Our lecturers consist of leading lawyers, arbitrators, representatives from arbitral institutions and academics from around the world.
The BIAMC stands for diversity. This is why we have lecturers from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and North America. We are proud that well over 50% of our lecturers are female.
Below, you can find additional information about each lecturer.
Sheila Ahuja
Sheila Ahuja is a Partner in Allen & Overy’s Global Arbitration group based in Singapore. She advises on a wide range of arbitration matters and arbitration related court proceedings, involving jurisdictions such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Myanmar, Malaysia, Japan and in particular India. Sheila has particular experience of energy and infrastructure disputes, disputes arising from joint ventures and distributorship arrangements, and disputes relating to complex financial products. She represents clients in both commercial arbitrations and investor-State arbitrations. Amongst other positions, Sheila is Co-Chair of the Asia Pacific Arbitration Group Sub-Committee of the IBA, Co-Chair of the Steering Committee of the Young MCIA and a member of the Steering Committee of the IBAArb40 Sub-Group of the IBA Arbitration Committee. She speaks English, Hindi, Sindhi, Cantonese and Mandarin.
Laura Karuri Alakija
Laura Alakija is Managing Partner, as well as Head of Commercial Disputes (Arbitration and ADR) at Primera Africa Legal. She specializes in Energy and Natural Resources, ICT Law and Hospitality. She has acted in arbitrations conducted under the Lagos Court of Arbitration (LCA) Rules 2018, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Rules 2017, the Lagos Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (RCICAL) Rules 2008, the Lagos Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme Arbitrations Rules 2012 and the Arbitration and Conciliation Act CAP A18, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
Active Roles in International Arbitration Community:
– Drafting committee, Africa Arbitration Academy’s Protocol on Virtual Hearings in Africa 2020
– Organizing committee, first Lagos Pre-Moot Competition 2020
– ICC YAF Representative for Africa, Middle East and Turkey
– Annual contributor and arbitrator to the LCA-YAN Annual Moot Competitions Awards and Recognitions
– Africa’s 50 Most Promising Young Arbitration Practitioners, 2020 – awarded by the Association of Young Arbitrators
– Nigeria’s 40 Under 40 Rising Stars, 2019 – awarded by ESQ Nigeria Legal Awards
Dr Dalma R Demeter, LLB Hons, LLM, SJD, GCTE
Dr Dalma R Demeter is an educator, researcher, an independent arbitrator, consultant, and executive with a truly international background. As an educator, she is the winner of several teaching awards, focussing on teaching professional skills and practical application together with theory in dispute resolution and international commercial law. She teaches law for several universities in Australia and provides capacity building training in the Asia-Pacific Region. As a researcher and author of journal articles, books, and book chapters, her publications focus on dispute resolution and legal development. As a legal practitioner, her expertise is in international commercial arbitration, international business law, contracts, comparative law, and conflict of laws. As an executive, she is coordinating the operation of a national organisation contributing to the development and promotion of international trade law in Australia.
Kabir Duggal
Dr. Kabir Duggal is an attorney in Arnold and Porter’s New York office focusing on international investment arbitration, international commercial arbitration, and public international law matters, serving both as counsel and arbitrator.
Dr. Duggal is a Lecturer-in-Law at Columbia Law School, teaching “International Investment Law and Arbitration.” He is also a Course Director and Faculty Member for the Columbia Law School-Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Comprehensive Course on International Arbitration.
He also acts as a Consultant for the United Nations Office of the High Representative for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS) on the creation of a novel “Investment Support Program.” He has published over 40 articles and has spoken at over 300 arbitration events all over the world. He is a graduate of the University of Mumbai, University of Oxford (DHL-Times of India Scholar), NYU School of Law (Hauser Global Scholar), Leiden Law School (2019 CEPANI Academic Prize), and is currently pursuing an SJD Degree from Harvard Law School.
Brenda Horrigan
Brenda is Head of International Arbitration – Australia at Herbert Smith Freehills, based in HSF’s Sydney office. She is an Australian registered foreign lawyer admitted in Washington DC.
Brenda has some 20 years’ experience in international arbitration. Her practice is multifaceted; she works as counsel on complex international commercial and investment treaty arbitration matters at both the arbitration and enforcement stages, and also sits as an arbitrator. She began her career as a transactional lawyer, and that background provides valuable insight for clients into the underlying commercial and contractual aspects of their disputes.
Brenda serves as the President of ACICA, is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (Australia), and is listed on the panels of several arbitral institutions. She also served for several years as Global Adjunct Professor of Law at New York University Law School (Shanghai campus).
