Delos-Y Tokyo Breakfast – 22 July 2026
The Delos-Y Tokyo Breakfast will take place on 22 July 2026 at Nishimura & Asahi in Tokyo as part of Japan International Arbitration Week 2026. The event brings together young practitioners and students for an interactive discussion on “Ethical Issues in Arbitration”.
Speakers will include Christopher Bloch (Hogan Lovells, Singapore), Serene Chee (Allen & Gledhill, Singapore), Annia Hsu (Nagashima Ohno Tsunematsu, Tokyo), Tatsushi Nishizaki (City-Yuwa Partners, Tokyo), and the session will be moderated by Anne-Marie Doernenburg (Nishimura & Asahim, Tokyo) and Lars Markert (Nishimura & Asahim, Tokyo), with Jonathan Lim (King & Spalding, London) facilitating.
Following short presentations by the speakers, participants engage in small-group discussions, allowing for an exchange of practical perspectives and experiences on key ethical challenges in international arbitration.
This Delos-Y Breakfast will be held in conjunction with Nishimura & Asahi.
Short bios of our speakers and moderators can be found below.
With the support of
ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS
Christopher Bloch is a senior associate in the International Arbitration practice who focuses on representing clients in international commercial and investment arbitrations across industries, including energy, mining, defense, and telecommunications and under all of the major arbitral rules (SIAC, ICC, HKIAC, CIETAC, LCIA, UNCITRAL, and ICSID). With more than 18 years in Asia, Christopher has been recognised in various legal directories as a “Rising Star” in international arbitration and has been described by clients as “hard-working”, “very diligent”, and being “someone you want on your side”. Prior to joining Hogan Lovells, Christopher has spent over a decade working as counsel in international arbitrations as well as being appointed as tribunal secretary in the chambers of one of the foremost independent arbitrators in Asia and as a senior member of the SIAC Secretariat where he administered over 250 arbitrations and assisted in drafting the 2016 SIAC Rules and 2017 SIAC Investment Arbitration Rules. He served on the Young ICCA Task Force on Use and Appointment of Arbitral Secretaries and the CIArb Working Group on Third-Party Funding and is a member of the training faculty for tribunal secretaries at the THAC. He regularly publishes and speaks on current topics in the space.Prior to joining Hogan Lovells, Christopher has spent over a decade working as counsel in international arbitrations as well as being appointed as tribunal secretary in the chambers of one of the foremost independent arbitrators in Asia and as a senior member of the SIAC Secretariat where he administered over 250 arbitrations and assisted in drafting the 2016 SIAC Rules and 2017 SIAC Investment Arbitration Rules. He served on the Young ICCA Task Force on Use and Appointment of Arbitral Secretaries and the CIArb Working Group on Third-Party Funding and is a member of the training faculty for tribunal secretaries at the THAC. He regularly publishes and speaks on current topics in the space.
Serene Chee, forthcoming.
Annia Hsu, qualified in Singapore and New York, Annia Hsu has represented and advised clients in dispute resolution matters, including litigation in Singapore courts, arbitration, adjudication, and mediation. Her experience and practice cover general commercial litigation and arbitration, shareholder disputes, mining, energy, construction and infrastructure disputes, trusts, and restructuring and insolvency matters. She has considerable advocacy experience in commercial and investor-state arbitrations under ICSID, ICC, LCIA and SIAC rules.
Tatsushi Nishizaki, forthcoming.
MODERATORS
Anne-Marie Doernenburg, is a counsel in our international dispute resolution group specializing in complex cross-border disputes, international arbitration and public international law. Having worked in many different jurisdictions, including in Germany, London, Paris, and Washington D.C., Anne-Marie regularly advises corporations and governments on investor-state and commercial disputes, as well as related negotiations. She is dual-qualified (Germany/England & Wales) and comes from a trilingual background. Prior to joining Nishimura & Asahi, Anne-Marie worked at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP from 2014 to 2018.
Lars Market, is a partner in our international dispute resolution group. With twenty years of experience working in Tokyo, New York, and Germany, he advises clients from Europe and Asia on complex cross-border disputes, commercial negotiations, and internal investigations. Lars’ practice is focused on commercial and investment arbitration. He has particular expertise in contentious proceedings involving post-M&A, commercial, manufacturing, construction, and distribution matters, in areas such as life sciences, automotive, and energy. Lars also deals with cases involving governments, and has advised foreign investors and sovereign states on issues of foreign direct investment and public international law, including related negotiations and investor-state disputes. He has been involved in more than 60 international arbitrations as counsel and as arbitrator under the arbitration rules of institutions such as the ICC, DIS, SAC, NAI, ICDR, KCAB, JCAA, SIAC, and ICSID, as well as under the UNCITRAL Rules.
CHAIR
Maria Polakova‘s practice primarily focuses on investor-state arbitration. She has represented clients in numerous high-profile cases before tribunals constituted under the ICSID and UNCITRAL Rules and has also advised on prospective investor-state claims. In addition, Mária has acted for clients in international commercial arbitration and domestic litigation proceedings. Mária is the chair of Delos-Y, a platform within the innovative arbitration institution Delos seated in Paris and dedicated to networking and career mentoring for younger arbitration practitioners and professionals interested in arbitration. She previously served as a co-chair of the Young International Council for Commercial Arbitration (Young ICCA).
