Chiann Bao

Practice Areas

Chiann is experienced in a range of disputes in various sectors, including joint venture and shareholder disputes, private equity, crypto-assets, energy (including oil & gas, renewables, sales agreements), mining and resources, intellectual property and licensing, pharmaceutical, media and telecommunications, technology, infrastructure projects, agency and distributorship agreements, sale of goods and general commercial disputes. She also has experience in dealing with all of the main institutional rules, as well as in conducting ad hoc arbitrations.

Career

Chiann Bao is a Chartered Arbitrator and CEDR-accredited mediator and practices exclusively as neutral. Qualified in New York, Hong Kong and England and Wales but having extensive experience handling civil law governed arbitrations as well, she has sat in almost a hundred arbitrations deciding claims totalling multiple billions USD in dispute as chair, co-arbitrator, sole arbitrator and emergency arbitrator.

Prior to becoming a full-time independent arbitrator, Chiann worked in private practice in Hong Kong and New York where she focused on complex international arbitration and litigation, acting as counsel for corporates, state-owned enterprises and states in a range of disputes in various sectors.

Professional Memberships

Chiann serves as a Vice President of the ICC Court of Arbitration. From 2010 to 2018, she served as the Secretary General and then as a Council Member of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre. Chiann is a Co-Chair of the IBA’s International Arbitration Committee, a member of the Board of Directors of Maxwell Chambers, a member of the International Advisory Board of the New York International Arbitration Center, and a member of the board of the Silicon Valley Arbitration and Mediation Centre.

Publications

She is an advisory board member of Kluwer’s Journal of International Arbitration and has authored and edited several books and articles, including So, Now You are an Arbitrator (Kluwer, 2022, co-author Neil Kaplan), A Guide to the HKIAC Arbitration Rules (Oxford, 2017 and 2021, co-author Michael Moser), Managing ‘Belt and Road’ Business Disputes: A Case Study of Legal Problems and Solutions (Kluwer, 2021, co-editor Michael Moser).

Personal

Chiann has taught at several universities worldwide and currently teaches as an adjunct professor at the National University of Singapore and a lecturer at Sciences Po Law School. She also serves as a member of the board of trustees as well as an honorary senior fellow of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law.

Languages Spoken

English

Chinese (Mandarin)

Experience

Regularly ranked, she known as "a rare-breed in the market and, rightly, highly in demand" and "stands out for her work ethic, and her deep knowledge of institutional arbitration." Peers also describe her as “a seasoned arbitrator with a phenomenal temperament for handling complex disputes.”

Awards