Overview of Events

Mr Paul Lam has been the Secretary for Justice since 1 July 2022.

Before joining the Government, Mr Lam was a Senior Counsel in private practice specialising in general civil and commercial proceedings, and has passed the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Legal Professional Examination. He was a former Vice-Chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association from 2014 to 2017 and the Chairman from 2017 to 2018. He sat as a Deputy Judge of the High Court of Hong Kong for short periods each year since 2015. He was once enlisted in the Panel of Arbitrators of the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration and The China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission, and was once appointed by the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing as professor.

Mr Lam held a number of public service positions, such as Chairman of the Consumer Council, Chairman of the Administrative Appeals Board, Chairman of ICAC Operations Review Committee and Member of Independent Police Complaints Council.

Ms. Anna Joubin-Bret is the Secretary of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and the Director of the International Trade Law Division in the Office of Legal Affairs of the United Nations, which functions as the substantive secretariat for UNCITRAL. She is the ninth Secretary of the Commission since it was established by the General Assembly in 1966.

Prior to her appointment on 24 November 2017, Ms. Joubin-Bret practiced law in Paris, specializing in International Investment Law and Investment Dispute Resolution. She focused on serving as counsel, arbitrator, mediator and conciliator in international investment disputes. She served as arbitrator in several ICSID, UNCITRAL and ICC disputes. Prior to 2011 and for 15 years, Ms. Joubin-Bret was the Senior Legal Adviser for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). She edited and authored seminal research and publications on international investment law, notably the Sequels to UNCTAD IIA Series and co-edited with Jean Kalicki a book on Reform of Investor-State Dispute Settlement in 2015.

Ms. Joubin-Bret holds a post-graduate degree (DEA) in Private International Law from the University of Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne, a Masters Degree in International Economic Law from University Paris I and in Political Science from Institut d'Etudes Politiques. She was Legal Counsel in the legal department of the Schneider Group, General Counsel of the KIS Group and Director-Export of Pomagalski S.A. She was appointed judge at the Commercial Court in Grenoble (France) and was elected Regional Counsellor of the Rhône-Alpes Region in 1998.

Email: anna.joubin-bret@un.org
Phone: +43-1-26060-4071; +43-699-1459-4071
uncitral.un.org

Mr. Li Yongsheng serves as Deputy Commissioner of the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region since September 2023. His previous assignments include, among others, Counsellor and Legal Adviser of the Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations, Special Adviser for the Law of the Sea Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Deputy Director-General of the Foreign Affairs Office of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. He holds a PhD in International Law.

Ms. Anna Joubin-Bret is the Secretary of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and the Director of the International Trade Law Division in the Office of Legal Affairs of the United Nations, which functions as the substantive secretariat for UNCITRAL. She is the ninth Secretary of the Commission since it was established by the General Assembly in 1966.

Prior to her appointment on 24 November 2017, Ms. Joubin-Bret practiced law in Paris, specializing in International Investment Law and Investment Dispute Resolution. She focused on serving as counsel, arbitrator, mediator and conciliator in international investment disputes. She served as arbitrator in several ICSID, UNCITRAL and ICC disputes. Prior to 2011 and for 15 years, Ms. Joubin-Bret was the Senior Legal Adviser for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). She edited and authored seminal research and publications on international investment law, notably the Sequels to UNCTAD IIA Series and co-edited with Jean Kalicki a book on Reform of Investor-State Dispute Settlement in 2015.

Ms. Joubin-Bret holds a post-graduate degree (DEA) in Private International Law from the University of Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne, a Masters Degree in International Economic Law from University Paris I and in Political Science from Institut d'Etudes Politiques. She was Legal Counsel in the legal department of the Schneider Group, General Counsel of the KIS Group and Director-Export of Pomagalski S.A. She was appointed judge at the Commercial Court in Grenoble (France) and was elected Regional Counsellor of the Rhône-Alpes Region in 1998.

