Abeer SHARMA
Abeer Sharma’s work focuses on the governance, regulation, and societal impacts of emerging technologies, with particular interest in institutional and legal design. He explores how governance arrangements are built and revised as technological systems reshape authority and incentives, drawing on a multidisciplinary perspective.
In AI governance, his work addresses issues spanning questions of accountability, liability, responsibility, and standards of care, as well as the design of oversight and enforcement institutions. He also engages international coordination problems, including treaty design, verification, and the transnational governance of high-impact AI systems. His research also extends to longer-horizon questions, including those raised by the emergence of potential digital minds.
In fintech and decentralized governance, his work focuses on governance design in crypto-asset ecosystems and infrastructures built on DLTs. His doctoral work examined governance mechanisms for decentralized dispute resolution systems.
He has a multijurisdictional professional background as a lawyer, where he has represented clients ranging from sovereign states and conglomerates to private individuals. His extensive experience includes cross-border commercial arbitrations, regulatory work on financial crime matters, and environmental litigation. He also advises emerging startups and protocol teams on governance design, regulatory and market-entry strategy, R&D priorities, and compliance-by-design.
Publications:
When the State Cannot Know: Precautionary Process Duties for Digital Mind Welfare in Indian Law – forthcoming 2026
The Limits of Decentralization in Knowledge Sharing Processes – forthcoming 2026
Financial Stability at the Edge: Cooperative Data Infrastructures and the Case for Layered Oversight – forthcoming 2026
Interdisciplinary Training and Research Impact in the Legal Academy (co-authored) – Hong Kong Law Journal (2025) Vol. 55(3)
Decentralized Justice: State of the Art, Recurring Criticisms and Next Generation Research Topics (co-authored) – Frontiers in Blockchain Research, 2023
A Primer on the Good Cop/Bad Cop Routine in Negotiations – NUJS Journal on Dispute Resolution, 2022
Interpretation of the Cooling-off Period in the Energy Charter Treaty – The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Journal (2019) Vol. 85(2)
For the Public Benefit: An Evaluation of the Landowner Compensation Regime applicable to Fracking in England – The Energy Law Institute Review, 2019
The Regulation of ex-parte Arbitrator Interviews in ICSID: A Proposal – India Law Journal, 2018
Award:
HKU Dissertation Year Fellowship (2025)
HKU Presidential Scholarship (2021)
Hong Kong PhD Fellowship (2021)
International Bar Association Young Lawyers’ Committee Scholarship (2023)
QMUL Programme Prize in Comparative and International Dispute Resolution (2018)