Jan Ahrens is Principal Counsel Dispute Resolution at Siemens Mobility and responsible for managing major disputes worldwide, across all business areas.

Jan is a German lawyer and also qualified to practice in England & Wales and Switzerland. He holds a PhD from Freiburg University and an LLM from Geneva and Lausanne Universities. Before joining Siemens in 2009, Jan Ahrens practiced with a leading Swiss law firm in Geneva in the field of international arbitration and worked as a legal counsel for a major European pharmaceutical company. Since 2002, Jan has been acting as counsel, managing in-house counsel and arbitrator in numerous international arbitrations and he is a regular lecturer in the field.

Sana Belaïd, is a Senior Legal Counsel of the Cisco “Global Strategy Team”, and a Member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration. Sana is also a member of the “User Council” of the Swiss Association of Arbitration (“ASA”). Before joining Cisco in 2006, Sana was a member of the International Arbitration departments of two major international law firms in Paris, Coudert Frères and White & Case. Sana holds two post-master’s degrees in International Law and in Comparative Law from the Panthéon-Assas University (Paris, France) and is qualified to practice as a lawyer with the Paris and the Tunis Courts of Appeal. Sana is also an executive coach, holding a certification from the Coaching Training Institute (CTI) and a qualification from the Organization and Relationship Systems Coaching Institute (ORSC). Sana is a Tunisian national and is based in Dubai (UAE). She is fluent in Arabic, English and French

Philipp Groz is a dispute resolution partner at the Swiss law firm Schellenberg Wittmer and heads the IP and life sciences teams. He regularly represents clients in domestic and international litigation, arbitration and mediation proceedings with a focus on disputes related to IP, unfair competition, licensing and distribution. He also sits as an arbitrator. Philipp is listed as a neutral with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center and is a board member of Licensing Executives Society Switzerland. He is recognized, inter alia, in Who's Who Legal's Future Leaders Arbitration rankings (2018-2020). Philipp graduated from the law school of the University of Zurich and also earned a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from NYU Law.

Martin Hauser, certified mediator in Germany and France, leads national and international commercial mediations in English, French, and German. He has a legal background in intellectual property, IT, licences, distribution, competition, complex industrial projects, and international business law. With over 30 years of practice as a business lawyer in commercial litigation, international arbitration and negotiations, Martin Hauser works exclusively as commercial mediator on the resolution of complex and emotional legal conflicts. He is accredited with mediation institutions such as WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center, Geneva, CMAP, Paris, ICC Centre for ADR, Paris. Martin Hauser is Vice Chair of the Mediation Committee of the IBA International Bar Association. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the IAM, Dallas and is selected by WWL Who’s Who Legal Mediation.

Martin Hauser is a member of the Munich (Rechtsanwalt) and Paris (avocat honoraire) Bars. He practiced from 1988 to 2019 as founding partner at BMH AVOCATS, Paris. From 1980 to 1983, he was a research fellow in French intellectual property and competition law with the Max-Planck-Institute for Innovation and Competition, Munich.

Martin Hauser holds degrees of Master of Arts (M.A.) in negotiation and mediation from the European University Viadrina Frankfurt Oder (2015), Master of Comparative Jurisprudence (M.C.J.) from New York University (NYU) (1986), Doctorate in Law (Dr. iur.) from the University of Munich (1983) and law degrees from the Universities of Munich and Freiburg i. Br. (1985, 1979).

Dr. Clemens-August Heusch LL.M. is VP and Head of Global Litigation and Disputes at Nokia, responsible for litigation, arbitration and mediation globally with a strong focus on multi-national IP litigation and arbitration. Since 2008 Nokia has been involved in more than 200 patent cases worldwide.

Before joining Nokia in 2008, Clemens was an attorney-at-law at the international law firm Bird & Bird LLP. He studied law at the Universities of Freiburg and Bonn, Germany; received an LL.M. degree from the University of Maastricht, Netherlands, and a doctorate from the University of Cologne, Germany. During his traineeship, he worked inter alia in the competition law team of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Cologne and Brussels, Belgium.

Clemens is a registered lawyer at the Cologne Bar and is a certified IP lawyer. Fluent in German, English and French, he regularly presents and writes on a range of legal topics. He is based in Germany.