Brenda has practiced in the US, Paris, Moscow, Shanghai and now Sydney, and is consistently ranked in Chambers and in Global Arbitration Review’s Who’s Who: Legal as a leading arbitration practitioner.
Anjana Khemraz-Chikhuri
Anjana is the Deputy Registrar of the Arbitration & Mediation Center of the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MARC). She has managed numerous institutional arbitration cases and worked with international, high profile arbitrators on complex cases, besides being involved in the setting up of MARC’s new governance structure, made up of the world’s finest arbitration experts and led by Neil Kaplan QC.
She has also participated in the drafting of the 2014 and 2018 versions of the MARC arbitration rules and in the organization of numerous events and training programmes in the field of arbitration and mediation, including the 1st and 2nd edition of the Mauritius Arbitration Week. She regularly speaks at conferences, conducts training and writes articles on arbitration and mediation. She has also initiated and led several international projects funded by the European Union, the Indian Ocean Commission, the US Embassy and the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA).
She is currently the Project Lead for an MCCI/IORA funded project aimed at the Creation of a Center of Excellence for Dispute Resolution in the India Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Region. Anjana holds a BA in Law & Management, and an LL.M in International Business Law from the University of Paris II (Panthéon-Assas).
Joongi Kim
Joongi Kim is Professor of Law at Yonsei Law School in Seoul, Korea. His research focuses on international arbitration, international trade and investment, corporate governance and good governance. His recent research includes a treatise INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION IN KOREA (Oxford University Press 2017), for which he received the 11th Simdang International Trade and Business Research Award, and CORPORATE GOVERNANCE IN ASIA (Cambridge University Press 2019).
He has acted as a presiding arbitrator, sole arbitrator, and co-arbitrator in institutional and ad hoc proceedings under the rules of the GGGI, HKIAC, ICC, ICSID, JCAA, KCAB, LMAA, SIAC and UNCITRAL. He also serves on the panel of arbitrators for the ICSID, Korea-EU Free Trade Agreement, Korea-US Free Trade Agreement and Global Green Growth Institute, in addition to AIAC, CAA, CIETAC, CRCICA, DIAC, HIAC, HKIAC, JCAA, KCAB, PIAC, RIMA, SCCA, SCIA, SHIAC, SIAC, and VIAC, and the panel of mediators of HIAC International Mediation Center, SIMC, and VMC.
A Vice President of ICC Korea’s International Arbitration Committee and the Korean Council for International Arbitration, and a member of KCAB’s International Arbitration Committee, he sits on the editorial board of International Investment Law and Arbitration (Brill), Asian Journal of Comparative Law (Cambridge University Press), Dispute Resolution International (IBA) and Korean Arbitration Review. He holds academic degrees from Columbia, Yonsei and Georgetown. He has been a visiting professor at ESADE, Georgetown, Keio, the National University of Singapore, National Law School of India University (Bangalore), University of Florida and University of Hong Kong.
Athita Komindr
Wolf von Kumberg
LWolf is a leading internationally recognized arbitrator and mediator with over 30 years’ experience in International legal business. Before establishing his ADR practice he served as Legal Director and Assistant General Counsel to Northrop Grumman Corporation and before that to Litton Industries Inc. During his international career being located in their Toronto, Zurich and London offices. Wolf is particularly knowledgeable in disputes related to the Aviation & Aerospace, Defence, Compliance, IP, Cyber Security and High Tech Industries. His practice involved most regions of the world and includes commercial, government and state entities.
He has been involved in a variety of domestic and international arbitrations and mediations particularly concerning Aviation, Aerospace Defense, Cyber, Technology, Licensing, IP, Maritime, Company Boards, Government Procurements, Corporate Governance, Compliance (FCPA, Bribery Act, OECD), Regulatory Investigations, Insurance and Reinsurance, International Corporate and Commercial Law, Corporate Restructuring, International M&A, Global Banking, Financing, Taxation, Export Regulations, Intellectual Property and Licensing, Competition, Environmental and Employment.
Sue Hyun Lim
SUE HYUN LIM is the Secretary General of KCAB INTERNATIONAL. Among her various responsibilities Ms. Lim oversees KCAB’s international arbitration case management process, ensuring the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the procedures under the KCAB International Rules, as well as leading the public relations efforts to further enhance the standing of KCAB INTERNATIONAL – and Seoul as a seat of arbitration – among international users.
