The Opening Ceremony of Yingke Arbitration Forum and Yingke Arbitration Legal Service Center Was Successfully Held

August 27, 2021, the opening ceremony of Yingke Arbitration Forum and Yingke Arbitration Legal Service Center hosted by Yingke Law Firm was successfully held in the North Tower of Zhengda Center. The forum was conducted simultaneously online and offline, and the online live broadcast received active responses. Mr. Xiangrong Mei, Founding Partner, Chairman of Global Board of Yingke Law Firm; Ms. Hua Li, Founding Partner, Deputy Director and Director of the National Professional Steering Committee; Ms. Lin Yang, Founding Partner, Global Partner and Executive Chairwoman of Yingke International, Mr. Qunli Zhang, Deputy Director of Yingke China And Director of Yingke Beijing Commercial Litigation and Arbitration Legal Affairs Department, attended the forum offline. The forum was hosted by QingRu Guo, Secretary-General of Yingke International Cooperation Council.

Xiangrong Mei, Founding Partner, Chairman of Global Board of Yingke Law Firm

At the beginning of the event, Mr. Xiangrong Mei addressed the forum. First of all, he expressed his great pleasure to meet with all the guests and colleagues online to discuss legal services for commercial arbitration. Mr. Xiangrong Mei said, Yingke Law Firm with scale, specialization, branding, internationalization policy; among them, the continuous strengthening of the specialization construction is the unwavering pursuit of Yingke. In recent years, with the diversified international dispute settlement mechanism, continuous strengthened domestic and international commercial law service demand, Yingke as a global legal institutions, committed to providing one-stop legal services for global customers. In order to strengthen the construction of foreign-related laws and provide better legal services for clients in the field of civil and commercial arbitration, Yingke Law Firm held this Yingke Arbitration Forum and established Yingke Arbitration Legal Service Center. Through building professional talent teams in different fields, Yingke continuously deepens the legal service capacity, builds a global one-hour legal service circle, and jointly constructs a global one-stop legal service platform. Yingke will always maintain high-quality development, serves the country’s legal construction, and strives to provide better legal services for global customers.

Host: QingRu Guo, Secretary-General of Yingke International Cooperation Council

Leaders came on stage together to launch, marking the formal establishment of Yingke Arbitration Legal Service Center

Fan Yang, Partner at Stephenson Harwood and Barrister in England and Wales

Barrister Fan Yang gave a speech on “The Impact of the Revised Draft of Arbitration Law on Arbitration Agreements”. She said that the “Revised Draft of the Arbitration Law” has a great impact on the current “Arbitration Law” and embodies the concept of being in line with the mature international arbitration system, which is worth studying deeply, in multiple aspects. An effective arbitration agreement is not only the cornerstone of the arbitral tribunal’s jurisdiction, but also a necessary condition for the eventual recognition and enforcement of thearbitral decision, she said in her share. She sorted out the provisions affecting the arbitration agreement in the draft. Barrister Fan Yang analyzed the expression of the agreement on the arbitration and the main and collateral contract arbitration. She also stressed that in the absence of disputes, the drafting stage should carry out in-depth communication and analyze potential risks to avoid agreement disputes in the later stages.

Qunli Zhang, Deputy Director of Yingke China And Director of Yingke Beijing Commercial Litigation and Arbitration Legal Affairs Department

Lawyer Zhang Qunli shared his speech on “Several Important Issues in the Revised Draft of Arbitration Law”. He said that the release of the Revised Draft of Arbitration Law has caused a wide range of discussions in the legal circle, which has an important impact on the development of the domestic arbitration law and can further improve the credibility of the arbitration law. Among them, he shared the contents of expanding the scope of application of the arbitration Law, clarifying the nature and position of arbitration institutions, improving the governance structure, the change of arbitration agreement, the modification and improvement of the arbitrator system, and the improvement of the temporary measures system. He stressed that there are many highlights in the Revised Draft of Arbitration Law and looked forward to the implementation of the new arbitration law.

