39 Essex Chambers

Hong Kong

England and Wales (barrister); Hong Kong (solicitor); DIFC Courts (Dubai - rights of audience); AIFC Court (Kazakhstan - rights of audience); SICC (Singapore - registered foreign lawyer)

London

• Member of the 2022 Standing Panel for the Billie Jean King Cup Finals (formerly, the Fed Cup) also known as the World Cup of women’s tennis

• Appointed as sole arbitrator in an HKIAC arbitration governed by Hong Kong law involving breach of agreement relating to the sale of products and services on one of the world’s largest online retailer and marketplace
• Appointed by The Football Association in two separate arbitrations involving allegations of unpaid intermediary fees following the transfer of professional football players from one professional football club to another
• Appointed as sole arbitrator of the Independent Tribunal in a matter involving two appeals by a national tennis association concerning violations of a code of conduct at one of the world’s largest annual international tennis competitions
• Appointed as co-arbitrator of the Independent Tribunal in a matter involving disciplinary proceedings brought against a tennis player by the International Tennis Federation under the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme at the ITF World Tennis Tour Tournament as a result of the player’s failure to provide a urine sample on demand due to an alleged medical condition

• Appointed as sole adjudicator by TECBAR in a dispute involving the supply and installation of lighting at a fleet of stores owned by a British high-street retail chain (claim value approximately £400,000)
• Appointed as sole adjudicator by TECBAR in a dispute involving the maintenance and repair services of escalators and conveyors installed at a fleet of stores owned by a British high-street retail chain (claim value approximately £400,000)
• Appointed as adjudicator in a claim concerning unpaid invoices for works carried out as part of a project comprising the construction of an extension and conversion of an office into a hotel pursuant to a JCT contract

English, Cantonese (Chinese), Mandarin (Chinese), French, Spanish

The London School of Economics and Political Science, LLB Bachelor of Laws
The University of Oxford, Bachelor of Civil Law
The University of Hong Kong, The Postgraduate Certificate in Laws

https://www.39essex.com/barrister/grace-cheng/

-The Continuing Triumph of ‘Bright Line’ Rules: Rothwell revisited (2017) 25 Tort Law Review 3
-“You’re fired”: The Blacklisting of Workers in the Construction Industry (2017) 33 Construction Law Journal 403
-E-Money: Evolution or revolution? (2018) 33(2) Journal of International Banking Law and Regulation 56
-What’s in a name? (2018) 1 International Family Law Journal 50
-The role of judicial review in the EU’s financial architecture and the development of alternative remedies: The experience of the Board of Appeal of the European Supervisory Authorities (2018) 84 Quaderni di Ricerca Giuridica published by Banca d’Italia 17 (co-authored with Sir William Blair)
-In Code we trust? Trustlessness and smart contracts (co-authored with Mimi Zou and Marta Soria Heredia) originally published by the Society for Computers and Law (April 2019) and in abridged form by the Oxford Business Law Blog (University of Oxford)
-Member of Commercial Bar Association / Chancery Bar Association joint working group responding to the Law Commission’s call for evidence on smart contracts (March 2021). The Law Commission published its advice to the UK Government on 25 November 2021
-Overriding mandatory rules and compliance in international arbitration: national monetary restrictions, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Dossier XIX (co-authored with Sir William Blair)
-Arbitrating financial disputes—are they different and what lies ahead? (2022) Arbitration International 1 (co-authored with Sir William Blair, Gökçe Uyar and Yang Zhao)

-‘Principles of Civil Proceedings in the UK Courts’, Lecture delivered as part of the Astana International Finance Centre Foundations Program for Lawyers (AIFC Academy, March 2021)
-‘Overview of English Law’, Lecture delivered to the National Welfare Fund “Samruk-Kazyna”, a sovereign wealth fund and joint stock company in Kazakhstan which owns, either in whole or in part, a number of major companies in the country (AIFC Academy, August 2021)
-‘Commercial Law’, a series of lectures delivered as part of the Astana International Finance Centre Certificate in Common Law course (AIFC Academy, September to October 2021)

-Bar Council – member of the Alternative Disputes Resolution (ADR) Panel
-Chancery Bar Association (ChBA) – member of the International Sub-Committee
-Commercial Bar Association (COMBAR)
-Family Law Bar Association (FLBA)
-Technology and Construction Bar Association (TECBAR)
-International Law Association (ILA)
-International Chamber of Commerce Young Arbitrators Forum (ICC YAF)
-Young International Council for Commercial Arbitration (YICCA)
-The London Court of International Arbitration Young International Arbitration Group (LCIA YIAG)
-Young Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HK45)

Grace Cheng is an English barrister, a qualified Hong Kong solicitor and has rights of audience before the AIFC Court (Kazakhstan) and DIFC Courts (Dubai). She has also been granted full registration as a registered foreign lawyer at the Singapore International Commercial Court. In addition to speaking fluent English, Cantonese and Mandarin, Grace has a working knowledge of French and Spanish.

Grace is a member of the Bar Council’s ADR Panel and is included on various panels, registries and databases of arbitrators including AIAC (Malaysia); BAIAC (Singapore); BIAMC (Indonesia); CACM (Mozambique); CAA (Taipei); CEAC (Hamburg); Delos (Paris); FINRA (US/Puerto Rico); HIAC (Hainan); HKIAC (Hong Kong); ICC (UK); LCIA (London); LMAA (London); PIAC (Vietnam); SCC (Stockholm); SHAC (Shanghai); SHIAC (Shanghai); SIAC (Singapore); THAC (Thailand); WTC Macau Arbitration Center (Macau); Sport Resolutions (International); and the World Intellectual Property Organization. She was a member of the 2022 Standing Panel for the Billie Jean King Cup Finals (formerly, the Fed Cup) also known as the World Cup of women’s tennis. She is also on various panels of adjudicators, including HKA (Hong Kong); HKIAC (Hong Kong); LMAA (London); TECBAR (UK); and UKA (UK).

Grace has taught law at the University of Oxford, King’s College London, the University of Warwick, the National Chengchi University, and the National Taiwan University. She is a member of the AIAC Academy Tutors Panel and the AIFC Academy of Law Academic Pool.

Grace obtained a First Class Honours degree in law from the LSE and the BCL from the University of Oxford. She previously worked at Slaughter and May and was judicial assistant to the Honourable Mr Justice Blair when he was the Judge in Charge of the Commercial Court. She has also assisted Professor Ewan McKendrick with the latest two editions of Goode and McKendrick on Commercial Law.