Our Session 4 Speakers
"Your Money in Digital Jungle: What Does It Mean to You?"
Session 4
[Session 4] Moderator
Chan Leng Sun, SC
Senior Counsel, Duxton Hill Chambers
Leng Sun is a Senior Counsel of the Supreme Court of Singapore and a Chartered Arbitrator practicing with Duxton Hill Chambers. He is a member of the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR. He is formerly the Global Head of Arbitration of an international law firm and President of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators (SIArb). He is the Deputy Chairman of the SGX Appeals Board.
Leng Sun is qualified in Malaysia, Singapore and England. He has a broad commercial practice and has acted as counsel or sat as arbitrator in arbitrations seated in Asia, Europe and USA under ad hoc and institutional rules. Leng Sun had also served as a legal officer of the United Nations Compensation Commission in Geneva.
He has taught at the Law Schools of the National University of Singapore and the Singapore Management University, and given lectures at other universities such as Harvard University, Columbia University and Peking University.
Leng Sun is the author of the book, Singapore Law on Arbitral Awards and Co-Editor of Conflict of Laws in Arbitration. He is recognized among the top lawyers worldwide by legal directories, described by WWL as being “among the very best disputes lawyers in the world” and in ALB Asia’s Super 50 Dispute Lawyers as “spectacular, with exceptional knowledge and depth of insight”.
Leng Sun has been conferred the Public Service Medal by the President of Singapore in 2023.
[Session 4] Speaker
Duncan Speller
Partner, Willkie Farr & Gallagher (UK) LLP
Duncan Speller is Global Co-Chair of Willkie’s Arbitration Practice Group based in the London office.
Duncan is an English barrister with more than twenty years’ experience of international arbitration. He has successfully represented clients as an advocate on some of the most challenging, high-value and complex cases over the past decade. Duncan has represented clients in over one hundred and fifty institutional and ad hoc arbitrations, sited in both common and civil law jurisdictions, including England, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Austria and Germany.
Duncan also has substantial experience of international commercial litigation in both the English Court of Appeal and in the Commercial and Chancery Divisions of the High Court. He has particular experience of arbitration and litigation concerning aviation, oil and gas, insurance and reinsurance, private equity, telecommunications, banking and competition law issues.
Duncan has extensive experience of disputes involving Korean parties.
Duncan has been involved in multiple disputes involving digital assets, including disputes relating to the collapse of FTX.
Duncan sits as an arbitrator and has been appointed as arbitrator or emergency arbitrator by multiple arbitral institutions.
[Session 4] Speaker
John Choong
Partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
John Choong is a Partner in Freshfields’ International Arbitration Group and the Head of Freshfields’ China arbitration practice.
John specialises in international arbitration and complex cross-border disputes throughout Asia. Over the course of some 20 years, he has represented clients on their key billion-dollar arbitrations, and in important cases in the Korean fintech space.
John has been listed as a leading individual for dispute resolution by the leading legal directories including Chambers Global, Who’s Who Legal and Guide to the World's Leading Experts in Commercial Arbitration. John was named "International Arbitration Lawyer of the Year" for Asia-Pacific in the Benchmark Litigation Awards 2022.
John serves on the Council or committees of various arbitration organisations, including at the HKIAC and ICC. He is a UK Chartered Arbitrator, and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and holds a DipICArb from the Institute. He is qualified in England & Wales, Hong Kong and Singapore (non-practising) and has been an adjunct professor at The University of Hong Kong’s LLM course on Arbitration.
John is regularly appointed as presiding arbitrator, sole arbitrator or co-arbitrator in arbitrations under the leading rules, including the ICC, LCIA, UNCITRAL and HKIAC rules. John speaks English and Mandarin.
He is author or Editor of books published by Oxford University Press and Sweet & Maxwell, including A Guide to the SIAC Arbitration Rules (2nd ed), and a General Arbitration Editor of the Hong Kong White Book.
[Session 4] Speaker
Mike McClure KC
Partner, Herbert Smith Freehills
Mike, a partner based in Herbert Smith Freehills' London office, is a King’s Counsel solicitor advocate with expertise in arbitration, court and expert determination proceedings, and particular experience in the energy, construction, infrastructure and financial services sectors.
