Each year, ALB assembles an independent judging panel comprising senior and expert legal industry leaders from various sectors, aligning with our diverse range of award categories. We're delighted to introduce some of these distinguished judges here. For the complete list of judges, please refer to our program booklet.

*The judges listed below are presented in random order.

Audrey Shum
Managing Director and General Counsel
Christie's 

Audrey Shum is the managing director and general counsel of Christie’s APAC.  After advising Christie’s in all aspects of its business for a decade as its head of legal, she was appointed as the managing director of Christie’s APAC in 2022 to manage both its operations and legal teams.  She is also a co-chair of Christie’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee in APAC.
Prior to Christie’s, Audrey was a partner in an international law firm specialising in managing cross border technology related disputes, advising on the sale and licensing of intellectual property and protection of companies’ confidential information and knowhow.  

 
 
Eoin Gillen
APAC General Counsel
BNP Paribas

Eoin Gillen is APAC General Counsel at BNP Paribas, based in Hong Kong. He manages a team of c.140 legal professionals based in 12 jurisdictions across APAC supporting BNP Paribas’s group activities in the region. Mr. Gillen joined BNP Paribas in 2008, working first in the London office before relocating to Hong Kong. He is an experienced lawyer who spent much of his career advising on derivatives, securities and financial regulation.  Before joining BNP Paribas, Mr. Gillen trained and worked with a top law firm in London and also spent time as a legal structurer on a bank credit trading desk. 

Jonathan Shun Wah
Vice President & Lead Compliance Counsel
Pfizer 

Jonathan SHUN WAH is Vice President & Lead Compliance Counsel at Pfizer Inc, based in Hong Kong. He leads a team responsible for compliance related investigations and risk mitigation in the APAC and Greater China Region.  Mr. Shun Wah graduated from the University of Manchester with a degree in BA Accounting and Law and is a qualified lawyer in Hong Kong and England & Wales. Prior to joining Pfizer, he worked a number of international firms. In his spare time, Mr. Shun Wah is Chairman and School Supervisor of the German Swiss International School.

Rita Tang
Assistant Chief Counsel - Head of Legal
Hong Kong Disneyland Resort 

Rita Tang is the Head of Legal at Hong Kong Disneyland and has joined the company since 2009. Rita is responsible for the overall legal function at Hong Kong Disneyland. She provides strategic legal advice and direction to the management team, implementing corporate legal policies and providing legal support on corporate, commercial, employment, intellectual property and general litigation-related matters. Prior to joining Hong Kong Disneyland, Rita was trained and qualified to practice in the commercial and securities group of Baker & McKenzie, Hong Kong office. Rita holds a law degree from the University of Oxford. Currently, Rita is a member of the Legal Committee of Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce.

Shih-Jern Liang
General Counsel, International
Ralph Lauren 

Shih-Jern Liang is General Counsel, International at Ralph Lauren, where he manages legal and regulatory matters across the APAC and EMEA regions. He is part of International senior management and also supports the Company’s government relations and public affairs efforts. 

Mr. Liang was previously in private practice at Davis Polk & Wardwell, where he worked in the firm’s New York, London and Hong Kong offices, focusing on capital markets and corporate finance. 

Mr. Liang is a graduate of University College London and Harvard Law School. He is admitted to practise in New York, England and Hong Kong. He has a keen interest in mentoring and is active through various university alumni mentoring initiatives. 

Mark Duncan
Chief Compliance Officer
Société Générale 

Mark Duncan is the Chief Compliance Officer for Société Générale in Asia Pacific. He has held several legal and compliance roles in the Asia Pacific region since 1995, and served as Global General Counsel for Wholesale Banking at SG, based in Paris. Before working in-house in the financial industry Mark practiced corporate and commercial law in Canada.

Simon Leung
Director, Legal & Risk Management
ISS Facility Services - Hong Kong 

Simon Leung is the Director of Legal & Risk Management and a member of the executive leadership team at ISS Facility Services. He is a solicitor with 22 years of experience and a certified e-commerce consultant. Before joining ISS, He was a general counsel in the TMT sector, where he specialised in litigation, commercial transactions, and regulatory and listing compliance. He holds a Bachelor of Laws, a Master of Laws, a Master of Science in E-commerce and Internet Computing, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Global Business. He is presently completing a Master of Science degree at the University of Oxford.

Vincent Ng
General Counsel
KLOOK 

Vincent Ng is the General Counsel and Head of Public Affairs at Klook since 2018.  At Klook, Vincent leads the Legal team that drives the growth of the company globally, also having led several rounds of financing which saw the company achieving unicorn status and pivoting through the pandemic. Vincent also leads the Sustainability team which aims to make travel more sustainable and accessible, solidifying Klook’s commitment to communities, animal welfare and climate impact.

