Congratulations to Geoffrey Ma FCIArb on his Honorary Fellowship
The former Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong becomes an Honorary Fellow of Ciarb.
The Hon Geoffrey Ma’s long and distinguished career spans numerous prestigious appointments as well as over two decades in the Hong Kong judiciary. He currently sits as an arbitrator and a mediator. He was nominated for Honorary Fellowship by Ciarb East Asia Branch.
Geoffrey Ma FCIArb says, “While of course a great honour has been granted to me in becoming an Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, for which I will always be grateful, it is my longstanding membership that gives me the greater pride. It represents for me membership of a body of persons that, for a century and a decade, has (to paraphrase Lord Devlin) solved the disputes of commercial persons in a way which they understood and appreciated.
“Ciarb strives to uphold the highest international standards in relation to what the commercial community expects: the effective enforcement of rights by ensuring the fair and just adjudication of legal disputes. We must now all maintain the very high standards that Ciarb demands of us.”
The Hon Geoffrey Ma is the former Chief Justice of Hong Kong, having retired from that position in January 2021.
Prior to joining the Hong Kong Judiciary, he was in private practice as a barrister at Temple Chambers, practising mainly in commercial, company and public law, including arbitrations. He was Head of Chambers before his appointment as a Judge of the Court of First Instance of the High Court in 2001. He was elevated to the Court of Appeal in the following year, and appointed Chief Judge of the High Court in 2003. Geoffrey served as the Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal from 2010 to 2021.
He is the Editor in Chief of Arbitration in Hong Kong: A Practical Guide (1st to 5th editions). He is also a member of the International Advisory Board of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre, on their Panels of Arbitrators and Mediators; a member of the Panel of Arbitrators of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre; a door tenant of Brick Court Chambers, London; and has offices in Singapore.
