Shahla Ali, recognized as “a rising name in Asian arbitration…” is a professor and associate dean at the University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Law. She serves as a bilingual arbitrator (English/Chinese) with HKIAC, CIETAC, FINRA, SCIA and mediator with HKMC, HKMAAL, WTC Macau and the HK Building and Lands Tribunal. She has studied and practiced in China, Hong Kong SAR, Israel, the US and Switzerland and speaks English, Chinese and Farsi. She is qualified to practice law in California.

In addition to her Asia-Pacific experience, Shahla worked as an attorney with Baker & McKenzie, LLP in its San Francisco office where she focused on international trade, corporate transactions and regulatory compliance. Internationally, she has consulted with USAID, IFC/World Bank and the UN on access to justice, peace process negotiation, and served as a delegate at UNCITRAL’s WG II, and IBA’s Working Group on Investor State Mediation Rules. She is the author or co-editor of 6 books, and more than 50 articles and chapters in the area of cross border arbitration and mediation. She received her JD and PhD from UC Berkeley in Jurisprudence and Social Policy, her MA in Conflict Resolution, and BA in International Relations and Chinese Language from Stanford University.

Sarah Grimmer is Secretary-General of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC). 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).

Eugene is a partner of the Hong Kong, China and Vietnam IP and TMT practices. Eugene also leads the Hong Kong office's citizenship and diversity initiatives.

Starting off as an IP litigator, Eugene has developed his practice to cover the full spectrum of contentious and advisory IP and TMT work in Hong Kong and China. The experience of seeing how things went wrong enables Eugene to spot risks early, prevent problems from happening and resolve them in a practical manner.

Serving as an appointed domain name panelist and an accredited mediator also helps Eugene evaluate issues from an adjudicator's perspective. As examples, Eugene has helped clients resolve disputes in all areas of IP including copyright, patents, trademarks and domain names, through litigation, negotiations and alternative dispute resolutions (e.g. arbitration and mediation).