The global lawyer in practice: cross border transactions and professional wellbeing in the Asia Pacific

Dr. Tidarat is a law professor at Chulalongkorn University, where she formerly served as Vice Dean for International Affairs. She was awarded a fellowship scholarship by the NUS faculty of law in 2019. Beyond academia, Dr. Tidarat has been appointed as presiding arbitrator, sole arbitrator, and co-arbitrator, as well as a party-appointed expert, in cases involving infrastructure projects, construction disputes, telecommunication disputes, JV, international and domestic commercial disputes, and the ICSID award. In 2024, she was appointed as the Director of the Chulalongkorn Centre for Dispute Resolution and a member of CIArb Thailand’s Board of Directors. She was also invited to serve on a special expert committee tasked with providing legal opinions on FIDIC contracts related to infrastructure projects in Thailand’s neighboring countries. In addition, she has served on several committees for domestic and international arbitration centers. Her recent engagements as a distinguished speaker include: moderating SIAC’s public lecture on Due Process in International Arbitration; presentations at UNCITRAL Asia Pacific Day; the CIArb Hottest Seat Debate; and the ICC YAAF: Hot Topics in Construction & Infrastructure Arbitration. At the opening ceremony of Thailand ADR Week 2023, Dr. Tidarat delivered the inaugural lecture on Energy Transition and ESG-Related Disputes. She was also invited to lecture on Arbitration and Infrastructure Projects for the Office of the Attorney General’s training program, funded by the U.S. Department of State in 2023; on Climate Change and ISDS at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2024; on Recent Developments in International Arbitration for the Judicial Training Institute under the President of the Supreme Court of Thailand in 2024 and on ISDS for the ICSID (World Bank) Workshop in 2025. With extensive expertise across multiple jurisdictions, Dr. Tidarat specializes in a wide range of legal fields, including Multi-jurisdictional Disputes; Construction and Infrastructure Projects; Arbitration; International Business Law; Shareholder Agreements; JV; FDI Law; Oil&Gas law; Energy and Mining Law; Corporate Compliance (FCPA, CBAM,and ESG); Trademarks; and Thai business law. Her research spans crucial areas such as Petroleum JDA; PPP; CCS&CCUS; Competition Law; Jurisdictional Defense, Investor Corruption, Necessity Defense, Sovereign Immunity, SOEs, and Piercing the Corporate Veil in Arbitration; Public Procurement(FTA); Comparative Law (EU, UK, US, Singapore and Thai law); the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Settlements; and Class Action.

Ms. Hamzah is KWM International Partner for Business Development, residing in Beijing, China. With nearly three decades of experience across the Asia-Pacific region, Ms. Hamzah has practiced in the UK, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, and Singapore. She specialises in major infrastructure project financing, M&A transactions, and has deep expertise in aviation, banking, insurance, energy, resources and technology. Recognised for her pioneering work in cross-border securitisation, structured finance, and Islamic finance, she has represented investors from Asia, the U.S., the UK, and Europe in high-value domestic and offshore multi-currency deals. Ms. Hamzah has been consistently recognized as a Distinguished Practitioner or Leading Lawyer across multiple practice areas in major legal publications and directories including Asialaw Profiles, Asia Business Law Journal, IFLR1000, Legal 500 and In-house Community Counsel.

Chris is a solicitor based in London. He was a corporate finance partner at an international law firm for over 30 years based in the City. He is currently a member of the Professional Wellbeing Commission of the International Bar Association looking at ways to optimise wellbeing in the legal workplace. Chris is a trained mindfulness coach and has an MBA in Legal Practice Management. He lectures extensively both in the UK and internationally.

I am a Partner of LNT & Partners, a top-tier Vietnamese law firm. I am in charge of the firm’s Corporate and M&A practice. In nearly 30 years, I've assisted investors to achieve their commercial objectives in investment in Vietnam, especially on joint venture, restructuring, acquisitions, merger control, contracts, corporate investigation, corporate governance, and dispute settlement. Most of my works involve cross-border transactions by MNCs. I have created, and advised on, sophisticated deal structures and transaction documents. When a dispute arises, I assist to protect my clients, more in the role as a mediator or arbitrator.

Focus areas: M&A, FDI/ market entry considerations, Banking & Finance, Insolvency Laws, Privacy & GDPR, Anti-bribery and corruption, Labour and employment issues - Commercial-minded lawyer with a bias for considered action - Extensive experience in successfully managing crises and risks - Dual-qualified (England and India) with experience working in London and India (Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai) Disclaimer: Views expressed are personal and do not reflect that of my employer.