Winnie Tam SC

Career

Winnie is a graduate of the University of Hong Kong (LL.B. (Hons.)). Between 1987 to 1988 she had pursued further studies in intellectual property at UCL (University of London) and further training as a barrister in the intellectual property field, and was called to the English Bar in 1988.

Winnie was appointed Senior Counsel of the Hong Kong Bar in 2006. She was Chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association between January 2015 to January 2017 and Chairman of the Committee on Intellectual Property between 2019 to 2022. Winnie is a Recorder of the Court of First Instance, and was Recorder of the High Court of the Hong Kong SAR (2015-2023). In that capacity and formerly as a Deputy High Court Judge, she has adjudicated on an extensive range of civil and commercial disputes. In 2016, she was honoured as an Overseas Bencher of the Middle Temple Society of England. She has also been serving as a member of the Law Reform Commission since 2019.

Winnie has broad experience in corporate commercial, intellectual property, technology, media and entertainment disputes. Apart from her regular involvement as lead Counsel in IP and commercial litigation and arbitration, Winnie has accumulated substantial experience as an international arbitrator in trade and corporate disputes.

Winnie is listed as arbitrator in the HKIAC’s General Panel and Intellectual Property Panel, the CIETAC panel, and is a member of the Domain Name Disputes Panel of the HKIAC, a member of the Expert Committee of the China (Shenzhen) IP Arbitration Centre, a panel arbitrator of SCIA, SHIAC, and Qingdao Arbitration Commission, a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and a fellow of the Hong Kong Institute of Arbitrators. She is a WIPO panel mediator, JAMS panel mediator, a CEDR-accredited mediator, a panel mediator on Mainland-Hong Kong Investment Disputes under CEPA. In her capacity as a leading intellectual property barrister, she was part of a working group of the Department of Justice on the arbitrability of intellectual property rights, and has contributed to the drafting of a bill presented to LegCo in December 2016. Between 2018 and 2020, Winnie served as a member of the Nominations Committee of the HKIAC. Between 2020-2021, she served as Co-Chair of Women in Arbitration (WIA) under HKIAC. Between May 2020 to April 2023, she served on the Appointments Committee of HKIAC.

Winnie has worked as a presiding arbitrator and co-arbitrator under ICC, HKIAC, CIETAC, UNCITRAL and SCIA rules in disputes involving cross-jurisdictional commercial and joint-venture, private investment and shareholders disputes, intellectual property licensing and transfer, international gaming rights licensing, technology transfer, patent rights and more . She has experience as an arbitrator working with laws of jurisdictions including PRC, England and Wales, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, and Korea, in proceedings conducted both in English and in Chinese.

Winnie has been recognised in peer-reviewed publications as a sough-after international arbitrator and top IP expert in the region.

For more information, please refer to https://www.dvc.hk/members/winnie-tam

Languages Spoken

English, Cantonese, Putonghua