Chen Zhang, Yingke Shanghai Equity Senior Partner, Director of Yingke National International Investment and Trade Commission

Lawyer Zhang Chen delivered a speech on “Selection of Arbitration Institutions and Arbitration Places in International Arbitration”. He said that the selection of a proper place for arbitration plays a crucial role in the smooth operation of the arbitration process and the enforcement of the arbitral decision. The place of arbitration is a legal concept rather than a geographical one. The significance of the place of arbitration as a legal concept lies in its direct correlation with the applicable law of the validity of the arbitration agreement, the applicable law of the arbitration procedure and the origin of the arbitration award. The establishment of the concept of the place of arbitration is of more practical significance for foreign-related arbitration and cross-border arbitration. The parties need to consider the main factors of fairness, efficiency and low-cost. He also explained the selection of arbitration place and the relationship between the arbitration institution, arbitration place and arbitration rules in the case of jurisdiction dispute.

Sijia Du, Barrister at 7 King’s Bench Walk Law Firm

Speaking under the topic “International Arbitration: Five Avoidable Mistakes”, Barrister Sijia Du shared five avoidable mistakes: ignoring his/her own lawyer, choosing the wrong arbitrator, opposing all procedural proposals of the other party, seeking guarantee for arbitration fees, not providing financial information and not pursuing disclosure of documents. These five avoidable errors are analyzed and discussed in depth.

Edward Chen, Partner of YK LAW LLP (US), Co-head of the Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution Practice

Edward Chen gave a speech on “Enforcement of Chinese Arbitral Awards in the United States”. He said that international enterprises in China or other countries or regions may need to apply for recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitration awards in the United States in many cases. The most common cases include that the defendant owns property in the United States and that the defendant or severally liable person is a United States business or a United States resident. In such cases, it is necessary for the company to seek recognition and enforcement of the foreign arbitral award in a U.S. court if it wants to receive actual compensation. Then Edward introduced the arbitration cases that his team solved this year. He also introduced the circumstances in which arbitration awards may not be enforced in the United States, and some practical considerations.

Lin Yang, Founding Partner and Executive Chairwoman of Yingke International

Ms. Lin Yang gave a speech on the topic of “Application of IBA Evidence Rules in International Arbitration”. She said that efficient arbitration rules play an important role in arbitration cases. The rules of evidence were formulated and published by the International Bar Association (IBA), with the participation of more than 160 international arbitration bodies and public bodies. The “IBA Rules of Evidence” provides guidance for disclosure of procedural documents, she said, noting that the December 2021 revision of the “IBA Rules of Evidence” proposed to increase virtual and remote hearings, increase the exclusion of illegal evidence, increase cyber security data, and increase the translation of evidence documents.

Hua Li, Founding Partner, Deputy Director and Director of the National Business Steering Committee

At the end of the forum, Director Hua Li concluded that the arbitration forum highlighted the international vision, and the excellent lawyers started from their professional work and started from the hot issue of Revised Draft of Arbitration Law, based on arbitration and focusin on practice, consolidating foundation. Striving to serve the construction of Beijing two districts, the construction of the national free trade zone to do full international commercial dispute settlement, especially international arbitration theoretical knowledge reserve, play the role of legal service think-tank; On the other hand, we need to learn from the existing experience of other countries, regions and institutions, learn from each other’s strengths, and seek progress while maintaining stability. Only by constantly connecting with international rules and practices can we achieve breakthroughs in innovation. Only when the rule of law at home and abroad learns from, develops and applies in coordination with each other can we better cope with international economic and trade disputes, safeguard national interests, and make flexible use of domestic and foreign laws and rules to promote cooperation, exchanges and consensus building.

At this point, the opening ceremony of yingke Arbitration Forum and Yingke Arbitration Legal Service Center was successfully concluded.

This forum has conducted extensive and in-depth discussion and communication on many arbitral legal issues. In the future, Yingke Law Firm will provide better legal services for global clients with a more open vision and more accurate positioning.