Walter Chen, FCIArb, FHKIArb

Walter (Fayun) Chen, FCIArb, FHKIArb, is Senior Counsel and a senior partner at Grandall Law Firm, based in Nanjing. With nearly thirty years of experience advising domestic and international clients on arbitration, litigation and non-contentious matters, he has been named International Arbitration Expert of the Year in China at the Corporate INTL Global Awards 2025, an honour that reflects a career at the forefront of cross-border dispute resolution.

Chen's practice centres on international commercial arbitration, an area in which he combines the roles of counsel and arbitrator. He is a fellow of both the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the Hong Kong Institute of Arbitrators, and sits on the panels of arbitrators of more than twenty arbitration institutions around the world, among them the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre, the London Court of International Arbitration, the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board, CIETAC, the Beijing International Arbitration Court and the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration. This exceptional breadth of appointments places him among a select group of Chinese practitioners trusted to sit and to advocate across the major seats of arbitration in Asia and beyond.

His international grounding is reflected in his education, which includes a master's degree in international business law from the University of Liverpool, a period as a visiting scholar at the University of Maryland and further study at the University of Hamburg. This exposure to different legal traditions is a considerable asset in cross-border arbitration, where success often depends on understanding the expectations of parties, counsel and arbitrators from a range of jurisdictions and legal cultures. International arbitration has become the preferred mechanism for resolving high-value cross-border commercial disputes, prized for its neutrality, confidentiality and the global enforceability of awards, and it places a premium on practitioners who can operate with equal confidence as advocate and as arbitrator across the major seats and institutions of Asia, Europe and beyond.

Chen is also active in the institutions that shape the practice of arbitration. He serves on the Arbitration and Mediation Committee of the All China Lawyers Association and the ICC China Arbitration Committee, and is an expert member of the International Commercial Expert Committee of the Nanjing International Commercial Court, roles through which he contributes to the development of dispute resolution in China. His standing has been recognised through a series of honours, including designation among China's leading Belt and Road lawyers and international recognition as an arbitration lawyer of the year.

Grandall Law Firm, at which he practises, is one of China's largest firms, with a broad international network and a substantial dispute resolution practice. Within it, Walter Chen offers clients the combination of deep arbitral experience, cross-jurisdictional perspective and institutional influence that high-value international disputes require. His recognition as International Arbitration Expert of the Year in China at the Corporate INTL Global Awards 2025 confirms his position among the country's most accomplished arbitration practitioners.