Independent Arbitrator

Professor Benjamin F. Hughes is an independent arbitrator at Fountain Court Chambers in Singapore, adjunct professor at the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law, a member of the Court of Arbitration of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre and a member of the Investment Committee of Omni Bridgeway. Previously, Professor Hughes was a member of the faculty at Seoul National University Law School, the founding co-chair of the international dispute resolution practice group at one of Korea’s largest full-service law firms and a member of the international arbitration team at Shearman & Sterling in the US and Singapore. Since leaving law firm practice in 2013, he has been appointed in over 200 arbitrations with several billion dollars in dispute, including ad-hoc arbitrations and arbitrations under the rules of the following arbitral institutions (in alphabetical order): 

• AAA (American Arbitration Association)
• ACICA (Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration)
• AIAC (Asian International Arbitration Centre (formerly KLRCA))
• BAC (Beijing Arbitration Commission)
• CAA (Chinese Arbitration Association (Taiwan))
• CIETAC (China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission)
• DIFC-LCIA (Dubai International Finance Centre-London Court of International Arbitration)
• DIS (German Arbitration Institute)
• HKIAC (Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre)
• ICC (International Chamber of Commerce)
• ICDR (International Centre for Dispute Resolution)
• JAMS (Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services)
• JCAA (Japan Commercial Arbitration Association)
• KCAB (Korean Commercial Arbitration Board)
• LMAA (London Maritime Arbitration Association)
• SCC (Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce)
• SCMA (Singapore Chamber of Maritime Arbitration)
• SIAC (Singapore International Arbitration Centre)
• UNCITRAL (UN Commission on International Trade Law (ad-hoc and administered)
• VIAC (Vietnam International Arbitration Centre).

His experience as arbitrator spans a broad range of commercial disputes, including joint venture and shareholder disputes, intellectual property and licensing, media and telecommunications, construction and infrastructure projects, energy and resources, shipping and shipbuilding, automobile and heavy machinery manufacturing, agency and distributorship agreements, aviation, military acquisition and procurement contracts, sale of goods and general commercial disputes.

Professor Hughes has been appointed as arbitrator in cases seated in Australia, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong SAR, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States (including New York, California, Hawaii, and US territories) and Vietnam.  He has heard cases governed by the laws of Australia, Austria, BVI, Cayman Islands, China, England and Wales, Fiji, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mongolia, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia (including Sharia), Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates, the United States (including New York, California and US territories) and Vietnam, as well as lex mercatoria. He has also handled complex conflict of law and jurisdictional issues, joinder applications, summary dismissal applications and disputes involving multiple contracts and applicable laws.  

Professor Hughes is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators and the College of Commercial Arbitrators. He has taught extensively in the field of international dispute resolution prior to joining NUS as an adjunct professor, including as associate professor of law at Seoul National University Law School and as a visiting professor at the University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law and National Taiwan University Law School. Professor Hughes also serves on the editorial boards of the Asian International Arbitration Journal, the Korea Arbitration Review and the Journal of Korean Law.

Professor Hughes was educated in both the civil law and the common law traditions, having studied first at Seoul National University College of Law (MA, all coursework in Korean), and then at NYU School of Law (JD). While at NYU, he spent one semester at the University of Palermo Law School in Buenos Aires, Argentina (all coursework in Spanish). He also studied Chinese (Mandarin) in Beijing and East Asian history at Harvard University.