Ms. Lim is a Korean licensed attorney and is also admitted to the New York State bar. Ms. Lim is a contributing author to Arbitration, Practice and Law (Parkyoungsa, 2016) and she is featured in Who’s Who Legal: Arbitration Future Leaders.
Steven Y.H. Lim
Steven is an arbitrator and barrister. He sits as presiding, sole, co-arbitrator and emergency arbitrator, is a panel arbitrator with the SIAC, HKIAC, ICDR, KCAB, JCAA, CAAI, AIAC and THAC and has also sat in ICC, SCMA, LMAA, UNCITRAL Rules and ad hoc cases.
Steven has extensive experience with disputes involving Indo-Pacific jurisdictions including Singapore, India, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, Peru, USA, UK, Netherlands and Australia.
Steven has been recognized as a leading individual in international arbitration. He has been noted in Chambers and Legal 500 as “hugely experienced”, “a respected arbitrator with extensive experience handling commercial arbitrations in the construction, infrastructure and energy sectors”, “is respected for his incisive mind”, “peers point out his sharp intellect”, “inventive”, “a prominent counsel in arbitration”, and “very impressive advocate”.
Winnie Ma
Winnie Jo-Mei Ma is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Advisor to CAA (Chinese Arbitration Association, Taipei), and Honorary Adjunct Assistant Professor of Bond University. She has been teaching law in English and Chinese at various institutions in Australia and Taiwan since September 2000.
Winnie’s publications and teaching focus on international commercial arbitration and private international law. Her SJD thesis, “Public Policy in the Enforcement of Arbitral Awards: Lessons for and from Australia”, has 15,000+ full-text downloads. She serves on the editorial boards of Contemporary Asia Arbitration Journal and Chinese (Taiwan) Yearbook of International Law and Affairs.
Formerly the Deputy Secretary-General of CAA (2017-2019), Winnie co-drafted the arbitration rules, guidelines on case management conference, code of ethics, arbitrators guide and parties guide etc. for CAAI (CAA International Arbitration Centre). Winnie is also a CIArb faculty member, and was the convenor of CIArb East Asia Branch Taiwan Chapter (2017-2019).
Chié Nakahara
Chié Nakahara is a Partner in the International Arbitration Practice at Nishimura & Asahi.
Chié, being dual-qualified to practice in both New York and Japan, has represented parties in international and domestic arbitral proceedings, ranging from multi-million to multi-billion US dollar disputes. Her experience covers a wide range of institutional rules, including the SIAC, ICC, JCAA, and KCAB, in various seats. She has extensive experience in dealing with disputes covering a wide spectrum of subjects/industries, including construction, joint ventures, post-M&A, government contracts, automobile manufacturing, consumer retail, distributorships, electrical appliance manufacturing, heavy equipment manufacturing, online games, energy, oil, and gas, etc.
Chié has also been appointed as an arbitrator, serving as a member on a panel of arbitrators for the SIAC, KCAB, JCAA, and Daiichi Tokyo Bar Arbitration Center.
Chié holds an undergraduate law degree from Kyoto University (LL.B.) and master’s degree from Stanford Law School (LL.M. in International Economic Law, Business and Policy). Chié has practised in Japan and New York.
Ricardo Ma. P.G. Ongkiko
Ricardo Ma. P.G. Ongkiko is a senior partner in SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan (SyCipLaw), one of the largest and most prestigious law firms in the Philippines. He is the Head of SyCipLaw’s Litigation Department, and a Regular Member of its Executive Committee. His practice areas include international and domestic arbitration, construction arbitration, mediation, civil and commercial litigation, corporation law, and contract law.
Mr. Ongkiko earned his Bachelor of Arts in Economics (1984, magna cum laude) and Bachelor of Laws (1988, cum laude, class salutatorian) from the University of the Philippines. He earned his Master of Laws from the University of Michigan (1992).
He is a Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (East Asia Branch) and a member of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration. He is the President Emeritus, past Chairman, and past President of the Philippine Institute of Arbitrators (PIArb), the President of the Philippine Institute of Construction Arbitrators and Mediators, Inc., and a Trustee of the Philippine Dispute Resolution Center, Inc. (PDRC). He is a Foundation Committee Member of the Beihai Asia International Arbitration Centre, and a Member of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre Users Council.
He is an accredited arbitrator of PIArb, PDRC, the Philippine International Center for Conflict Resolution, and the Construction Industry Arbitration Commission, as well as the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre, the Asian International Arbitration Centre, the Vienna International Arbitral Centre, the Dubai International Arbitration Centre, the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board, and the National Arbitration and Mediation (New York), among others.