Email: anna.joubin-bret@un.org
Phone: +43-1-26060-4071; +43-699-1459-4071
uncitral.un.org

Mr. De Abrew is an Additional Solicitor General at the Attorney General’s Department of Sri Lanka. He was conferred silk as President’s Counsel in the year 2021. He holds a Master of Laws Degree from the International Maritime Law Institute in Malta. He has also been awarded a Master of Laws Degree by the University of Colombo.

He counts over twenty-eight years of experience in litigation as a Counsel representing the State and other government owned institutions, in the Appellate and original Courts of Sri Lanka. He has also appeared in Commercial Arbitrations in Sri Lanka and overseas representing the State and other institutions. He has represented Sri Lanka in bilateral negotiations and other
international fora.

He has published several articles on various subjects including Civil Procedure, Law of the Sea and Shipping Law. He has also authored a book on Ballast Water: Adequacy of The International Legal Regimes in 2014.

He has served as the National Legal Consultant to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. In addition to his duties as a Counsel representing the State, he also serves as the Legal Consultant to the Director General Sri Lanka Customs and the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka. He is also a visiting lecturer at the Sri Lanka Law College.

The Hon Neil McKerracher KC was appointed to the Federal Court of Australia in 2007 and retired in December 2021. He also sat as a Judicial Member of the AAT. Prior to appointment, he generally practised in commercial and civil disputes, taking silk in 1997. He served on several professional bodies. He was an acting Commissioner of the Corruption and Crime Commission, a Senior Sessional Member of the State Administrative Tribunal and a Commissioner (acting judge) of the Supreme Court of Western Australia.

Whilst on the Federal Court for over 14 years, he delivered some 940 appellate and single instance written judgments in a wide variety of commercial and other matters. He represented the court on the executive of the Australian Judicial Officers’ Association. He chaired the UNCITRAL Organizing Committee of Australia and from 2019 to 2022 represented the International Judges’ Association in UNCITRAL working groups in the UN, negotiating a draft international maritime treaty. He has participated with others in endeavours to shape the rules of the court to modern needs generally and particularly for arbitration. He also acted as an arbitrator and a mediator before appointment to the bench and a mediator whilst a judge.

Lianjun is a partner and head of Reed Smith’s transportation and commercial litigation practice in Hong Kong. He is widely recognised as a leading individual in the shipping transportation industry.

He has extensive experience in dealing with legal issues and disputes relating to international trade, commercial transactions, transportation, shipping, cross-border investments, shareholder agreement and bond issuance. His clients include well-known domestic and foreign enterprises and organisations.

He is an experienced arbitrator in international commercial and maritime arbitration. Lianjun is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators since 2002 and a Panel Arbitrator of the Law Society of Hong Kong since 2017. He is also a panel arbitrator with a number of other leading arbitral institutions in the region.

From April 2016 to March 2022, he was appointed by the Hong Kong Government to serve as a member of Hong Kong Maritime and Port Board, and its maritime developments, promotion and man-power committees.

Lianjun is a visiting professor at several well-known law schools.

He qualified as a solicitor in Hong Kong and in England and Wales.

Dr. James Ding is the Law Officer (International Law), Department of Justice of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China. He heads the International Law Division and reports to the Secretary for Justice on issues of international law and international legal cooperation. He has been awarded with the Chief Executive’s Commendation for Government/Public Services in 2021.

He has published on different subjects of international law and international cooperation, and has given various presentations at international and regional conferences, including HCCH, UNCITRAL and UNIDROIT events. He is also currently the Chair of APEC Economic Committee.

He obtained LL.B.(Hons) and Postgraduate Certificate in Laws (Distinction) from the University of Hong Kong, LL.M. from Kyushu University, Japan (under Monbusho scholarship) and Ph.D. from the University of Queensland, Australia. He also received various training in laws and management at Fudan University, Tsinghua University, Chinese Academy of Governance, International Law Institute and the University of Oxford. He became a barrister in Hong Kong in 1997 and joined the Department of Justice in 1999. He also taught law on a part-time basis at the University of Hong Kong and the Open University of Hong Kong from 1998 to 1999.

