Research Staff
Dr Bryane Michael (FRSA, FCIArb, FCIPS, FRGS, AICP, CIA, CISA)
His legal background includes advising over 50 ministries of justice and finance on drafting financial law. He graduated first in his class at King’s College London School of Law (receiving distinction). He has done over 190 advisory or audit assignments for international firms since 2011, as well as certifications in IPSAS, ICC International Arbitration, the “Constitutional Law of Foreign Countries”. He even served as an advisor the American Bar Association.
His finance/economics background includes work at the World Bank, OECD, Morgan Stanley, and has earned a Series 7, Series 66, and a level 2 CFA candidate. He has worked on tax gap, public budgets and reporting in over 75 ministries of finance, competition, and health; 25 state-owned enterprises; and developed a multi-lateral development bank. He served on 4 boards on the OECD, and over 10 outside – from minerals to transport.
His tech background includes a TechCrunch regular, programming in Python, the usual industry ISO and frameworks, distinguished practice in machine learning, Bayesian and dynamic systems in the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. He uses ArcGIS and SketchUp to model municipal change.
His academic research includes 10 years of teaching at Oxford University, a year as professor of public finance at Columbia University, at the OECD Istanbul Private Sector Development Centre, the Bank-Fund Joint Vienna Institute and fellowships (visiting professorships at places like the UN (ITC-ILO) Training Centre in Turin and war colleges in the Middle East. Over 200 download his academic content on various plafora per day, and over 80,000 listen to it per month.
Dr Michael speaks English, French, Spanish, some Russian and Turkish and 500 characters in Chinese (as long as they don’t appear together). He speaks at about 100 places per year – so get in touch! Reach him at: https://web.hku.hk/~bmichael/
Jessica Wong is the Assistant Research Officer at the AIIFL. She has taken up this position since July 2022. Her research on rapidly developing areas of law, including artificial intelligence, sustainable finance, financial inclusion and more, has been critical in elevating the quality and relevance of our events at the AIIFL. She has also co-authored a forthcoming chapter on Commercial Law for the Elgar Concise Encyclopedia of Asian Law. Prior to joining the AIIFL, Jessica was a Legal Counsel at Yunfeng Financial Group Limited. During her time there, she advised on a variety of matters in relation to, inter alia, proprietary investments (such as private equity investments in Korean, British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands companies), asset management (such as setting up a Cayman Islands private equity fund), fintech and more. She was also employed at King & Wood Mallesons for a few years where she worked in various departments including corporate (i.e. initial public offerings and mergers & acquisitions), banking & finance (which includes regulatory work, funds, loans, and aircraft finance), dispute resolution and more. During her time with the regulatory team, she would research and assist in drafting client alert articles, which would consist of providing updates by the Securities and Futures Commission in relation to a variety of topics including environmental, social and governance, and creating sustainable financial products. Jessica’s academic qualifications include a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree and a Postgraduate Certificate in Laws (PCLL) from the City University of Hong Kong. She also has a Master of Laws (LLM) in Corporate and Financial Law from our Faculty.