On 14th June 2013, “Unlocking the Intricacies of Dispute Resolution in China” (the “Forum”), sponsored by the Beijing Arbitration Commission (the “BAC”)and the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (the “IALS”) of the University of London, was held on 14th June, 2013 in London. At the event, BAC and IALS jointly released an annual report, Commercial Dispute Resolution in China: An Annual Review and Preview (2013), which covers developments the five themes of Chinese commercial arbitration, commercial mediation, construction, finance and intellectual property in the past year.

Distinguished members of the Chinese and British legal community, including senior partners of law firms, law school professors, well-published jurists, high court judges, QCs, chief editors of prestigious law journals, were present at the Forum as speakers, reviewers and honored guests. They probed into the development of Chinese commercial dispute resolution and forecast the future of China's legal environment from a professional perspective. A reception and a press conference were held after the Forum.

Mr. Xie Guanbin, Lifang partner and chief editor of the sub-report, Intellectual Property Dispute Resolution in China: An Annual Review and Preview, was the speaker of the intellectual property theme. He summed up the latest legislative developments in China’s patent, trademark and copyright laws and briefly commented a number of notable IP cases in the past year.