Judge, Arbitrator & Member (IADRU) 3VB, United Kingdom
Sir William (Bill) Blair practised as leading counsel in the field of international banking and finance until his appointment to the bench of England and Wales. He was subsequently Judge in Charge of the Commercial Court and a Financial List Judge. On retiring from the bench in 2017, he joined barristers’ chambers at 3 Verulam Buildings, London, setting up the International Advisory and Dispute Resolution Unit which offers States and others pro bono advice. Sir William now sits as an arbitrator and has had LCIA, HKIAC, ICC and ICSID appointments as Chair, sole arbitrator and party-appointed arbitrator: in 2022, the European Commission included him in the list of arbitrators suitable for appointment as Chairperson in arbitrations under trade agreements to which the EU is a party. He is Professor of Financial Law and Ethics at Queen Mary University London (UK), and Chair of the Enforcement Decision Making Committee at the Bank of England. He is a Judge of the Qatar International Court, a Steering Group Member of the Standing International Forum of Commercial Courts, and on the International Commercial Expert Committee of the Supreme People’s Court of China. Until 2019, he served as the First President of the Board of Appeal of the European Supervisory Authorities. He is a Member of the Ethics Committee of Digital Catapult’s AI Machine Intelligence Garage.
