Paul Brumpton is a partner in the Firm's market leading international arbitration practice and is based in the London office.

Paul advises clients in complex disputes and acts as an advocate in international arbitrations. He has broad experience across a number of sectors and a focus on the construction and energy industries. Overall, he has an excellent track record, successfully building and implementing sound and innovative strategies that help his clients win.

Paul has acted as counsel in arbitrations across the globe, including in London, Paris, Geneva, Zurich, New York, Miami, Singapore, Hong Kong and Riyadh. He also has experience of Dispute Adjudication Boards and a broad range of litigation in the English Courts (including anti-suit injunctions in support of arbitration).

Paul is qualified in both England & Wales, and New York. He is responsible for leading the Firm’s international arbitration oral advocacy training program in EMEA.

Paul has previously worked in the International Arbitration Group of White & Case's New York and Paris offices. Before joining White & Case, Paul taught English and European law at the University of Cambridge Centre for English and European Legal Studies at Warsaw University.

Dr. Mariel Dimsey is Secretary-General of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre responsible for its international dispute resolution services and operations from Hong Kong, Seoul, and Shanghai. She is an international commercial and investment arbitration specialist.

Prior to joining the HKIAC, Mariel was a Partner at CMS and Co-Head of the global CMS International Arbitration Group. She has over 15 years’ experience acting as adviser and advocate in numerous international arbitrations. She has extensive experience in both common law and civil law disputes, including disputes involving Chinese parties, and has full professional fluency in German. She also sits regularly as arbitrator and has experience as arbitrator under the HKIAC, ICC, KCAB, and DIS Rules, and in ad hoc disputes. She is on the arbitrator panels of several institutions.

She is a past co-chair of the HK45 Committee, and a member of the WILHK Advisory Board. She is consistently ranked in both the regional and global editions of the leading legal directories.

Mariel has a Dr. iur. (summa cum laude) from the University of Basel, an LLM from the University of Cologne and an LLB/BA (Business German) from the University of Queensland. She is admitted to practice law in Australia and Hong Kong.

Michael Polkinghorne is a Franco-Australian dual-qualified lawyer, resident in Paris where he heads White & Case's Paris arbitration group and is co-leader of the Firm's pro bono practice. He has a widely acknowledged range of experience in arbitration and litigation in the areas of energy, telecommunications, project finance and infrastructure. He has served as counsel and arbitrator in arbitrations conducted under most major institutional rules and is the former Australian member of the International Court of Arbitration of the ICC. He is a council member of the ICC Institute and was a member of the ICC Task Force on arbitrations involving state entities. He has covered disputes involving over thirty countries. He has in recent years been involved in a number of mediations, notably in the industrial gas sector, and has served in over two dozen cases as arbitrator (sole, party-appointed or chair), predominantly in the energy sector, under the ICC, LCIA, SCC, Bahrain CDR, FAI, Thai MoJ and UNCITRAL rules. He has also testified as expert witness on international best energy practices.

Michael is also a member of the panel of arbitrators of the BVI International Arbitration Centre, eBRAM (Panel of Arbitrators, Mediators and APEC Neutrals), the Asian International Arbitration Centre, the Asian International Arbitration Centre, OHADA, and the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board. He has recently been included on the Global Arbitrators and Counsel Lists of the Office of the Ombudsman for United Nations Funds and Programmes.

Michael has a significant transactional practice, advising clients in the energy and infrastructure development fields. He has advised a number of petroleum clients on projects in South East Asia, the Russian Federation, India, China and West and North Africa.

Admitted to practice in both common and civil law jurisdictions, Michael is a member of the Legal Advisory Taskforce of the European Energy Charter Secretariat. He has written extensively on energy dispute resolution and foreign investment, and provides courses on long-term energy contracts and dispute resolution. He has taught at the Paris Bar School and several business schools.

Winnie was appointed Senior Counsel in 2006. She served as the Chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association between January 2015 to January 2017 and has been serving as Chairman of the Committee on Intellectual Property since 2019. Since 2015, she has been appointed a Recorder of the Court of First Instance, High Court of the Hong Kong SAR. In 2016, she was honoured as an Overseas Bencher of the Middle Temple Society of England. She has also been serving as a member of the Law Reform Commission since 2019.

Winnie has broad experience in corporate commercial, intellectual property, technology, media and entertainment disputes. Apart from her regular involvement as lead Counsel in IP and commercial litigation and arbitration, Winnie has accumulated substantial experience as an international arbitrator.

Winnie is a panel arbitrator of the HKIAC’s Intellectual Property Specialist Panel, a CIETAC panel arbitrator, a member of the Domain Name Disputes Panel of the HKIAC, a member of the Expert Committee of the China (Shenzhen) IP Arbitration Centre, a panel arbitrator of SCIA, SHIAC, and Qingdao Arbitration Commission, a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and a fellow of the Hong Kong Institute of Arbitrators. She is a WIPO panel mediator, JAMS panel mediator, a CEDR-accredited mediator, a panel mediator on Mainland-Hong Kong Investment Disputes under CEPA. In her capacity as a leading intellectual property barrister she has been invited to join a working group of the Department of Justice on the arbitrability of intellectual property rights, and has contributed to the drafting of a bill presented to LegCo in December 2016. Between 2018 and 2020, Winnie served as a member of the Nominations Committee of the HKIAC. Since 2020-2021, she served as Co-Chair of Women in Arbitration (WIA) under HKIAC. Since May 2020, she has been appointed to the Appointments Committee of HKIAC.

Winnie has been appointed as a presiding arbitrator and co-arbitrator under ICC, HKIAC, CIETAC and SCIA rules in cases involving cross-jurisdictional commercial and joint-venture disputes, shareholders disputes, intellectual property and licensing disputes, international gaming rights licensing disputes and sino-foreign investment disputes. She has been appointed as arbitrator in international arbitrations to be conducted both in English and in Chinese. She has acted as leading counsel and co-counsel in international arbitrations and court actions in aid of international arbitration.