands for international
law firms. Damian is also a Governor of the Europa School, a bi-lingual free school in
Oxfordshire.

IDRC is one of the world’s leading global facilities for arbitrations and other forms of
alternative dispute resolution, and also provides rooms and support services for Public
Inquiries, meetings, training courses and seminars.

IDRC houses over 60 rooms of varying sizes, with the latest technology and connectivity,
all of which can be configured to provide comfortable and state-of-the-art suites and
meeting rooms for any proceedings or meetings, small or large.

IDRC offers advanced virtual solutions. Its Virtual Hearings Team provide an
experienced interface between participants and technology, offering guidance and
support before and throughout proceedings. IDRC also provides a full range of
professional and expert support services- from court reporting to catering, IT to
interpreters; voicemail to video conferencing.

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 Dr. Minli Tang

Senior Associate
AllBright Law Offices (Shanghai, headquarter)
ICC YAF Regional Representative
minli.tang@allbrightlaw.com

Dual qualified in mainland China and in New York State, Minli has practiced in dispute
resolution for years (especially in foreign-related matters, including litigation and
arbitration). Minli is also a committee member of the Beihai Asia International Arbitration
Centre (BAIAC, Singapore) and a supporting member of the London Maritime Arbitrators
Association (LMAA).

Minli has frequently represented clients in Chinese domestic court litigations and
participated in the handling of cases in the English High Court and Court of Appeal. Minli
has also represented and advised clients in arbitration under the ICC, SIAC, HKIAC,
AIAC, CIETAC and China Maritime Arbitration Commission (CMAC) rules as well as
under the Terms of the London Maritime Arbitrators Association (LMAA). In addition to
her advocacy work, Minli has been involved in advising both domestic and foreign clients
on Chinese law and conducted commercial negotiation.

Minli has particularly rich overseas experiences and network. In addition to her overseas
study experiences of pursuing her master and PhD degree in common law jurisdictions,
she once was a visiting lawyer in a leading commercial set of barristers’ chambers in
London for around two years. During that time, Minli sat with a senior commercial
barrister and handled a series of cases involving court litigation and international
arbitration under English law.

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