May Tai

Experience

May sits as sole arbitrator, co-arbitrator and presiding arbitrator of HKIAC, SIAC, ICC, UNCITRAL and CIETAC proceedings and as Emergency Arbitrator (ICC and HKIAC). She is also an experience counsel and advocate for ICSID, ICC, HKIAC, SIAC, CIETAC, LCIA, SCC and UNCITRAL proceedings.

As an Arbitrator

  • Presiding arbitrator in a dispute between a US and a Chinese company over a natural resources investment in South America where the quantum of the claim is US$300 million (ongoing)
  • Presiding arbitrator in an SIAC dispute relating to the design and development of certain high-tech equipment (ongoing)
  • Presiding arbitrator in an HKIAC proceeding enforcing a debt claim arising from a failed private equity investment
  • Presiding arbitrator in an HKIAC dispute relating to unpaid debts under multiple loan agreements; quantum of the dispute was circa US$35 million
  • Presiding arbitrator in an HKIAC dispute relating to IP rights in a licensing agreement
  • Sole arbitrator in an HKIAC dispute arising out of the sale of a Chinese company
  • Sole arbitrator in an SIAC proceeding between Chinese and Singaporean parties over the right to use trademark and seeking non-pecuniary relief
  • Sole arbitrator in an SIAC proceeding between Hong Kong and Singapore parties involving enforcement of a debt
  • Party-appointed arbitrator in ICC proceedings relating to the commodity trading between a Hong Kong party and a Middle Eastern party
  • Party-appointed arbitrator in a CIETAC HK dispute relating to the China business of a well-known restaurant franchise
  • Party-appointed arbitrator in a CIETAC dispute relating to an insurance claim brought under a financial/professional liability insurance policy governed by PRC law
  • Emergency arbitrator in a sale of goods dispute governed by ICC rules between a Chinese and US party

As a Counsel

Investment Arbitration / Public International Law

  • Representing Malaysian telecoms company Axiata on its BIT claim against Nepal over the state’s tax demand in connection with Axiata’s acquisition of mobile telco Ncell from TeliaSonera  
  • Representing an Asian telecoms company in its BIT claim against India over disputes relating to the licensing of India’s 2G spectrum 
  • Advising an Asian regulator on defending potential investment claims by a US investor over a coal-bed methane concession
  • Representing BP and Rio Tinto in a contractual ICSID arbitration brought by the Provincial Government of East Kalimantan over a coal mining concession contract
  • Representing an oilfield services company in contractual and investment treaty claims arising out of a boundary dispute in the South China Sea 
  • Representing Telekom Malaysia in an UNCITRAL arbitration brought under the Malaysia – Ghana BIT against the Government of Ghana for improper regulatory interference with and expropriation of Telekom’s investments in Ghana and related domestic Ghanaian court proceedings 
  • Representing the Barbados Government in a Part XV and Annex VII UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) arbitration against Trinidad relating to maritime delimitation and hydrocarbon rights

Commercial Arbitration

  • Representing a major Chinese energy state-owned enterprise as Claimant against its oil and gas joint venture partner in a US$6 billion arbitration administered by SIAC.  The arbitration has led to a successful liability award for the Claimant and two successfully defended set aside proceedings in Singapore and was eventually settled with a multi billion dollar payment to the Claimant
  • Representing the subsidiary of a Japanese trading house in a shareholder and joint venture dispute with a Taiwanese counterparty in ICC proceedings seated in Beijing where the language of the arbitration was Chinese  
  • Representing different Chinese private equity houses and companies in a number of put option disputes either seeking to enforce or defend against put options, damages or specific performance claims 
  • Representing a petrochemicals manufacturer defending a CIETAC arbitration for breach of a licensing agreement licensing use of petrochemical plant technology
  • Representing a financial institution as respondent in a CIETAC arbitration relating to a failed investment
  • Representing a subsidiary of a PRC state-owned corporation in an SIAC rules arbitration and defending claims brought by a European company for breach of a confidentiality agreement, concerning the alleged use of the European company’s proprietary information in the construction of an engineering project in mainland China
  • Representing a Chinese SOE on defending an ad hoc Hong Kong seated arbitration concerned with commission entitlements relating to the acquisition of two Nigerian power projects
  • Representing a Chinese corporation in an arbitration in Hong Kong (Chinese language proceedings) under UNCITRAL Rules in relation to a software licensing dispute
  • Representing a leading hotel management company in multiple arbitration proceedings filed in ICC and HKIAC relating to breaches of hotel management agreements by hotel owners in China
  • Representing a Canadian energy company in an ICC arbitration claim arising out of the sale and purchase of a Kazakhstan LLP whose primary assets were licences to produce three oil fields in the Caspian, and in a related freezing injunction application in the English High Court