Meet the People Behind LITE Lab@HKU (Law, Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship)

Brian W Tang is executive director of LITE Lab@HKU, University of Hong Kong’s new interdisciplinary and experiential programme to foster law, innovation, technology and entrepreneurship (LITE) led by the Faculty of Law in conjunction with the Department of Computer Science. Brian is a frequently invited international speaker on his practice and research areas of law and innovation, capital marketplaces, regtech, lawtech, AI governance, virtual assets and future skills. His work was featured on CNBC’s Learning Curve Series and in Diana Wu’s book Future Proof: Reinventing Work In the Age of Acceleration (2019).

     Brian is co-chair of the Fintech Association of Hong Kong’s RegTech Committee, co-founded the APAC Regtech Network, and sits on IEEE’s Global Initiative on Ethics on Autonomous and Intelligent System’s Policy Committee, the HKU Fintech Index Advisory Board and the Asia-Pacific Legal Innovation and Technology Association (ALITA)’s Steering Committee. 

     Brian is founder of ACMI and Young Makers & ChangeMakers, and organized Hong Kong’s first legaltech and regtech hackathons in conjunction with Global Legal Hackathon and smart legal contract challenge in conjunction with Computational Law & Blockchain Festival. He has been invited to be a mentor for Bizkathon@HKUST 2019, MIT Entrepreneurship & Fintech Integrator 2019, Ocean Park x HKU Hackathon 2019, iDendron Incubation Programme, Hong Kong Law Society Innotech Law Hackathon and Fintech SuperCharger, and a judge for Barclays DerivHack 2019, WSJ Financial Inclusion Challenge Awards and Microsoft ImagineHack 2017. He was also an instructor for blockchain incubator Helix Accelerator. 

     Brian is an avid proponent of blended learning, being a principal instructor of Asia’s first FinTech MOOC on edX that has more than 40,000 learners in every country worldwide and contributed to HKU’s Blockchain and Fintech MOOC as well as to the Hong Kong Society of Financial Analyst’s Fintech Video Series on capital market and regtech. 

     Brian has spent nearly 20 years at global investment bank Credit Suisse in Hong Kong, and at law firms Sullivan & Cromwell in New York and California and Mallesons in Perth, Australia, where he advised on some of the world’s largest and first-ever financial services and technology capital markets and M&A deals, project bonds and microfinance. With responsibilities at Credit Suisse covering Asia-Pacific (ex-Australia and Japan), Brian has worked on IPOs in nearly every Asian jurisdiction, and some landmark transactions include the dual-listings of China Telecom (NYSE/HKEx), ICBC (HKEx/SSE), UC Rusal (HKEx/Euronext Paris) and Glencore (LSE/HKEx); Alibaba.com’s privatization; and led a cross-disciplinary team to establish and manage one of the first Chinese joint venture investment banks.  Brian is admitted in Hong Kong, the State of New York and Supreme Court of Western Australia and the High Court of Australia. 

As a new lecturer joining the LITE Lab@HKU team, Stephanie Biedermann is creating opportunities for students to gain practical and transactional experience in Hong Kong, research relevant legal issues, and assist local companies and NGOs. A US-licensed lawyer, Stephanie's legal experience includes work in the US, the Middle East, and Hong Kong, with a focus on public interest law and access to justice issues as they relate to individual client services, policy decisions, and the development of clinical opportunities for law students.
     Prior to joining HKU, Stephanie Biedermann served as Legal Officer at PILnet, where she oversaw the Hong Kong Pro Bono Roundtable. While based in the United Arab Emirates, Stephanie Biedermann worked on matters ranging from international energy policies to labour migration in the Gulf Coooperation Council. As an officer in the governance division of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) – a sustainability-focused intergovernmental organisation based in Abu Dhabi – she helped initiate collaboration between IRENA and UNHCR to bring renewable energy to refugee camps in Jordan and Ethiopia. While in Abu Dhabi, Stephanie also worked on policies to improve living and working conditions for migrant workers. She was part of the team that revised New York University Abu Dhabi’s labour standards. In Cairo, Stephanie was the Legal Director of an NGO assisting refugees in the resettlement process. She strived to find durable solutions for vulnerable families and individuals – primarily from Iraq, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, and Somalia. 

     While based in the United States, Stephanie conducted impact litigation on behalf of persons with disabilities with Disability Rights Advocates in Berkeley, California, as the Arthur Liman Fellowship Attorney. Stephanie holds a JD from Yale Law School, a BA in English from Princeton University, and is admitted to the State Bar of California, USA.