Sally Harpole

Bio

Sally A. Harpole is a leading international arbitrator, mediator, and attorney-at-law whose practice has emphasized investment, trade, technology and disputes in the People’s Republic of China and other Asian locations since the 1970’s.

As an attorney qualified in California and in the Hong Kong SAR, she led the China practices of multinational law firms in Beijing and Hong Kong as a transactional lawyer for nearly three decades before establishing her full-time practice as an independent arbitrator in 2014.  In recognition of her arbitrator work which dates from 1989, she was named one of Global Arbitration Review’s “Top Arbitrators in Asia” and “Top Women in Arbitration”.   After 36 years in Asia, she now practices in San Francisco and continues to focus on Asia-related matters.

Ms. Harpole has served as a Visiting Professor at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution of Pepperdine University Law School and lectured on international dispute resolution and other topics at numerous Asian universities. In the 1980s, Ms. Harpole was twice elected as President, American Chamber of Commerce in the People’s Republic of China. Her leadership in the international dispute resolution field has included membership in the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre Council, the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC) and the American Arbitration Association Board of Directors. She is currently on the Board of Directors of California Arbitration, an organization which promotes international arbitration in the State of California.

Ms. Harpole holds a bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley and a J.D. degree from the University of Washington.  She is fluent in both Chinese and Spanish.