Hon. Justice Jeffery Shepherd

His Honour Justice Jeffery Shepherd holds degrees in law and anthropology from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He is admitted to practice in the High Court of New Zealand, the Supreme Court of New South Wales, and the Superior Courts of Papua New Guinea. Formerly a senior partner with the litigation and intellectual property teams at the Port Moresby office of Ashurst Lawyers, Justice Shepherd was appointed a judge of the Supreme and National Courts of Justice of Papua New Guinea on 31 October 2016. He commenced judicial duties on 27 January 2017.

Contracting with Foreign Parties & Cross-Border Dispute Resolution

Prof. Khory McCormick, vice president at ACICA, moderated the session.

Mr. Rio Fiocco, president of the Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce & Industry, stressed the urgency of having an effective way of resolving disputes that may arise between the contracting parties, as an increasing number of PNG businesses take part in cross border trade. He pointed at the New York Convention as the obvious solution and suggested that if the PNG government adopts the convention, then such disputes could be resolved by arbitration, and arbitral awards could be enforced by domestic courts.

Jelita Pandjaitan

Ms. Jelita Pandjaitan is a partner at Linklaters Singapore Pte. Ltd. She leads the Southeast Asia disputes practice, with a focus on complex, high value cross-border disputes and investigations for major international banks and corporations. She advises clients in arbitrations, litigation and mediations in Hong Kong, Singapore and throughout Asia and conducts proceedings in the English courts in association with the firm’s London office.

Leah Ratcliff

Ms. Leah Ratcliff is an of counsel at Jones Day. She is a leading dispute resolution practitioner with over 15 years’ experience of acting in and advising on complex cross border disputes. Her practice encompasses disputes management and avoidance, international arbitration, litigation, regulatory investigations, crisis and risk management and governance.

Between 2015 and 2019, Ms. Ratcliff was Head of Dispute Resolution at BHP, one of the worlds’ leading energy and resources companies, where she managed complex disputes and regulatory matters across four continents.