Wayne Walsh SC
Head of Chambers
Parkside Chambers 

Wayne is a prominent barrister who brings to bear 25 years as a prosecutor with the Department of Justice and 3 years as a former Inspector in the Royal Hong Kong Police Force giving him a distinct perspective in public international and criminal law.  At the DOJ, he led cases relating to white collar crime and corruption, extradition, mutual assistance, proceeds of crime and asset recovery.  Wayne moved to the Bar in 2018 and has since represented persons and entities financial crime and regulatory compliance  investigations and prosecutions.  He is also instructed by the Hong Kong Government and on a regional level he has represented foreign governments in transnational crime cases and in nuanced anti-money laundering policy work.

Adrian Lai, JP
Deputy Secretary-General and Co-Convenor of the Advisory Board
Asian Academy of International Law; Barrister, Des Voeux Chambers

Adrian is a practising barrister, arbitrator, accredited mediator and certified public accountant.  He is instructed as Counsel in a wide range of civil contentious matters, with particular focuses on arbitration, professional negligence and disciplinary matters. He sits as arbitrator – sole arbitrator, co-arbitrator or presiding arbitrator – in international commercial arbitrations conducted under various rules including those of HKIAC, CIETAC, ICC and UNCITRAL. He is named on the panels of many arbitral bodies. In addition to international commercial arbitrations, he has also participated in investor-State arbitrations and State-to-State arbitrations.

Adrian is a designated national correspondent of China to the UNCITRAL, reporting on the Hong Kong SAR’s implementation of the New York Convention and the UNCITRAL Model Law (as adopted in the Arbitration Ordinance). He also sits on the Advisory Committee on Promotion of Arbitration of the Department of Justice of the Hong Kong SAR.

Adrian has keen academic interest in international law, which is beneficial to his handling of cases involving points of international law. In his capacity as the Deputy Secretary General of Asian Academy of International Law, a professional body that is dedicated to the advancement of international law, he participates as an observer in the work of the UNCITRAL Working Group III on Investor-State Dispute Settlement.
 

Alexander Shaik
Partner and General Counsel
ADM Capital

Mr. Alexander Shaik is a Partner and General Counsel of ADM Capital. He has 25 years legal and commercial experience working on private credit and equity transactions.  Mr. Shaik has been involved in over 150 innovative private credit and equity transactions in most of the key Emerging Markets across Asia and Eastern Europe, including Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Bulgaria, Croatia, Japan, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Australia and New Zealand. 

Anna Liu
General Manager, Tokenisation 
HashKey Group

Anna Liu joined HashKey Group in 2018, the first five years, she headed the legal department in the HashKey Group, with solid legal skills and deep regulatory insights, Anna has led the legal team to provide all round legal support for the whole ecosystem of the Group, including licensed exchange, custody business, brokerage business, venture capital, asset management, node validation, and other Web3 infrastructure services in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, and other jurisdictions. She has also led the team to provide on-the-ground legal advice for the application and maintenance of the Group’s licenses in multiple jurisdictions, successfully managed to swiftly respond to, and overcome the challenges in, the ever-evolving legal and regulatory environment in the virtual asset industry. Starting from May 2023, Anna has assumed the role of the General Manager of HashKey Tokenisation, the tokenisation arm of HashKey Group, continuing to contribute to the development of the industry ecosystem in a new capacity. HashKey Tokenisation advises on, and executes, the tokenisation of various types of assets, with a particular focus on Web3 native assets. It provides clients with an end-to-end service, from advisory and providing expert guidance on token economics design and legal structuring, through to the execution of asset tokenisation. 
Prior to joining the HashKey Group, Anna was a Senior Legal Counsel at an internet giant, and prior to that worked at a leading international law firm. With a focus on financial innovation, FinTech and internet sectors, Anna has over 10 years of experience in private equity and investment funds, cross-border investment, M&A, Hong Kong and overseas capital markets.
 

Chloe Sung
General Counsel
ZA International 

A seasoned lawyer with years of practice in corporate, mergers & acquisitions, financial services (banking, insurance, funds, securities, and digital assets), fintech, insurtech, and advisory. Chloe is currently the General Counsel at ZA International with a group of regulated subsidiaries including a digital bank, digital insurer, wealth management firm and licensed money lender where legal functions of all subsidiaries are outsourced to her team at ZA International.

