Walter Chen

Grandall Law Firm - Best Arbitration Lawyer of the Year

Profile

Walter (Fayun) Chen, FCIArb, FHKIArb, is S.C, a partner at Grandall Law Firm, Master of International Business Law at the University of Liverpool, Visiting Scholar at the University of Maryland, and further gets trained at the University of Hamburg. He is Chair of International Commercial Arbitration Committee of Jinagsu Lawyers Association, a Member of Arbitration and Mediation Committee of the All China Lawyers Association, the ICC China Arbitration Committee, the International Commercial Expert Committee of the Nanjing Intermediate People’s Court, and the Vice President of the UK Sub-Association, and the Steering Committee Member of the Western Returned Scholars Association, China. He is also a Member of Panel of Arbitrators of over 20 arbitration institutions including SIAC, HKIAC, THAC, KCAB, LCIA, SCCA, CIETAC, BIAC and SCIA etc.

He is one of the very few leading international commercial dispute resolution practitioners in China who can effectively handle cases in both English and Chinese as counsel and arbitrator. He has a proven track record for representing and assisting clients in handling complex and high-value legal matters and commercial cases heard before courts in Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, the US and in ad hoc arbitrations and arbitration institutions such as SIAC, HKIAC, CIETAC, and the ICC International Court of Arbitration.

For four consecutive years from 2021 to 2024, Walter was part of the three-member Editorial Board of “CDR-Essential Intelligence: THE BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE” published by Global Legal Group, UK, and co-author of the Chapter on China. He was respectively selected as one of the “Leading Talents of Foreign Related Lawyers” by the All China Lawyers Association and the Ministry of Justice, China, and was awarded by Legal Daily, China as one of the first session “Top Ten Lawyers of the Belt and Road” and by Lawyer Monthly UK as the “Arbitration Lawyer of the Year”.

Interview

Walter is Senior Counsel (S.C) and Partner at the Nanjing Office of Grandall Law Firm, which is one of the largest full-service law firms in China with over 680 partners and 5000 employees in 33 offices across major cities worldwide. Including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Nanjing, Xi’an, Wuhan, Hong Kong, Paris, Madrid, Stockholm, and New York, among others. Grandall attained recognition for excellence as a major international law firm among the leading Chinese law firms. Lawyer Monthly speaks to Walter to gain further insight into his arbitration experience in China.

In your 30 years of arbitration experience, how have you seen the Arbitration sector develop in China?

With the rapid development of the Chinese economy, together with promulgation of the Arbitration Law of the People’s Republic of China back in 1994, arbitration has become the most preferred vehicle to resolve international commercial disputes in China. Over the years, more than 270 local arbitration institutions in China were established at the municipal level. The leading arbitration institutions in Mainland China include China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission, Beijing International Arbitration Centre, and Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration etc.

What has been your most memorable achievement during this time?

Since I represented Chinese client in my first international arbitration case in Hong Kong in the 1990s, I have grown into a veteran of arbitration after 30 years of arbitration practice, not only acting as counsel in international arbitration cases, but also sitting as an international arbitrator, hearing and adjudicating cases alongside my global arbitration counterparts.

I have represented and assisted Chinese clients in many complex and difficult cases overseas, with the value of the cases often amounting to hundreds of millions or even tens of billions of U.S. dollars. One of the cases is that I have once successfully represented Chinese clients in the US and Hong Kong in a mega international litigation and arbitration case with a value of over USD 15 billion. As an arbitrator, I have heard and decided over a hundred commercial arbitration cases. Therefore, my greatest achievement is that I have accumulated a wealth of practical experience in international arbitration, and I can handle international arbitration cases with ease and comfort in both English and Chinese, acting as counsel or arbitrator.