Ms. Tracy Choi is a Legal Expert of the UNCITRAL Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific (UNCITRAL RCAP), assisting capacity building programmes and technical assistance to States in the Asia and the Pacific in key areas of commercial law. She is seconded from the Department of Justice of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Prior to her secondment, she was a Senior Government Counsel serving in the Civil Division of the Department of Justice during which she handled various civil cases, and assisted in capacity building programmes and policy initiatives with a focus on mediation. Admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong, Ms. Choi has experience in both public and private sectors and holds a law degree from the University of Hong Kong.

Megumi Hara is a professor at the Law School of Chuo University, Tokyo. She teaches property law, contract law, secured transaction law, and trust law. She has published numerous articles on secured transaction law, property law and other topics concerning civil law. Before joining Chuo University, she was first appointed as an associate professor at Kyushu University and then a professor at Gakushuin University. She has taught courses at The University of Tokyo as well as Keio University.

She was involved in Japan's recent property law reform as a researcher/consultant appointed by the Ministry of Justice. She was also a committee member for Torihiki Hōsei Kenkyūkai (Research Group on Business Law) which involves the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), in preparation for reform of the Secured transaction law in Japan. She is a public interests member of the Central Labor Relations Commission.

She served as a delegate of Japan for the Diplomatic Conference for the adoption of the draft Protocol to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment on Matters specific to Agricultural, Construction and Mining Equipment (MAC Protocol). She has also participated as either a delegate for Japan or as an observer for UNCITRAL Working Group VI on Secured Transactions Reform. She represented Japan for UNCITRAL Working Group I deliberations on access to credit. She is also a member of the factoring model law working group for UNIDROIT.

Sara Diaz is an experienced gender scholar and practitioner committed to the advancement of gender equality and women's rights. She holds a master’s degree in Peace and Conflict Studies, with a specialization in Gender and Peacebuilding. She has a track record in conducting research and policy analysis on gender and social development issues in low- and middle-income countries in the Asia-Pacific, as well as Latin America and the Caribbean regions. She has worked for different UN Entities to advance SDG 5, by leading gender-targeted programmes and mainstreaming gender into different spheres of the United Nations' areas of work, including women's entrepreneurship and access to finance.

Jae Sung Lee is a senior legal officer at the International Trade Law Division of the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs, which functions as the substantive secretariat for UNCITRAL. He currently functions as the secretary of Working Group III on Investor-State Dispute Settlement Reform and has served as secretary of working groups on dispute settlement, secured transactions and electronic commerce. Before joining the United Nations in 2007, Jae Sung served in the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A Korean national, Jae Sung is a graduate of Seoul National University College of Law, holds LL.M. degrees from Seoul National University Graduate School of International Studies and NYU School of Law as well as a Ph.D. in Law from Seoul National University.

Ipshita Chaturvedi is a partner in Dentons Rodyk’s Corporate practice group and co-heads the Environment and Natural Resources practice which includes ESG services, carbon transactions, deployment of climate finance, responsible business and human rights, biodiversity law, supply chain management, as well as the environment and social aspects in M&A transactions.

Ipshita has over 14 years of experience in the environment and sustainability sector. Apart from advising the private sector, she has also worked with governments and regulators in South Asia, ASEAN, Europe, and the MENA region, multilateral organisations as well as the United Nations.

Prior to joining Dentons, Ipshita was the founding partner of an award-winning law firm working globally on sustainable development matters including environmental compliance and regulation (impact assessments), ESG strategy, scaling up clean-technology (venture-capital), waste management and EPR related matters, access and benefit-sharing laws in India, Thailand and Bangladesh and issues around carbon credits and renewable energy credits. In addition to the above. Ipshita also serves as the CSR chair for Dentons Rodyk, is part of the global ESG steering group and is the global lead on ESG in supply chains.

Mr. Takashi Takashima is Legal Officer at the International Trade Law Division (ITLD) of the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs, which functions as the substantive secretariat of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). He manages UNCITRAL’s project on the stocktaking of developments in dispute resolution in the digital economy (DRDE) and assists in the servicing of UNCITRAL Working Group II on dispute settlement.

