INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION 1/3LY
IN CONVERSATION WITH RUTH STACKPOOL-MOORE 13
IN CONVERS AT ION WI TH RUTH STACKPOOL-MOORE DIRECTOR OF L I T IGAT ION FUNDING / HE AD OF HARBOUR HONG KONG Simon McConnell, Partner and Sapna Jhangiani, Legal Director at Clyde & Co in conversation with Ruth Stackpool-Moore, Director of Litigation Funding / Head of Harbour Hong Kong.
S APNA Speaking of Hong Kong and Singapore, what is the future of third-party funding in both jurisdictions? In Hong Kong there has been a consultation paper of the “ Third-Party Funding for Arbitration Sub-Committee of the LawReformCommission” report which Simon and I andmany other arbitration practitioners in Asia are familiar with. But in Singapore the Ministry of Lawhasn’t been issuing reports to update us on what’s going on. I think we all believe that there are things happening behind the scenes and I don’t think anyone disputes that it is something they are looking at very closely, but I am hoping youmight have a better idea as to where the future is going in Singapore. RUTH Unfortunately, I’munlikely to have anymore specific Information than you do. TheMinistry of Lawdid do a consultation back in 2014, but it wasn’t the sort of a public consultation that Hong Kong is currently going through. Selected individuals were asked to provide views and Harbour had the opportunity to respond. As I understand it, I don’t think we have had any formal feedback or indication of what can be expected as a result of that process, other than publically available information. My own personal view is that third-party funding will probably be allowed in arbitration in Singapore eventually. I’mnot sure of the timing, it may be that developments in Hong Kong will stir action in Singapore, which might push to get there first, or it may prefer to take a ‘wait and see’ approach. S APNA I guess they are quite cautious. Champerty is still a concept which there is a lot of resistance to in Singapore. Simon, do you have any thoughts on the Singapore vs Hong Kong debate surrounding whenwill third-party funding come in?
T HI RD - PA R T Y F UND ING IN HONG KONG A ND S ING A P ORE
S APNA Howdid you develop an interest in third-party funding and become involved in the industry? RUTH My interest in third-party funding grewwhile I was working in London, although I never had the opportunity to work on a funded case while I was there. When I arrived in Hong Kong to join the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) in early 2013, one of the first things I was asked to do was to put together a briefing note on the advantages and disadvantages of funding froman arbitration perspective. This was some time ago, shortly before the LawReform Commissionworking groupwas set up to look at funding in arbitration in Hong Kong. Through that process I learnt a lot and gained amore in depth understanding of what funding was, and realised that it was something on the radar for Hong Kong. In terms of actuallymoving into the field, I had known Susan Dunn, one of the earliest developers of third-party funding and Head of the investment teamat Harbour, for several years. Harbour had funded a number of cases in the Asia Pacific region, despite not having a presence here, so it made strategic sense to open an office in the region. When Susan asked if I would be interested in opening that office and being Harbour’s representative for Asia Pacific, it seemed like a unique and exciting opportunity so I said yes. Developments surrounding third-party funding in the region are so interesting at themoment, in Hong Kong and Singapore in particular, it’s a fantastic field to be working in.
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