Iain Potter
Iain is a forensic accountant based in Singapore specialising in disputed business valuations and complex loss of profit claims and he is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He regularly serves as an expert witness in court and international arbitration proceedings to provide opinions on accounting issues. He has testified before courts and arbitral tribunals adopting traditional cross examination procedures as well as those requiring concurrent evidence or ‘expert hot-tubbing’.
He is currently pursuing a number of areas of research, including a PhD with the University of Leicester where he is investigating the extent to which the time value of money as well as risk and uncertainty are reflected in awards of damages. He also oversees research projects with teams from the National University of Singapore’s Business School, focussing on the quantification of losses in shareholder claims and on the cost of capital applicable to listed companies in South East Asia.
Harshitha Ram
Harshitha is the founder of Lex Apotheke, Attorneys and International Arbitrators. She has a succesful international practice and handles issues in versatile domains. Ms. Ram is a licensed attorney in India and holds a masters in dispute resolution and international arbitration from the University of South Wales, UK. She acquired a fellowship from the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) as one of its youngest fellows in early 2010. In 2013 she became the youngest appointed member of the Arbitrators of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Paris. She has held the position of district manager for the World Mediation Organization (WMO), Germany adn has trained and certified individual mediators for the WMO. She has presented and co-presented several alternative dispute resolution workships, seminars, and training programs in the UK, India, and the US.
Rekha Rangachari
Rekha Rangachari is the Executive Director of the New York International Arbitration Center (NYIAC). Rekha is actively engaged with the global legal community. She is Board Member of the Association for Conflict Resolution of Greater New York (ACR-GNY) and the New York Coalition of Women’s Initiatives. She is also Co-Chair of the American Society of International Law’s (ASIL’s) Private International Law Interest Group and Co-Chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Dispute Resolution’s Young Professionals Committee. In addition, Rekha is Member of ArbitralWomen and its Diversity Toolkit Training, the Green Pledge Steering Committee, and the Equal Representation in Arbitration (ERA) Pledge Young Professionals Subcommittee. Rekha also maintains an active connection to academics as Associate Editor of the Juris Investment Arbitration Conference Volumes, Adjunct Professor at Seton Hall Law School, and Peer Review Board Member of the American Review of International Arbitration (ARIA) at Columbia Law School.
Donna Ross
Donna Ross LL.M. FCIArb is an international ADR practitioner admitted to practice in New York and Australia, with a French civil law degree.
Ms Ross is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, a member or the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators, an IAMA/Resolution Institute Graded Arbitrator, an NMAS Accredited Mediator, an IMI (International Mediation Institute) Certified Mediator and a Law Institute of Victoria Accredited Specialist in Mediation Law. She has been ranked by Doyle’s Guide as one of Victoria’s Leading Mediators and sits on the panels of a number of international and domestic arbitral institutes.
In addition to serving as a neutral, Donna advises and acts for clients from civil and common law jurisdictions, particularly in cross-border deals and disputes, having lived and worked in the U.S., Europe and Australia. She teaches mediation, arbitration and principled negotiation: she is on the faculty of CIArb and the Australian Disputes Centre and is a lecturer at La Trobe Law School. Ms Ross chairs Resolution Institute’s Victorian Arbitration Committee and is sits on the National Determinative Committee and is a member AFIA and ArbitralWomen among other associations.
Neeti Sachdeva
Neeti is the Secretary General and Registrar of MCIA. Prior to joining MCIA, Neeti has extensively worked in the field of International Commercial Arbitration, both as a private practitioner representing clients and as an administrator, facilitating the dispute resolution procedure. Neeti’s past professional experience includes working with Trilegal and Economic Laws Practice. She has also worked at the International Arbitration Department of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Paris office, besides being a judicial researcher at Delhi High Court.
Neeti has also worked with LCIA India as its First Deputy Registrar. She regularly acts as an arbitrator in commercial disputes and is also active in the academic circles as a Guest Faculty. She is also a part of the Steering Committee of Pledge, Equal Representation of Women in Arbitration. Neeti has obtained a Masters in ICA from Stockholm University, and has also undertaken a course in Private International Law from the Hague Academy of International Law.
Darshendev Singh
A lawyer who “always delivers in a timely fashion” and “is very focused and constantly thinking outside the lines to come up with creative ways to solve a complex problem”: The Legal 500.