Christine Kang is a partner in the New York office of Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP in the Litigation department. Christine has significant experience in resolving cross-border disputes and enjoys a high reputation in international arbitration. She also has extensive and successful experiences in in Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) sanction matters.

Before joining Hughes Hubbard & Reed, Christine practiced at Chinese elite firm and international law firms for years, and worked at CIETAC Beijing headquarters for eight years prior to her private practice. She has advised leading Fortune 500 companies on their international arbitration cases with major international arbitration institutions, including CIETAC, AAA-ICDR, HKIAC, ICC, SIAC, and SCC etc., involving a broad array of industries and areas such as international trade, joint ventures, construction, finance, insurance and intellectual property. She also regularly advised Chinese SOEs on their overseas litigation cases in concert with US and UK litigators.

Christine has extensive and in-depth experiences in representing Chinese SOEs and multinationals in their corporate compliance and anti-bribery investigations. Specifically, she has regularly represented Chinese enterprises in their response to the investigation from, settlement negotiations with the MDBs, including the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the Asia Development Bank and establishing as well as implementing the integrity compliance program with the MDBs standards.

Christine is a member of the Council of AAA, the AAA-ICDR Rules Revision Committee, AAA International Advisory Committee, the HKIAC Proceedings Committee, as well as the WIPO International Advisory Committee. She has acted as a presiding arbitrator, sole arbitrator and party-nominated arbitrator in a variety of arbitration cases. She is also listed as an arbitrator on the panels of world major international arbitration institutions, including AAA-ICDR, HKIAC, CIETAC, ICC and WIPO. Christine is recently nominated in Who’s Who Legal: Thought Leaders-Global Elite 2021, Arbitration 2021 and Thought Leaders-GIR 2021.

Christine was educated in the People’s Republic of China (Renmin University of China), the United States(Stanford Law School) and France (Université Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne, Faculté des Droits). She is qualified in China (1995) and New York (2015), and speaks Mandarin, English and French.

Nishtha Kharb is a distinguished technology & innovation focused lawyer with over 16 years of experience in handling complex legal and regulatory issues, particularly in the Asia region. She is presently the Chief Legal Officer at MBK Healthcare Management, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsui & Co with a mandate to grow the healthcare ecosystem of Mitsui with investments in leading healthcare providers such as IHH. She has been nominated among a select panel of UN WIPO’s Neutral (Arbitrator/Mediator) in Asia. Previously, in her role of Legal Director, ASEAN, Japan & Korea at Reckitt, she managed legal affairs contributing towards innovative solutions to people’s everyday challenges in the arena of health and well-being.

As Legal Head of Asia for another dynamic, US head-quartered health-tech company, Carestream Health Inc, a portfolio company of a USD44-Billion private-equity firm, Onyx, she successfully contributed to the company’s journey to become the Asia’s preferred innovative solution provider in the digital health space. Prior to joining Carestream, she was the in-house counsel and Data Privacy Officer at Philips Electronics Pte Ltd for ASEAN and South-East Asia operations and lead lawyer for Philips Innovation and Development Asia. She started her career as a dispute lawyer of world’s leading dispute law firm, Herbert Smith where she worked on some of the most complex cross border disputes. She was one of the youngest to be appointed as co-head of India desk at Herbert Smith’s Singapore office. She has also held Board position in the Singapore chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), one of the world’s largest professional association of in-house counsels.

A prominent thought leader and avid contributor to public policy debates shaping the future of health- tech, intellectual property, data privacy and use of AI by legal sector, Nishtha has been speaking and moderating at various international conferences. She has been mentoring start-ups and acting as an evangelist to help shape the digital future of the legal profession.

She graduated with First Class Honours (LL.B) and also holds a Masters’ degree in law. She has completed Executive Programs on Strategy and Negotiations at Harvard University, Strategic Management Program from NUS Business School. She feels strongly about charitable causes and utilizing creative arts as a medium for contributing to society. To this end, she has directed numerous plays, scripted and directed a music album with an aim to raise funds for blind school children and for palliative care children in Singapore. She is ever willing to be a drop in an ocean called change for good!

