Chen & Chang’s Partner, Helena Chen, Spoke at JCAA Global Arbitration Forum 2025

On 27 November 2025, Chen & Chang’s partner, Helena Chen, was honored and delighted to be invited to join the first-session panel on “From Complexity to Clarity: How Experienced Arbitrators Collaborate with Parties in Managing Complex Cases” at the JCAA Global Arbitration Forum 2025, taking place in Tokyo.

Helena shared her insights on how to handle preliminary issues, including jurisdictional objection and language of arbitration. She referred to a case where the parties agreed to adopt the SIAC-SIMC Arb-Med-Arb Model Clause but replaced “SIAC” and “SIMC” in the Model Clause with “CAA” and “CAA Mediation Center.” Without the support of the SIAC-SIMC Arb-Med-Arb Protocol, the parties quarreled about “how the mediation fees should be calculated,” “should there be a time limit for the mediation process” etc. Such “hybrid” or “mismatching” dispute resolution clause often causes procedural issues in practice. The tribunal would often have to deal with such issues at the preliminary stage of an arbitration.