Darshendev’s primary area of practice is commercial dispute resolution with a focus on disputes relating to construction, engineering, oil & gas, and infrastructure projects.
Besides regularly sitting as an arbitrator and an adjudicator, Darshendev also represents clients in international and domestic arbitration, litigation, mediation, and adjudication. He has been involved in numerous ad hoc as well as institutional arbitrations.
The sole Malaysian recipient of the 2019 Asia Pacific Top 10 Arbitrators Award (under the age of 40 category), Darshendev was also recently ranked as a Next Generation Partner for Dispute Resolution in Malaysia, by The Legal 500 in its Asia Pacific 2020 Ranking.
Former chairperson of the Young Members Group of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (Malaysia), Darshendev is a frequent speaker on the international circuit on issues related to his areas of practice and contributes to global publications on the arbitration and construction law landscape.
Harald Sippel
Dr Harald Sippel, MBA SFBiam FCIArb acts as the BIAMC’s Academic Director, is a Founder at Putilin Sippel and a Senior Legal Advisor at Schinder Law Firm.
Harald has been practicing law for well over ten years in Austria, China, Germany, Indonesia, Korea and Malaysia, predominantly in the field of international dispute resolution. He has been involved in over 70 international arbitration proceedings as counsel, arbitrator, in-house counsel and tribunal secretary. In 2018/2019, he was the Asian International Arbitration Centre’s Head of Legal Services and in that capacity was in charge of supervising the administration of well over 2,000 adjudication, arbitration, mediation and expert determination matters.
In addition to his counsel work, Harald regularly sits as a neutral in international disputes. He is a Specialist Mediator with the SIMC and a member of the editorial board of the Asia Pacific Mediation Journal. He also frequently speaks and publishes on matters of international dispute resolution.
Swee Im Tan
Tan Swee Im is a Chartered Arbitrator and an international arbitrator member at 39 Essex Chambers, based in their Kuala Lumpur office. Her focus is on the construction, infrastructure and energy sectors with extensive experience ranging from the early procurement strategy stage, to contract drafting, advisory during the project life, through to dispute resolution. She has spent more than 30 years in these sectors in counsel and advisory roles, including having been seconded to the KL International Airport and Malaysia-Singapore Second Crossing projects, been an in-house counsel and founded a boutique legal firm in 1999. She is now a fulltime Arbitrator and Adjudicator and Accredited Mediator. She is a panel arbitrator of AIAC, SIAC, HKIAC, an Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya, Barrister-at-Law (Middle Temple), FCIArb, FMIArb, FAIADR, FCIOB, FMSAdj, FDBF and holds a Diploma in International Commercial Arbitration
Clarisse von Wunschheim
Clarisse von Wunschheim specializes in international and cross-cultural dispute resolution, in particular international arbitration and commercial mediation and with a focus on the European and Chinese market. Her main areas of practice include general contract law, agency and distribution, sales, joint ventures as well as other forms of
foreign investment. Clarisse has been involved as counsel, mediator, arbitrator, as well as secretary to high profile arbitral tribunals in a multitude of arbitration proceedings under various rules including the ICC Rules, SCAI, Uncitral Rules, ICSID, CIETAC, DIS, VIAC, etc.
Clarisse von Wunschheim is the head of the China Desk and the co-head of the Dispute Resolution Practice Group.
Vicky Zhao
Mariana Zhong
Mariana Zhong is a National Partner of the International Arbitration Department of Dechert LLP, based in Beijing. She has over twelve years’ experience working on international arbitration and dispute resolution matters. She has worked on several dozens of international commercial arbitration cases before institutions including ICC, LCIA, HKIAC, SIAC, CIETAC, BAC, SHIAC, SCIA and ad hoc tribunals seated abroad applying UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules. She also worked in some ICSID international investment arbitration cases and advised some Chinese investor client on potential investment arbitration against a State in Asia.
Ms. Zhong frequently advises foreign clients on Chinese law-related matters, including enforcing foreign awards in China, and advises Chinese companies on investment and dispute matters abroad.
Ms. Zhong is an arbitrator, an affiliate research fellow of Harvard Law School, an ICC YAF Representative for North Asia and a member of NYSBA, YSIAC and Young ITA. She is a frequent speaker and diligent writer on international arbitration-related topics.
Ms. Zhong received her LLM degree from NYU and is admitted in New York State and also China. She has been recognized for three consecutive years as a ‘Next Generation Lawyer’ in The Legal 500 Asia Pacific.