Chung Nian Lam heads the Intellectual Property, Technology & Media, Telecommunications and Data Protection Practices at WongPartnership LLP, a leading Singapore law firm.

He has extensive experience representing multinational companies, listed corporations and government clients on regulatory, transactional, enforcement and advisory matters. He is a leading practitioner in his areas of expertise, having won many awards and accolades.

He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and has been appointed as an IP Adjudicator empowered to hear disputes before the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore, as well as to the Singapore International Arbitration Centre’s Panel of Arbitrators for IP Disputes, and the World Intellectual Property Organization Panel of Film and Media Mediators, Arbitrators and Experts, among others. He is admitted to the Singapore Bar and to the Roll of Solicitors of England & Wales and is also a registered patent agent in Singapore.

Kathleen Paisley is a recognised international arbitrator and mediator. She is triple qualified in law, finance and accounting, with a JD from the Yale Law School, an MBA in finance and has completed the CPA exam. Kathleen has acted in commercial cases under all the major international arbitration rules and in investor-State cases before ICSID and under the UNCITRAL rules. She is an expert in IP, technology, pharmaceuticals and bio-technology, data-protection and cybersecurity, as well as having a sophisticated understanding of finance and accounting-related issues. She has also acted as chief legal officer in both technology and pharmaceutical companies. In addition to her commercial and corporate experience, she is also recognised in both public and private international law having acted in investor-State cases for more than 25 years.

Jane Playeris an accredited mediator having mediated over 400 disputes both domestic and international. Her expertise focuses on general corporate and contractual claims, fraud and project disputes in the IP/IT and media sectors. Jane has particular experience of international dispute resolution and has a leading reputation for managing cross cultural aspects of technology collaborations ,joint venture and shareholder disputes.

Particularly recommended where there are strong personalities within the parties’ groups and where there may be some cynicism towards the potential for dispute resolution through mediation, Jane has an engaging style and is often praised for her proactive approach. She appreciates that IT and IP disputes are often complex and an understanding of the industry gives parties’ confidence in the mediator.

Mediating at Independent mediators in London , Jane also mediates for the WIPO ICC LCIA and SIMC as well as being a member of the IMI Users Council and an honorary member of the International Mediators Association, Jane actively promotes mediation and is regularly asked to speak on the subject in a number of jurisdictions.

Finally, Jane actively promotes “in life” mediation (and has been appointed as an “in life” mediator), which is a new trend in English dispute resolution and one attractive to IP cases . The use of mediation techniques earlier in the business relationship, working with parties to help them maintain their commitment to the venture as opposed to focusing on rights and obligations once things go wrong, has proved very successful. This approach complements businesses’ desire to form long term strategic relationships with their partners.

Joyce A. Tan is managing director of the firm she established in 1998, a business-focused commercial law practice, with strengths in intellectual property and technology. She is consistently recognized as a leading lawyer by numerous legal publications including Legal 500, Chambers, AsiaLaw Leading Lawyers, Practical Law Company, World Trade Mark Review, International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers, International Who’s Who of Regulatory Communications Lawyers, International Who’s Who of Internet, E-Commerce & Data Protection Lawyers, Global Communications, Guide to the World’s Leading Technology, Media & Telecommunications Lawyers, Global Counsel 3000, Global Law Experts, The Best Lawyers and Acritas Stars and has been recognized in the A-List of Singapore’s Top 100 Lawyers by Asia Business Law Journal.

Her subject matter expertise in the IP and TMT space has also been validated by her appointment as expert witness on domain names and cybersquatting in legal proceedings before the Supreme Court of Singapore, which led to a precedent-setting decision in which she was heavily quoted.

Her business-focused legal practice which routinely involves intense negotiations and the development of creative business solutions, is a natural ally to her mediation work, in which she has been active for many years. She is credited for her work in the successful mediation of an international dispute involving IP rights spanning six jurisdictions, which the World Trademark Review reported as “groundbreaking” and that “could redefine the trademark status quo”. Her mediation work has extended to disputes involving cross-border trade mark rights, copyright, passing off, TMT procurement, commercial matters and personal rights, including those arising from proceedings before the Supreme Court and the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore.