Dr Ling Yang is Deputy Secretary-General of HKIAC and Chief Representative of the Shanghai Office.

Prior to joining HKIAC, Ling was an Associate Professor at the East China University of Political Science and Law where she taught international arbitration for nine years. During 2017, Ling was a visiting scholar at Boston University School of Law. Ling has published widely on issues of international dispute resolution and arbitration in China, and currently serves as Executive Editor-in-Chief for the Shanghai International Arbitration Review. Ling has also been appointed as arbitrator. She obtained a PhD in 2009 and an LLM in International Law in 2006 from Wuhan University. In 2008, she was visiting scholar at the University of Aix-en-Provence Marseille III.

Mr. Dong is partner at Jingtian & Gongcheng. He is qualified to practice in China and the United States of America (New York).

Mr. Dong has represented clients in hundreds of lawsuits before all levels of PRC courts including the Supreme People's Court of China and the Higher People’s Court of Beijing, as well as CIETAC, Beijing Arbitration Commission, Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration, ICC, HKIAC, SIAC, etc., which involved a variety of substantive areas such as trade, investment, real estate, finance, insurance, energy, technology,product liability, building materials and logistics.

Mr. Dong has also advised clients or acted as PRC legal expert for litigation and arbitration conducted in the US, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Before joining the firm, Mr. Dong worked with the Foreign–Related Arbitration Division of CIETAC for three years.

Mr. Dong holds a Bachelor of Arts (English Language and Law) and a Master of Laws from China University of Political Science and Law, and a Master of Laws (LLM in American Law) from Boston University.

Mr. Dong is an arbitrator of CIETAC, arbitrator of Beijing Arbitration Commission (Beijing International Arbitration Center), member of the Panel of Arbitrators of HKIAC, master student supervisor of China University of Political Science and Law, dispute resolution panelist of R&D-Based Pharmaceutical Association Committee (RDPAC), and council member and deputy secretary general of China Business Law Society. He has been appointed as arbitrator in more than 200 arbitration cases.

Nils Eliasson is a partner in the International Arbitration practice of Shearman & Sterling in Hong Kong.

He acts as counsel or arbitrator in commercial and investment treaty disputes conducted under the auspices of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Center (HKIAC), International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC), London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), CIETAC, Vienna International Arbitration Center (VIAC), German International Arbitration Institute (DIS) and the International Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC), as well as in ad hoc proceedings under the UNCITRAL arbitration rules.

Nils’ experience includes disputes related to joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, energy, oil and gas, infrastructure, construction, engineering, license disputes, telecommunications, and real estate. He has also handled investment treaty arbitrations under various bilateral investment treaties and the Energy Charter Treaty.

He serves as Vice-Chair of HKIAC and chairs the HKIAC Proceedings Committee. He also is a member of the Hong Kong Government Advisory Committee on Arbitration.

Mr Hennessee, FRAeS, is SVP Litigation, Investigations & Regulatory Affairs at Airbus, where he leads the Group’s global activities in these areas. Separately, he occasionally sits as arbitrator and serves on the board of directors of companies and nonprofits. Until July, 2019, he also served as Chairman of the Governing Body of the ICC Court of International Arbitration and is now a member of the HKIAC Council. In a three year hiatus from Airbus, Mr. Hennessee was VP Public Law & Technology of Halliburton (2013-2016).

Mr Hennessee has previously practiced law in Germany and in the United States on behalf of institutions including the German Government and private law firms. Educated at the University of Göttingen, Germany, the London School of Economics and SMU Law School (where he was Managing Editor of the Journal of Air Law and Commerce), he holds degrees in history, economics/econometrics, and law. He is a trustee of Houston Grand Opera, a cancer survivor-mentor, Fellow of the Robert Bosch Foundation and Phi Beta Kappa. Mr. Hennessee is the winner of the ILO Award for Litigation “Individual of the Year” for 2009 and the 2018 winner of the Golden Quill award from the Business and Legal Forum for published article of the year.

Sarah Grimmer is Secretary-General of Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre. She was formerly Senior Legal Counsel at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) where she acted as registrar in several inter-State arbitrations under the Law of the Sea Convention and served as tribunal secretary in multiple investment treaty arbitrations and contract-based claims.

Prior to joining the PCA, Sarah served as Assistant Counsel at the ICC International Court of Arbitration in Paris. She was also a member of the international arbitration group at Shearman & Sterling LLP in Paris, prior to which she worked in private practice in Auckland. In 2015, Sarah was appointed to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon Disciplinary Board. She is a member of the ICCA-ASIL Task Force on Damages (2016), ICCA Publications Committee (2015), the IBA Investment Arbitration Subcommittee (2014), New Zealand ICC Arbitration Committee (2014), and the IBA Arb40 Steering Committee (2013).

Recognized as a "future leader" in the field of international arbitration, Anton Ware acts as counsel and advocate for private sector companies, sovereign states, and government-owned entities in commercial and investment treaty arbitration proceedings around the world, with a particular focus on the Asia Pacific region.

Based in Shanghai, China, Mr. Ware speaks and reads Mandarin Chinese and is skilled in handling disputes involving Chinese parties. He regularly advises companies regarding investor protections for Belt and Road Initiative projects, and recently was appointed as an Ambassador of the ICC Commission on the Belt and Road Initiative. Mr. Ware is listed on the List of Arbitrators of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC), the Panel of International Arbitrators of KCAB International, and the List of Arbitrators of the Hangzhou Arbitration Commission.

In addition to his arbitration practice, Mr. Ware also has extensive experience in US litigation and anti-corruption investigation and compliance matters.

Mr. Ware regularly speaks on international arbitration topics and previously taught international commercial arbitration at UC Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.