International arbitrator Chiann Bao has joined ArbBoutique, bolstering the boutique firm’s coverage in Asia.

Bao joins the firm as a partner in Singapore after a brief period of independent practice, having left Arbitration Chambers last September where she had been a member since 2018.

She was previously Asia-Pacific counsel at Skadden Arps in Hong Kong, having joined the firm after her tenure at the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre, where she was a popular secretary-general for six years. She also held assistant-level positions at Morrison & Foerster, Cravath and the ICC before moving to DLA Piper and then HKIAC.

As significant as her broad arbitration experience is, Bao has also invested heavily in arbitral and institutional networks. That has been both professional – she was vice president of the ICC’s court of arbitration – and academic, having held associate professorships in Hong Kong and Singapore, as well as serving as a trustee and honorary senior fellow of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law.

ArbBoutique is a female-founded arbitration-focused boutique firm established by former WilmerHale counsel Maxi Scherer and ex-Hanotiau & Van den Berg partner Niuscha Bassiri. Both Bassari and Scherer have strong academic and practitioner backgrounds, so Bao’s experiences align neatly with theirs, with Scherer recently being appointed as president of the London Court of International Arbitration.

Bao is also a board member of Maxwell Chambers, Singapore’s flagship hearing centre, and sits on the governing board of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration, which held its flagship congress in Hong Kong in 2024, where she was co-chair.

Bao said ArbBoutique’s structure “strikes the right balance for my practice and is comprised of dynamic, universally well-respected members of the arbitration community”.

Her fellow partners said they were “thrilled that Chiann chose to join us, expanding ArbBoutique’s global reach, adding her reputation and excellence as an arbitrator, as well as her leadership roles, which match ArbBoutique’s calibre and vision”.

Bao is co-chair of the International Bar Association’s (IBA’s) influential Arbitration Committee, which will hold its Arbitration Day in London on 4 April. Writing on LinkedIn, she stated that more than 600 delegates had registered for the IBA’s “marquee event on the arbitral calendar”, leaving it close to capacity.

Bao added there would be numerous official and unofficial side events in addition to the day itself, including a Town Hall sharing involvement with the work of the Arbitration Committee and feedback to its officers, alongside a wide range of projects. Those include sessions on ethics, regulation and privilege, a roundtable on res judicata, and Arb40 – the IBA’s popular segment for younger arbitration lawyers – held before Friday’s event.

The Global Legal Post is a media partner of the IBA and will cover Arbitration Day, which follows the recent royal assent of the UK’s Arbitration Act.