The Taiwan Chapter of Ciarb was proud to co-host, in collaboration with the Mediation and ADR Committee of the Taiwan Bar Association, the Chinese Arbitration Association (CAA), and Chen & Chang Attorneys-at-Law, a series of hybrid conferences on Dispute Resolution of International Construction Disputes. The first two conferences: ‘Introduction to Independent Experts and Delay Analysis’ and ‘Independent Delay Analysis Models and Examples’ took place on 13 December 2022 and 11 January 2023, respectively.

Dr. Helena Chen, Convener of Taiwan Chapter, chaired the first conference and invited Mr. Daren Da-Deh Yang, Chairman of Taichung Bar Association to deliver an opening speech. In his remarks, Mr. Yang emphasised the importance of independent experts in construction dispute resolution. Ms. Qingjing Meng, Senior Manager of Kroll, then introduced the roles and responsibilities of experts in international arbitration as well as a typical plan to produce an expert report on delay matters. Ms. Clara Seah, Senior Manager of Kroll, then introduced the Delay and Disruption Protocol (2^nd edition, “Protocol”) published by the Society of Construction Law. Among the six models of delay analysis mentioned in the Protocol, Ms. Seah elaborated on the models of “As-Planned versus As-Built Windows Analysis” and “Time Impact Analysis” with detailed examples.

The second seminar started with a welcome speech by Mr. Joe Yeong-Chyan Wu, President of the CAA, acknowledging the tremendous success of the long-term cooperation between the CAA and Ciarb’s Taiwan Chapter. Dr. Helena Chen chaired the entire conference. Kroll's Senior Managers, Ms. Qingjing Meng and Ms. Clara Seah, elaborated four widely-used models for critical path analysis: Remaining Duration, S Curve, Bottleneck, and Time-Chainage Chart. Ms. Meng and Ms. Seah explained which model is more suitable in relation to the critical path analysis of each kind of project with detailed examples and further introduced commonly used methods to challenge each of the models respectively. 

The presentations were met with great interest from the audience and sparked many questions, the momentum of which was further enhanced by the remote participation of Mr. Petros Karalis, Senior Director of Kroll, and Mr. Hamzah Risheq, Senior Director of Kroll. Both conferences were well attended: the first with over 120 participants and the second with over 140 participants present in-person or online. The Taiwan Chapter will run the third conference of this series on the topic of “Cross-Examination of Expert Witnesses” on 18 April 2023.

From left to right: Mr. Daren Yang, Chairman of Taichung Bar Association, Dr. Helena Chen, Convenor of Taiwan Chapter, FCIArb and Mr. Jack Chen, Head of CAA’s Taichung Office.

From top left to bottom right: Ms. Qingjing Meng, Senior Manager of Kroll, Ms. Clara Seah, Senior Manager of Kroll, Mr. Hamzah Risheq, Senior Director of Kroll, Dr. Helena Chen, Convenor of Taiwan Chapter, FCIArb and Dr. Joe Yeong-Chyan Wu, Chairman of CAA.