Christopher Knight
Vice President and Associate General Counsel
Nuveen Hong Kong 

Chris is Managing Director and Associate General Counsel / Head of Legal in the Hong Kong office of Nuveen, the US$1.1 trillion AUM global asset management arm of TIAA. He is an experienced legal advisor and business leader, specializing in institutional investment funds and asset management regulatory matters.  He has been based in Hong Kong since 2012.
 
He provides legal support to Nuveen’s operations across the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions – facilitating the growth of the asset management, advisory and institutional distribution business lines.  Recent highlights include delivering a new regulated office in the ADGM, building out Nuveen’s distribution business in Japan and supporting the launch of new regionally-domiciled products delivering Nuveen’s private credit and real estate capabilities.

Dr. Christopher To
Barrister
Gilt Chambers 

Dr.  Christopher To is a chartered arbitrator, certified adjudicator and accredited mediator, chartered engineer, chartered information technology professional, barrister-at-law and a law professor (adjunct) who is on the panels of various leading global alternative dispute resolution bodies.  He has arbitrated, adjudicated and mediated a variety of cases and is representing clients in cases within the dispute resolution field. 
 
Christopher is currently a barrister at law at Gilt Chambers and the Programme Director of the LLM in Arbitration and Dispute Resolution at the City University of Hong Kong and was the Secretary-General of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (1998 to 2008). He is the Chairperson of the Hong Kong Mediation Council (a wholly owned entity of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre), Chairperson of the Hong Kong Mediator Accreditation Association Limited, Mediator Accreditation Committee (the body that accredits mediators in Hong Kong), Chairperson of Construction Dispute Resolution Committee of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers and Chairperson of the Hong Kong Institute of Directors. He is also the Chairperson of the Buildings Appeal Tribunal, Member of the Securities and Futures Appeals Tribunal and an Advisory Member of the Accounting and Financial Reporting Council.
 

Dr. David Fong
Immediate Past Chairman
The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (East Asia Branch) 

Dr David Fong is a member of the Harcourt Chambers. He is also a Foreign Legal Affairs Attorney (Taiwan Region) and a Greater Bay Lawyer. In 2020, he graduated from the ECUPL with a LLD degree in international commercial arbitration.
 
Dr. Fong exclusively practices in civil areas. He has been appointed and instructed numerous times as counsel and arbitrator in different references.
 
Besides being the immediate past chairman of the Ciarb (EAB), Dr Fong is a vice chairman of the Committee on Arbitration of the HKBA, a delegate to the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR and a member of the Board of Review (Inland Revenue Ordinance).
 

Eddy Wong
Vice President - Legal and Compliance
Resorts World Cruises 

Eddy is an experienced ACAMS (Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists) certified compliance professional with over 20 years’ accrued expertise of AML, Regulatory Compliance, Project Management and Operation Optimization. In his current position as Vice President - Legal and Compliance, he leads a team of AML specialists across multiple offices and countries, he has designed the implementation of the company’s AML Program and developed procedures in jurisdictions including Hong Kong, China, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea and the United States.

He developed and managed an AML training program in multiple locations, offices and onboard a fleet of cruise ships. He also personally trained over 2000 employees, and designed, managed and implemented customized e-learning system for over 3000 gaming and non-gaming staff.

Eddy has been a key member of pre-opening team for major integrated resorts in Mississippi, Detroit, Macau and Korea with focus on standardizing policies and procedures, developing regulatory controls, budgeting, developing staff and acted as an internal consultant for multiple areas including casino operation, hotel operation and IT/financial controls for the Sarbanes-Oxley program. 

Prior to joining the hospitality/casino industry, he was an Analyst/Consultant in the financial industry for companies such as Credit Suisse and JP Morgan & Chase in New York City.

Edward Alder
Barrister, Prince’s Chambers, FCIArb
Deputy Chairman, Hong Kong Maritime Law Association 

Edward Alder appears in international arbitrations as counsel and arbitrator. His High Court practice involves trials, injunctions, arbitration-related applications and jurisdictional challenges, often in the trade, transport and insurance sectors, including growing aviation and yacht practices. Edward is instructed in international insolvency, financial services, shareholder and executive employment disputes. Edward acts in software / IT project, confidential information and TM/copyright disputes. He previously appeared in several competition and telecom cases. From 2000-2006 he was a partner of Bird & Bird and from 1997-2000 a partner of Holman Fenwick Willan. His career began at Allens Linklaters, Australia.

