Associate Professor Kun Fan

Fan Kun is Associate Professor of UNSW Law's Herbert Smith Freehills China International Business and Economic Law (CIBEL) Centre. Her teaching and research focus in the area of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), Online Dispute Resolution (ODR), comparative legal studies, and law and society. Professor Fan has studied and worked in China, Singapore, U.S.A., Switzerland, France, Hong Kong and Canada, and speaks Chinese, English and French. With her training in both the East and the West, in both common law and civil law jurisdictions, she is particularly interested in broad intellectual inquiries across national, disciplinary and professional boundaries. Before joining us, Professor Fan was an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law at McGill University in Canada and was named the Norton Rose Fulbright Faculty Scholar in Arbitration & Commercial Law in 2017. She has also taught for seven years at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (2009-2016) and was a Visiting Scholar of the Harvard Yenching Institute at Harvard University (2012-2013). 

Professor Fan has led and engaged in many research projects and grants in Hong Kong, Japan, the US and Switzerland. She is author of the book Arbitration in China: A Legal and Cultural Analysis(Hart Publishing) and has published extensively on cutting-edge issues in a variety of leading international journals, including Harvard Negotiation Law Review, University of Pennsylvania East Asia Law Review, Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of International Arbitration, Yearbook of Private International Law, European Business Law Review. She is frequently invited to speak in conferences, and give lectures and trainings in renowned institutions including Harvard University, Cornell University, New York University, Michigan University, Hong Kong University, Qinghua University, Queen Mary University, Geneva LLM in International Dispute Settlement (MIDS), Arbitration Academy, HKIAC, Asian Development Bank, Institute of Transnational Arbitration, International Law Institute, International Bar Association, etc. In recognition of her academic contribution, she received awards including the Best Research Outputs for Arbitration Theory in 2015 by China Arbitration Research Institute, Support for High-impact Scholarship 2013-2014 by the Committee on Focused Innovations Scheme, and Best Thesis in International Studies by the Swiss Network for International Studies Award in 2011. 

Apart from academic research, Professor Fan also has extensive experience in ADR practice, and has worked as counsel, legal expert, secretary for the arbitration tribunal, arbitrator and domain names panellist in a number of international arbitrations and domain name disputes, and has overseen over a hundred arbitrations administered by the ICC International Court of Arbitration when she worked as a Deputy Counsel. She is called to the New York Bar, a Member of the Institute of Transnational Arbitration Academic Council, an Executive Committee Member of International Task Force on Mixed Mode Dispute Resolution, an Executive Council Member of the China Academy of Arbitration Law, a Domain Names Panelist of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Center (“HKIAC”) and the Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Centre (“ADNDRC”), a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, an Accredited Mediator of the Hong Kong Mediation Accreditation Association Limited, and an Arbitrator of a number of arbitration institutions in China.