Mike advises clients on arbitrations under the auspices of several arbitral institutions, including the LCIA, ICC, HKIAC, SIAC, ICSID, LMAA, DIFC-LCIA, DIAC and BCDR.
He has also represented clients in ad hoc arbitrations under the English Arbitration Act and advised clients on English and DIFC First Instance and Court of Appeal proceedings.
Mike regularly contributes to the broader arbitration community in Korea, including sitting as an arbitrator at the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board (KCAB) and coaching Yonsei University students participating in the annual Vis Moot. In 2019, he received the Korea Arbitration Award from the Korean Ministry of Justice in recognition of his contributions.
He is consistently recognised as a leading individual for international arbitration by Chambers & Partners, Legal 500 and Who's Who Legal. According to Chambers Asia Pacific, Mike is “one of the best dispute resolution attorneys in this region," and that “he knows how to get the job done - a go-to person for high-stakes issues."
Mike has worked in Herbert Smith Freehills' offices in Seoul, London, Dubai, Hong Kong and Moscow.
He was previously a guest lecturer on the Masters in International Law Programme at the Sorbonne University in Abu Dhabi, a Regional Representative for the Middle East and North Africa for the LCIA Young International Arbitration Group (YIAG), and a member of the ICC Young Arbitrators' Forum and the ICDR Young and International Association.
Mike's experience includes acting for:
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the Government of Korea - Jin Hae Seo v. Republic of Korea - the first investment treaty arbitration under the US-Korea Free Trade Agreement;
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Hyundai Heavy Industries on its successful settlement in an ICC arbitration arising out of the US$10.3 billion Barzan gas pipeline project in Qatar;
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a consortium of private equity buyers in US$1.8 billion ICC arbitration proceedings on a put option dispute arising out of the sale and purchase agreement relating to a major Korean insurance company;
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a major Korean bank on the recovery of a substantial investment in a Jersey based derivative-linked securities fund, involving regulatory investigations and associated court proceedings;
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a Korean contractor on a Dubai-seated ICC arbitration, on a dispute arising out of the construction of a power and desalination plant in Saudi Arabia;
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a Korean contractor in SIAC arbitration proceedings seated in Singapore, on a dispute concerning issues arising out of a power plant in India; and
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a Korean shipbuilding company on a multimillion dollar LCIA arbitration, seated in London and governed by English law, regarding an indemnity for patent infringement.
[Session 4] Speaker
Shaun Leong
Equity Partner, Withers
Shaun Leong, FCIArb is an international arbitration specialist and Equity Partner of global law firm Withers. He is an internationally recognised leading practitioner at the forefront of emerging and revolutionary technologies including Artificial Intelligence (A.I.), Blockchain and the Metaverse. Awards and accolades include: Digital Assets Lawyer of the Year nominee in Law.com International's Asia Legal Awards 2023 and the International Arbitration Lawyer of the Year nominee (Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific Awards 2022).
Upon graduating with First Class Honours from the National University of Singapore, Shaun served in a judicial capacity as a Magistrate and Assistant Registrar of the Supreme Court for five years, where he published several notable written judgments on international arbitration law.
He was recently successful in representing a prominent digital assets company in a USD 36 million dispute involving novel and complex issues around legal liability arising from purported errors made by trading systems powered by artificial intelligence models and algorithms. He also advised a leading global A.I. powerhouse on cross border disputes and acted as its relationship Partner for projects in Asia and the Middle East.
Shaun recently became the first lawyer in the world to successfully obtain a worldwide proprietary injunction to freeze a non-fungible token on the blockchain in a commercial dispute.
Shaun is appointed Arbitrator on the Panel of Arbitrators with the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, the Court of Arbitration of the Blockchain Arbitration Society, the Bali International Arbitration and Mediation Center, the Center for International Investment and Commercial Arbitration,
the Tashkent International Arbitration Centre, BeiHai Asia International Arbitration Centre, Thailand Arbitration Centre and the Bangalore International Mediation, Arbitration and Conciliation Centre.