 
Errol Bong
Managing Director
NBD Ventures Ltd 

Errol has worked as Global Head of Compliance & Legal Counsel, APAC Head of Compliance & Legal and Legal Director at top tier investment banks, securities brokers, fund managers , Web3 organisations and listed blue chip corporates in Hong Kong. Prior to working at financial institutions, Errol worked at magic circle law firms in London and Sydney. Errol has managed Compliance teams, partnered with Chief Operating Officers to successfully execute MIFIDII & Brexit Compliance programs, addressed MAS & ASIC inspections, conducted internal anti-bribery investigations, established KYC, AML & anti-bribery policies and delivered IT solutions to implement AML & KYC programs. He has also organised the media strategy for responding to bribery allegations. He is a leading speaker at conferences organised by Asia Risk & International Financial Law Review and asked for his views in GC Magazine. 

Ferheen Mahomed
Founder and CEO
C&TM Limited 

Ferheen is the Founder and CEO of an independent consulting company called C&TM Limited providing business consultancy services to corporates and family offices in the area of transaction management and situations management. Ferheen Mahomed was Group General Counsel having responsibility for all legal affairs, compliance matters and company secretarial services and a member of the Management Committee for Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited which owns the London Metal Exchange, until December 2020 when she set up C&TM Limited, a consultancy company helping companies and family offices to execute merger and acquisitions. Prior to this, she was the Executive Vice President for the Pacific Century Group, a conglomerate having interests in property, hotel, telecoms, insurance and asset management where she was both legal adviser and business partner to the C-suite of each of the businesses. She spent almost 20 years in the finance sector as General Counsel. She was Global General Counsel and the member of the global executive committee for CLSA Asia Pacific Markets for 5 years and being the key driver in executing the sale of CLSA to CITIC Securities. Prior to CLSA, she was regional counsel at Societe Generale for 14 years. She has been recognised as a leader in her field, having been named in the Asian Legal Business “Women of Influence” list for several years running. Ferheen is both a UK and HK qualified lawyer having previously worked in Slaughter and May in HK and London. She is a law graduate from the University of Hong Kong and a Rhodes Scholar to St. John’s College Oxford, holding a Bachelor of Civil Law Degree from Oxford.

Fiona Chiu
General Counsel and Company Secretary
First Pacific Company Limited 

Ms. Chiu is the General Counsel and Company Secretary of Hong Kong listed First Pacific Company Limited since 2022.  Prior to that, she held senior leadership roles in investment and corporate banking compliance at Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and HSBC, following 6 years of private practice.
 
Ms. Chiu is a director on the board of the Hong Kong Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel and a council member of the Asia Chief Legal Officers’ Council. Ms. Chiu also volunteers as a mentor on The Women’s Foundation Mentoring Programme in Hong Kong.

Fiona Nott
Chief Executive Officer
The Women's Foundation

Fiona Nott joined The Women’s Foundation as CEO in September 2017, combining her senior leadership experience with a passion for TWF’s mission to serve marginalised women and girls in Hong Kong. A former lawyer and Hang Seng Index company secretary, Fiona has lived in Hong Kong for over two decades having cultivated a career as a senior legal professional and adviser to a number of leading corporations in Hong Kong and around Asia including PCCW, AIA, AIG, Aviva, Chow Tai Fook Jewellery as well as SMEs, start ups and non-profit organisations.

She is the Co-Founder of Room to Read's Hong Kong Chapter and helped establish the Regional Programme office in New Delhi, India. She is a Director and former Deputy Chair of the Australian Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong (AustCham), and was Founder and Chair of its Women in Business Network. In 2015, Fiona won the People’s Choice Award for the Advancement of Women in Business at the AustCham-Westpac Australia China Business Awards. 

In 2020, Fiona was selected as the winner of the "Outstanding Achievement" award for the Women in Business Law Awards Asia 2020 for her professional accomplishments as well as advocacy and influence. In 2021, she was recognised at the AmCham Women of Influence Awards 2021 as Non-Profit Leader of the Year for her work to advance gender equality. In 2022, she was a recipient of Tatler’s Front & Female Hong Kong Awards.

Fiona holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Sydney and is a Fellow (FGIA FCG) of the Governance Institute of Australia and the Chartered Governance Institute, a member of the Law Society of New South Wales, Australia and a Graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) and sits on its Hong Kong Committee.

Joanne Lau
Secretary-General
HKIAC 

Joanne is the Secretary-General of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre. As HKIAC’s principal officer, she leads the Secretariat and is responsible for the overall management of the centre, including overseeing its international dispute resolution services and operations across its Hong Kong, Shanghai and Seoul offices. She also works closely with the HKIAC Council and committees in the development and implementation of HKIAC’s strategies and initiatives.  
 
