Hong Kong arbitration in 2026 and earlier

By Edward Liu (Partner), Lori Ng and Iris Shaw (Counsel), Jenny Wong (Senior Associate), Aaron Lai (Associate), and Winnie Lui (Trainee Solicitor), all members of the dispute resolution team at Haiwen & Partners LLP.

Hong Kong arbitration law in the first six months of 2026 continued to reflect a judiciary that is supportive of arbitration, but not uncritical. The recent decisions do more than restate the familiar proposition that Hong Kong is an arbitration-friendly seat. Read together, they show the courts giving practical content to that stance: holding parties to their agreed arbitral bargain, allowing tribunals substantial latitude over procedure and costs, insisting on procedural discipline in arbitration-related court proceedings, and confining curial intervention to cases in which a recognised statutory threshold is genuinely crossed.