From April 2018 to September 2022, he was Senior Attorney with the Japanese Ministry of Justice. He started his career as Judge of the Tokyo District Court in 2003 and has experience serving as Judge of various courts in Japan for 12 years. From 2009 to 2011, he was second secretary of the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations.

Jaemin Lee is currently Professor of Law at School of Law, Seoul National University in Seoul, Korea. He obtained his LL.B., LL.M. and Ph.D. from Seoul National University; LL.M. from Georgetown University Law Center; and J.D. from Boston College Law School. His major areas of teaching and research are public international law, international economic law and international dispute settlement. He has published articles and books (including book chapters) on various topics of public international law, international trade law, international investment law, and trade policy. Upon graduation from College of Law, Seoul National University in 1992, he joined the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a foreign service officer. Between 2000 and 2004, he also practiced law with Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP (Washington, D.C. office) as an associate attorney of the firm’s international trade group. From 2004 to 2013 he taught international law and international economic law at School of Law, Hanyang University in Seoul, Korea. He served as President of the Korean Society of International Economic Law (2020-2021), and Vice President of the Korean Society of International Law (2021). He also served as the Director of the Asia Pacific Law Institute of Seoul National University. He can be reached at 82-2-880-7572 (office) or via e-mail at jaemin@snu.ac.kr.

Jonathan Harris became a judge of the High Court of Hong Kong in 2009 and shortly thereafter was appointed the Judge in charge of the Companies and Insolvency Court. In 2021 he became the President of Hong Kong’s Competition Tribunal. Judge Harris has lived in Hong Kong since 1983. He practiced as a solicitor prior to joining the Bar in 1993.

Judge Harris was appointed Senior Counsel in 2006. Prior to joining the Judiciary his principal areas of practice involved insolvency, company regulation and securities. He is an active member of the International Insolvency Institute and INSOL and is a member of INSOL's International College of Mediators. He has a particular interest in cross-border insolvency and restructuring issues.

Athita Komindr is Head of the UNCITRAL Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific (UNCITRAL RCAP), managing technical assistance and capacity building programming available to over 50 States in Asia and the Pacific in key areas of commercial law. Prior to joining the United Nations, Athita worked in the fields of international trade and economic law, multilateral dispute resolution, and the rule of law and development. Admitted to the New York Bar, Athita has experience in both common and civil law traditions in the public and private sectors, and holds degrees from Harvard College, Georgetown University Law Center, and Harvard Law School.

Alexander Kunzelmann is a legal officer with the UNCITRAL secretariat, where he serves as secretary of UNCITRAL Working Group IV on electronic commerce, supporting its work on automated contracting and data transactions.

Before joining the United Nations in 2018, Alex worked as a legal adviser with the Attorney-General’s Department of Australia dealing with constitutional law and public international law matters. Prior to that, he worked in private practice and as a legal officer with the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law in the Netherlands, where he focused on cross-border judicial cooperation.

Alex holds a bachelor of arts and a bachelor of laws from the Australian National University and a master of laws specializing in international law from Leiden University in the Netherlands.

Prof. Wisit Wisitsora-at is currently in the position of PermanentSecretary of the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (MDES), sinceOctober 2022. He previously served as Director of StrategicTransformation Office (STO) (July-September 2022), responsible forsteering and implementing the National Strategy Plan into the practices.He has a distinguished track record and background within the civil andcriminal justice sphere nationally and internationally. His tenure asPermanent Secretary for Justice (2017-2022) has made a positive development in promotingpeople’s equal access to justice with the use of digitalized and electronic services, even in theCOVID-19 circumstance. His former positions in the justice system of Thailand include, inter alia,Judge of the Songkhla Kwaeng Court (1994-1995), Director- General of the Office of Justice Affairs (2003-2008), Director-General of the Legal Execution Department (2010-2014), and Director-General of theDepartment of Juvenile Observation and Protection (2015-2017).

