Delegates and speakers from across Asia and beyond are gathering in Hong Kong today for the International Bar Association's (IBA’s) eighth biennial Asia Pacific Regional Forum.

The ‘Vibrant Asia – Land of opportunity and promise’ conference will cover a broad range of issues impacting legal professionals in the region, including the economic outlook for the year ahead, cross-border M&A and arbitration developments.

Hong Kong’s chief justice Andrew Cheung Kui-nung and justice secretary Paul Lam Ting-kwok are among the keynote speakers at the conference.

Cheung Kui-nung will deliver his keynote speech on Thursday (20 February), while Lam Ting-kwok will deliver his at the conference dinner on Thursday night. 

The conference co-chairs are Allen & Gledhill’s international arbitration practice co-head Dinesh Dhillon; JunHe Shanghai partner David Dali Liu; and Des Voeux Chambers Hong Kong barrister Winnie Tam SC. 

Newly elected IBA vice-president and Noerr CEE practice managing partner Jörg Menzer will also be attending and delivering welcome remarks on Thursday.

Panellists taking part in the forum include Henry Ma from the Asian Development Bank, Peter Stein from the Asia Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association and Grace Yuen from the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board. 

Also featuring at the forum are lawyers from firms including Debevoise & Plimpton, King & Wood Mallesons, Bird & Bird, Drew & Napier and Minter Ellison, among others.

In-house counsel making panel appearances include Winnie Yeung, chief legal counsel for Microsoft’s Greater China region; Deborah Im, chief legal officer at Coda in Singapore; and Linda Li from La Prairie in Shanghai.

Sessions include ‘Opportunities and challenges: the trends and changes of China’s investments in Asia’, with panelists from Zhong Lun Law Firm, Hiswara Bunjamin & Tandjung, Tilleke & Gibbins and Allen & Gledhill; ‘The future of licensing technologies, know-how and intellectual property rights’, with panelists from Yulchon and Ice Miller; and ‘Interregional migration – the lure of economic benefits against basic rights in employment’, with panellists from The Remedy Project and Mahbub and Co.

Also on the agenda are sessions on data privacy, cross-border asset recovery, the future of legal practice, trade remedies and sanctions, and Asia capital markets.

The event will run from 19 to 21 February and is taking place at the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, kicking off this evening (19 February) with a welcome reception at Spiga in the LHT Tower. Click here for further details.