Paulo Fohlin

Paulo Fohlin,

LLM (Uppsala 1988), Advokat (Swedish Bar Association 1994), Chartered Arbitrator (C.Arb), FCIArb, FHKIArb
 

Paulo earned his LLM at the University of Uppsala, Sweden, in 1988, after completing also U.S. courses in contracts, torts and constitutional law at the University of Minnesota Law School. In addition, he worked as an assistant at the University of Uppsala, teaching inter alia general contract law and sales law. His student thesis “Avtalstolkning”, on the interpretation of contracts under Swedish law, was published in 1989 (by Iustus Förlag) and thereafter used as course literature at the university. It is still sometimes relied on as legal authority in contractual disputes.
 

In 1988, Paulo joined the commercial full-service law firm Vinge, where he stayed for more than 20 years, first as an associate and then as a longstanding partner. At Vinge, he worked in contentious and non-contentious matters. The non-contentious matters involved inter alia shareholders’ agreements and company law, contract negotiation and contract drafting in respect of numerous kinds of contract and industry sectors, as well as transactional due diligence work. Early on, his main focus became contentious matters, such as arbitration and civil court litigation and out-of-court settlement negotiations. He also appeared as counsel in tax litigation when Vinge tax lawyers in certain cases requested oral hearings before the Swedish tax courts.
 

Together with Vinge colleagues, Paulo appeared as counsel in some of the largest cases in the Swedish civil courts at the time, in terms of value in dispute and/or complexity. In a few such cases, Paulo acted for investors against host states that sought to set aside arbitral awards made in Stockholm under bilateral investment treaties. Over time, Paulo became recognised as a leading Swedish dispute resolution lawyer in international directories, such as Legal Media Group’s Expert Guide to the World’s Leading Litigation Lawyers (from 1999) and Chambers Global (from 2004).
 

In 2007, Paulo moved to Hong Kong to serve as Vinge’s resident partner at its Hong Kong office. He then became a member of the committee of the Chartered Institutes of Arbitrators (CIArb) East Asia Branch (headquartered in Hong Kong). As a result of his arbitrator work, he also became a CIArb Chartered Arbitrator (C.Arb). As a member of the ICC (International Court of Arbitration) Hong Kong Arbitration and ADR committee, Paulo was involved in the drafting of the Hong Kong committee’s submission to the ICC headquarters in Paris, arguing that ICC should establish its first overseas case management office in Hong Kong (which it did in 2008). Among Paulo’s published articles is his paper A Case for a Right of Appeal from Negative Jurisdictional Rulings in International Arbitrations Governed by the UNCITRAL Model Law (Asian Dispute Review, October 2008). The article was referenced inter alia in a January 2011 Report of the Law Reform Committee of Singapore, whereafter Singapore changed its law to that effect. Paulo was recognised, together with Vinge colleagues, in Global Arbitration Review’s GAR 30 lists from 2009 to 2011.
 

In 2011, Paulo left Vinge for the boutique law firm Odebjer Fohlin, which he co-founded in Hong Kong. At the latter part of 2019, Odebjer Fohlin also opened an office in Stockholm, where Paulo then resided after more than 12 years as a foreign lawyer registered with the Hong Kong Law Society.
 

On 1 January 2026, Paulo joined Resolution Chambers as an arbitrator-member and with the intention of taking up residency in Hong Kong again. Paulo is not a qualified Hong Kong Lawyer or barrister, and in Hong Kong only undertakes independent neutral work.
 

Download below Paulo’s example lists of arbitrator appointments and inclusions on arbitral institutes’ arbitrator panels, commercial and investment treaty matters as counsel, speaking engagements and publications, memberships and positions, and recognitions in international directories.