Prof. Wisitsora-at is recognised as a prominent figure in the development of legal framework oninternational trade law with specialisation in bankruptcy and insolvency. To date, he is the longestserving Chairman of United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)’s WorkingGroup V on Insolvency Law (1999-2019). In addition, he is the professor of Laws lecturing atuniversities and professional development courses in Thailand.

Prof. Wisitsora-at has in addition a leading role in upholding the aspect of human rights, to be in linewith the obligations of Thailand under international instruments. In November 2021, he served asthe head of Thai delegation in presenting a verbal report upon the Committee of the InternationalConvention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) in Geneva, Switzerland. InJune 2022, he presented Thailand’s development in ensuring the rights to health of prisoners in the1st World Conference on Health in Detention in Geneva, Switzerland.

Prof. Wisitsora-at graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (2nd Class Honours) from Thammasat University, inThailand and a Bachelor of Laws (Second Class Honours, Upper Division) from the University ofWales, in the United Kingdom. In addition, he is admitted as barrister to the Thai Bar Association andthe Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, in the United Kingdom.

Dr Alan Davidson has been an academic at the Law School of the University of Queensland for 26 years. Dr Davidson presents courses in International Trade Law, International Trade Finance Law and, Law and Technology. He has been a visiting academic in the USA, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and China.

Since 2014 Dr Davidson has participated in all sessions of UNCITRAL Working Group IV (Electronic Commerce), and in 2015 was invited to join its Panel of Experts. Since 2022 Dr Davidson has formally represented Australia at Working Group IV, and Chaired part of the 2022 Working Group session in Vienna. In 2023, at the request of UNCITRAL, Dr Davidson provided technical assistance with UNCITRAL texts to the nation of Tuvalu on Electronic Transactions legislation. He has participated in UNCITRAL dissemination events in South Korea, Delhi India and the Philippines.

Dr Alan Davidson is a Director and Fellow of UNCCA (UNCITRAL National Coordination Committee Australia) and is its Education Director arranging for Australian Law students to attend UNCITRAL Working Groups (60+ to date). In 2011 Dr Davidson was invited to speak at the UNCITRAL Colloquium on Electronic Commerce at UN Headquarters.

Dr Davidson practiced law for more than a decade before moving into academia full time. He is a Fellow of the Institute of International Banking Law and Practice and regularly speaks at the conferences for the Institute in Hong Kong, Singapore and New York.

With more than 200 publications, his books include Social Media and Electronic Commerce Law in 2 editions by Cambridge University Press; The Internet for Lawyers, The Internet for Accountants and Company Meetings

Dr Eliza Mik has joined the CUHK Faculty of Law in January 2021. Before joining academia, she worked in-house for a number of software and telecommunications companies in Australia, Poland, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates. She advised on software licensing, technology procurement, digital signatures, and e-commerce regulation. Her PhD focused on the private law aspects of e-commerce and on general problems of transaction automation. From 2014, Eliza’s research has centered on smart contracts and the use of artificial intelligence in transaction automation. Eliza has advised the World Bank and the Monetary Authority of Singapore. At present, she is a member of the UNCITRAL Expert Group for the Digital Economy, a member of the Inclusive Global Legal Innovation Platform on ODR (iGLIP, Hong Kong), a Research Associate at the Tilburg Institute for Law, Society and Technology (TILT, Netherlands) and an Affiliate Researcher with the Centre for AI and Digital Ethics at the University of Melbourne (CAIDE, Australia).

Mr Cheung Kwok-kwan has been the Deputy Secretary for Justice since 1 July 2022.

Mr Cheung was a solicitor in private practice in Hong Kong with the qualifications of China-appointed Attesting Officer and Civil Celebrant of Marriages before joining the Department of Justice. He was a Non-Official Member of the Executive Council, and a member of the Legislative Council as well as the District Council.

He has also served as a member of Hong Kong Housing Authority, the Non-Executive Director of Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation Limited, the court member of the University of Hong Kong, a member of Standing Committee on Disciplined Services Salaries and Conditions of Service, and the Chairman of Practice and Examination Committee of Hong Kong Estate Agents Authority.