William BLAIR

The Hon Sir William (Bill) Blair is an expert in the field of banking and financial law and regulation, having practised as a QC (Queen's Counsel) at English bar, becoming a Judge in 2008. He was Judge in Charge of London's Commercial Court and a Judge of the Financial List established to try major financial cases until 2017.

On retiring from the bench, he joined 3VB Chambers in London from which he sits as an arbitrator. He has had LCIA, HKIAC, ICC and ICSID appointments as Chair, sole arbitrator and party-appointed arbitrator. He sits internationally as a judge in Qatar and in Hong Kong.
In the academic field, he is Professor of Financial Law and Ethics at Queen Mary University of London, visiting Professor at a number of Universities internationally, and a Fellow of the Oxford University Commercial Law Centre. He became an Honorary Senior Fellow of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law in 2020.

Sir William was the first President of the Board of Appeal of European Supervisory Authorities (a European Union body which brings together the EU banking, financial services and insurance regulators) from 2012-19. He is a member of London's Financial Markets Law Committee, the Monetary Law Committee of the International Law Association (of which he was Chair until 2021 now honorary Chair), and the Advisory Board and Panel of Experts of P.R.I.M.E. Finance of The Hague.

Sir William Blair also chairs the Enforcement Decision Making Committee of the Bank of England, which is the UK's central bank. He is a member of the Ethics Committee of start-up funder Digital Catapult.

His current research interests include monetary law, fintech, financial crime, financial inclusion, and dispute resolution in China. He has an interest in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and helped set up the unit at 3VB Chambers that offers pro bono advice to states and others including in relation to sovereign debt.