Herbert Smith Freehills–SMU Asian Arbitration Lecture 2023

Constraints on the Engagement of State-Owned Enterprises in Mediation and Arbitration

Widely hailed as a success, the Singapore Convention on Mediation entered into force in September 2020. It provides the framework for negotiated settlements to be enforced in the same manner as arbitral awards, thereby obviating one impediment to mediation – the fear that a resulting agreement will not be honoured. Yet it is not clear that mediations, and in particular those involving state-owned entities, will necessarily follow in the wake of the Convention. Other barriers – political, institutional, social, practical, and even criminal – constrain state-owned entities from settling cases, and influence their strategy and tactics in commercial and investment arbitrations as well. What are these obstacles, and can they be surmounted to facilitate the negotiated settlement of more high-stakes disputes?
 

For more information, please visit the lecture website.
 

PROGRAMME

Time (SGT)	Programme
4:30pm	Registration
4:40pm	Guests to be seated
4:45pm	Welcome Remarks Professor Lee Pey Woan Dean, Yong Pung How School of Law Singapore Management University
4:50pm	Introduction of Speaker Mr Alastair Henderson Managing Partner, Southeast Asia Herbert Smith Freehills LLP
4:55pm	Lecture – "Constraints on the Engagement of State-Owned Enterprises in Mediation and Arbitration" Professor Andrea K. Bjorklund Professor of Law & L. Yves Fortier Chair in International Arbitration and International Commercial Law McGill University
5:40pm	Panel Discussion and Q&A Professor Andrea K. Bjorklund McGill University Mr Chuan Wee Meng Chief Executive Officer Singapore International Mediation Centre Ms Marjolein van den Bosch-Broeren Head of Enforcement (APAC) Omni Bridgeway Mr Alastair Henderson (moderator) Managing Partner, Southeast Asia Herbert Smith Freehills LLP
6:10pm	Closing Remarks Ms Gitta Satryani Partner Herbert Smith Freehills LLP
6:15pm	End of Event

 

 

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

 

Professor Andrea K. Bjorklund
Professor of Law & L. Yves Fortier Chair in International Arbitration and International Commercial Law
McGill University
 

GUEST OF HONOUR

Justice Belinda Ang
Justice of the Court of Appeal
Supreme Court

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PANELLISTS

Mr Chuan Wee Meng
Chief Executive Officer
Singapore International Mediation Centre

 

Ms Marjolein van den Bosch-Broeren
Head of Enforcement (APAC)
Omni Bridgeway

 

Mr Alastair Henderson
Managing Partner, Southeast Asia
Herbert Smith Freehills LLP