Sir William (Bill) Blair is Professor of Financial Law and Ethics at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London. After a career at the bar, he served as a judge and later Judge in Charge of London’s Commercial Court (the principal supervisory court for international arbitrations with a London seat) until 2017.
Bill helped set up the pro bono International Advisory and Dispute Resolution Unit at 3VB Chambers in London, where he is an Associate Member. He sits as a judge in Qatar and Hong Kong, is a member the International Commercial Expert Committee of the Supreme People’s Court, and of the International Financial Legal Experts Team of the Shanghai High People’s Court.
Bill has had appointments as Chair, sole arbitrator and party-appointed arbitrator in commercial and investor-state arbitrations. He is included by the European Commission in the list of arbitrators suitable for appointment as Chairperson in arbitrations under trade agreements to which the EU is a party. He is a member of the Eighth Committee of the Beijing Arbitration Commission, and the Council of the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration.
In the financial regulatory field, he has chaired tribunals in many disputes, was the first President of the Board of Appeal of the European Supervisory Authorities, and is currently Chair of the Enforcement Decision Making Committee of the Bank of England.
Bill is a member of the Steering Group of the Standing International Forum of Commercial Courts, and Honorary Chair of the Committee on International Monetary Law of the International Law Association. He is on the Ethics Committee of a UK digital start up funder.