WIA Establishes its First Committees

PRESS RELEASE
WIA Establishes its First Committees

HKIAC’s Women in Arbitration initiative (WIA) has established the first WIA Committee and WIA Executive Committee (together, Committees).

The WIA Committee will be responsible for shaping the policies and activities of WIA for the purpose of promoting gender diversity in arbitration and related areas in China. The WIA Committee members are based in a variety of locations to extend the reach of WIA’s work. The incoming WIA Committee members for the 2020 – 2022 term are:

• Winnie Tam SBS, SC, JP (Co-Chair), Des Voeux Chambers (Hong Kong)
• Lixia Zhang (Co-Chair), Beijing Huamao & Guigu Law Firm (Beijing)
• Shahla Ali, Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong)
• Chiann Bao, Arbitration Chambers (Hong Kong)
• Lili Jiang, China University of Political Science and Law (Beijing)
• Binbin Sun, Zhong Lun Law Firm (Shanghai)
• Melody Wang, Shanghai Lang Yue Law Firm (Shanghai)
• Ling Yang, HKIAC (Shanghai)
• Xi Zhang, iCarbonX Co., Ltd. (Shenzhen)

The WIA Executive Committee will work with the WIA Committee Members to implement policies and activities.  The incoming WIA Executive Committee members for the 2020-2022 term are:

• Ling Yang, HKIAC
• Connie Lee, Des Voeux Chambers
• Yu Li, Independent Arbitrator
• Monika Prusinowska, China-EU School of Law, China University of Political Science and Law
• Xiaojun Wang, HKIAC

All Committee members are proficient in Chinese and English. More detailed profiles of the Committee members can be found here.

HKIAC launched WIA in February 2018, an initiative committed to the promotion and success of female practitioners in international arbitration and related areas in China. The aim of WIA is to provide a forum to consider and discuss current topics, grow networks and business relationships, and develop the next generation of leading female practitioners.

Since the launch, WIA activities have been organised in Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong. Activities have included roundtable discussions, debates, and social events covering technical topics relating to arbitration as well as subjects addressing professional and personal development.

The launch of the WIA initiative is one of several important steps HKIAC has taken to improve the representation of women in arbitration including:

• In 2016, HKIAC signed the Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge (Pledge);
• After signing the Pledge, HKIAC adopted an internal policy of including at least one qualified female candidate on short-lists for appointment, whenever possible. The number of female appointees has more than tripled over the period 2015 – 2019.
• In 2018, HKIAC formalised its internal practice by implementing guidelines to encourage diversity amongst panel speakers. In HKIAC’s 2020 webinar series comprising 22 webinars, 52.9% of speakers were female; and
• In 2020, HKIAC participated in the ICCA Cross-Institutional Task Force on Gender Diversity in Arbitral Appointments and Proceedings resulting in the release of the ICCA Report on Gender Diversity in Arbitral Appointments and Proceedings.

If you are interested in joining the WIA membership to promote the success of female practitioners in the field of international arbitration, please click here to find out more.