The award is for the victory DACB achieved for China Taiping (UK) Co Ltd in an ad hoc, “public” arbitration before Lord Mance relating to a claim brought by a group of 183 policyholders, for COVID-19 related business interruption losses worth over £100m.

The judges praised DACB for championing a “model for future commercial disputes”, where cutting-edge English law advice was delivered with a thorough understanding of the client’s business and culture.

The client has commented that “[T]here is no doubt that DACB handled this matter in an innovative and cost-effective way. Both Taiping UK and Taiping Group in Hong Kong are very satisfied with the result and the value of advice we received from Chris Wilkes and Nelson Wang at DACB.”

The DACB team working on this matter consisted of Chris Wilkes (partner) and Nelson Wang (associate), supported by Angel Lu (then trainee solicitor) .