At noon on May 17, 2021, an exchange seminar themed “The Operation of Hong Kong International Arbitration Center and Its Rules and Features” was held in Tahota Chengdu Office. Dr. Yang Ling, Deputy Secretary-General of Hong Kong International Arbitration Center (HKIAC) and Chief Representative of Shanghai Representative Office, was invited to the seminar. Hosted by our partner/lawyer Zhou Yarui, the exchange seminar had many special guests present, including Ms. Zhuang Wenmin, the Board Secretary and General Counsel of Honghua Group, Director/Lawyer Yang Jianhong of Tahota Hong Kong Office and Lawyer Ma Chunyan, the person in charge of the International Business Department of Tahota. More than 30 partners and young lawyers of Tahota actively participated in the conference and actively communicated with Dr. Yang.  

At the seminar, Dr. Yang Ling shared her views on several topics, mainly including the core differences between domestic and foreign arbitration procedures, the practical operation of applying for preservation in overseas arbitration procedures, the market opportunities of international arbitration in the southwest region and the advantages of choosing HKIAC arbitration. 

Among the topics, Dr. Yang focused on the different designs of overseas and domestic arbitration in aspects of starting process, arbitrator panel, case management meeting and etc., introduced in detail the various ways to apply for preservation in Hong Kong arbitration procedures and their respective advantages, and pointed out some misunderstandings about the “seat of arbitration” in practice and cleared up some confusions in practical operations. She also proposed that the cost and expense of arbitration should be “considered as a strategy” throughout the entire arbitration procedure, and gave us a witty and humor lecture by combining in-depth theoretical analysis and vivid practice cases. 

In addition, lawyers Yang Jianhong and Zhou Yarui also shared their views on the advantages and characteristics of HKIAC in the management of arbitration procedures combining their respective practical experience in handling arbitration procedures at HKIAC, and pointed out the blind spots which may be easily ignored by domestic lawyers when dealing with dispute resolution clauses and cross-border disputes. They also shared their views and suggestions on the prospect of “making Hong Kong, China the first choice for international arbitration”. 

The exchange seminar came to a successful conclusion in the warm applause of the guests present. In the future, we will make full use of superior resources and rich experience in handling international arbitration to provide enterprises with more professional, efficient and high-quality legal services.