Dr Michael Hwang S.C. currently practices as an international arbitrator and mediator based in Singapore. He was the Chief Justice of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts from 2010 - 2018. He sits as arbitrator in domestic and international disputes, including investment treaty disputes, under a wide variety of arbitral rules. Michael was called to the Singapore Bar in 1968, when he joined Allen & Gledhill, now Singapore’s largest law firm. He became a partner in 1972 and retired from the firm in 2002 after serving as head of its Litigation and Arbitration Department for 10 years. Michael’s past appointments include: a former Vice Chairman of the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), a former Vice President of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA), a former member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), a former Court Member of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), a former panel member on the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) Panel, and a former Trustee of the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC). He has also served as a United Nations Compensation Commissioner (adjudicating claims against Iraq arising from the First Gulf War) and a Vice-Chair of the International Bar Association’s (IBA) Arbitration Committee as well as a Council Member of International Council of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS). He is on the Advisory Boards of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) and Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) and is also a Board Member of the Swiss Arbitration Association (ASA). Michael has also previously served as Singapore’s Non-Resident Ambassador to Switzerland and Argentina, as a Judicial Commissioner (fixed-term High Court Judge) of the Supreme Court of Singapore, and as President of the Law Society of Singapore. He was educated at undergraduate and postgraduate levels at Oxford University, where he was a college scholar by open competitive examination.