Benjamin F. Hughes is an independent arbitrator and adjunct professor of law at the National University of Singapore.  He also serves on the Investment Committees of Omni Bridgeway, a leading funder of international commercial disputes, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Hainan International Arbitration Centre.

Since leaving law firm practice in March 2013, Ben has been appointed in approximately 150 international arbitrations with several billion dollars in dispute.  Previously, he practised with Shearman & Sterling (in the US and Singapore), and was the founding co-chair of the international dispute resolution practice group at Shin & Kim, one of Korea’s oldest and largest full-service law firms.

While Ben’s experience as arbitrator spans a broad range of commercial sectors, applicable law, arbitration rules and jurisdictions, he is particularly recognised as a leading arbitrator in the Asia-Pacific region.  He has lived, studied and worked in the region for almost 30 years, and is fluent in Korean and conversant in Mandarin.  In addition, having studied and practised law in both civil and common law jurisdictions, Ben is uniquely suited to hear disputes between parties from various legal and cultural backgrounds.

JD, New York University School of Law (2002) MA course (no dissertation), Seoul National University College of Law (1999) MA, East Asian history, Harvard University (1997) BA, Trinity University (1989)

Academic Distinctions

Dean Robert McKay Scholar, NYU School of Law Global Legal Fellow, NYU School of Law (Buenos Aires, Argentina) Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship, Korea (SNU College of Law) SNU Academic Scholarship, SNU College of Law Harvard-Yenching Institute Fellowship, Harvard University Fulbright Grantee, Korea President’s Academic Scholarship, Trinity University