Prior to joining the HKIAC, Joanne was a Partner at Allen & Overy, specialising in international arbitration. As counsel, she represented clients in both international commercial arbitrations and investment treaty arbitrations in a wide variety of cases, across multiple sectors, jurisdictions and arbitral rules. She also regularly advised on arbitration-related court matters and sat as arbitrator
 

Jonathan Phillips
General Counsel for Legal, Compliance and ESG, Asia Pacific
Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking 

Jonathan Phillips is General Counsel for Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking in Asia Pacific, with responsibility for the Legal and Compliance departments, as well as the Corporate and Environmental and Social Responsibility governance frameworks. He is also a member of the Asia Pacific Executive Committee.
 
Jonathan began his career in 1993 as a solicitor with Clifford Chance. He subsequently worked for UBS as head of the Global Markets Legal team in APAC, Bank of America Merrill Lynch as Head of Compliance in APAC, before joining Natixis in 2020. Jonathan has worked in London, Brussels, and, since 2002, Hong Kong.  

JULIEN CHAISSE
Professor, School of Law, City University of Hong Kong & Chairman, Asia Pacific FDI Network

Julien Chaisse is a professor at the City University of Hong Kong (CityU) School of Law, specializing in international economic law, dispute resolution, and digital law. He is an award-winning expert whose work bridges law, economics, political science, and technology. He co-edits the Journal of World Investment & Trade and the Asia Pacific Law Review and writes “The Global Lawyer” column for the Financial Times’ fDi Intelligence Magazine. Recognized as a top 2% highly cited scientist by Stanford University in 2023, his research has influenced international courts and policy development, earning him multiple prestigious awards.

Lilian Chen
Managing Counsel, Greater China Region
McKinsey & Company 

Qualified in the US, UK and Hong Kong, Lilian serves as Managing Counsel for McKinsey & Company’s Greater China Region.  With over 20 years of legal experience, she regularly advises corporate clients and C-suite executives on a broad range of issues, including M&A, technology, IP and trade restrictions, and identifies critical legal risks in the everchanging legal and regulatory environment, such as those relating to GenAI, cybersecurity and personal data.  She has also led and successfully implemented practical, risk-based and effective risk management programs to ensure regulatory compliance in the region.

Prof. Leung Hing Fung
Former Vice-Chairman, Hong Kong Mediation Accreditation Association

Prof. Leung is the Professor and Head of Department of Law and Business at Shue Yan University and an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Real Estate and Construction, University of Hong Kong. Originally educated in quantity surveying, Prof. Leung is also a practicing mediator, arbitrator and barrister, with specialty in arbitration and dispute resolution. Besides working as an academic, Prof. Leung has started practising as barrister and as arbitrator since about 1994, dealing primarily with construction and commercial cases. He is on the panel of, amongst others, Arbitrators of Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre, HKIS/HKIA (joint panel), Hainan International Arbitration Court (Hainan Arbitration Commission), Shanghai Arbitration Commission and the List of Arbitrators of Hong Kong Bar Association. Prof. Leung is a member of various panels and lists of mediators including, amongst others, the Panel of General Accredited Mediators of Hong Kong Mediation Accreditation Association Limited (HKMAAL), Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC), Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors (HKIS) and Hong Kong Institute of Architects (HKIA) (joint panel) and Hong Kong Institute of Arbitrators. He has been very active in training and assessment of mediation and is a Lead Assessor in HKMAAL Stage II mediation assessment. Prof. Leung is a panel adjudicator and Fellow member of Hong Kong Institute of Construction Adjudicators. He has conducted high-level training courses of adjudication for major professional and academic institutions in Hong Kong and made presentations related to construction adjudication in high-level conferences. He is a frequent speaker and writer on topics related to construction law and different forms of dispute resolution in various professional and academic conferences and publications.
 

Pui-Ki Emmanuelle Ta
Chief Executive Officer, Secretary General
eBRAM International Online Dispute Resolution Centre

Ms Ta is the Chief Executive Officer and Secretary General of eBRAM International Online Dispute Resolution Centre, an arbitration and mediation institution combined with online dispute resolution (ODR) and LawTech facilities.
 
She oversees the development of the eBRAM ODR platform and LawTech products, and supervises case administration by leading the eBRAM case management team.
With over 20 years of experience in international arbitration and case management, she has supervised hundreds of international arbitration cases in a wide range of jurisdictions and economic sectors.
 
As Counsel of the Secretariat of the International Court of Arbitration of the ICC, Asia Office in Hong Kong (2016-2021), she was responsible for managing the Hong Kong team, including administration of Asia-related arbitration cases.
 
She is qualified to practice at the Paris bar.