Michael Cover has acted as the Mediator in the Final of this excellent competition in Hong Kong. 18 teams from Universities around Asia took part and the Winners were the team from the National University of Singapore, who are pictured. They will go on to the ICC International Commercial Mediation Competition in Paris in the Spring of 2025.

Michael commented:

“It was a privilege to act as the Mediator in the Final, as well as judging and mediating in the Preliminary Rounds. We wish the Winning Team every success in Paris”.

ArbDB Chambers Member, Michael Cover, took part in this Conference at the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre, organised by the estimable Dr Christopher To and colleagues.

Stanley Lo of Deacons moderated the Panel “Roles and Attributes expected of Mediator and whether accreditation/ certification is essential”, of which Michael was part.

Michael commented:

“It was a privilege to be invited to participate in this Conference. Much is happening in the East Asia Region on Mediation, which is good to see.”

ArbDB Chambers, the leading international chambers of third-party neutrals, with members in UK, UAE, Singapore and Australia, is delighted to announce that John Abbott has accepted an invitation to join Chambers from the 1st November 2024.

John was a partner at Laytons ETL and is a highly experienced dispute resolution lawyer. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and an accredited Civil and Commercial Mediator.

He accepts appointments as Arbitrator and Mediator and will now be practising as a full time independent third-party neutral through ArbDB Chambers.

Tony Marks, the Chair of ArbDB Chambers, commented:

“We are delighted to welcome John Abbott as a Member of ArbDB Chambers. He is a first-class practitioner and we look forward to working with him to further develop his third party neutral practice.”

John Abbott can be contacted for appointments through the Clerk to ArbDB Chambers, Martin Poulter martin.poulter@arbdb.com and tel +44 (0)203 514 9020.

ArbDB Chambers Member, Mark Appel, is to speak on dispute avoidance and conflict management during the Lodestar Dispute Resolution Centre’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Week, between 21 and 25 October 2024.  The event has been planned in cooperation with the American Bar Association’s ADR week and is being sponsored by Mediate.com, among others. 

The seminar will be available online and in-person (see https://na.eventscloud.com/adrweek2024 ). The event will welcome experts in the fields of mediation, arbitration and negotiation to speak about critical ADR challenges and necessary skill sets for ADR professionals.

Mark will be part of a distinguished Panel tackling the topic “A Mediatory Approach to Sustainable Development”. This topic is set against the background of the global legal, business and governmental communities questioning whether current approaches to foreign direct investment-related dispute resolution are “fit for purpose”. 

Mark’s Panel will address that issue and speak to the challenges inherent in cross-cultural mediation, and new, early approaches to the use of mediation and other dispute avoidance processes in complex renewable energy, excavation and power projects.

Mark can be contacted for mediation and arbitration appointments through the Clerk to ArbDB Chambers, Martin Poulter martin.poulter@arbdb.com

ArbDB Chambers Member, Michael Cover FCIArb, to be part of a distinguished Panel at this event https://www.ciarb.org/events/global-insights-on-dispute-boards-and-conflict-avoidance-boards/

Michael looks forward to seeing you there.

Within the framework of the II CLAPEC International Congress 2024: "The Challenges of the Current Market", Michael Lawrence will be participating in the "Construction expert vs expert lawyer in construction law" discussion, moderated by the Brazilian lawyer Ricardo Medina Salla, partner of the FLH Abogados law firm and Director of the Brazilian Institute of Construction Law – IBDiC.

This event will be held on Saturday, September 28 at the Pullman Hotel in San Isidro, Peru

Event registration: https://www.clapec.org/2024/congreso/clapec/

ArbDB Chambers, the leading international chambers of third party neutrals, with a presence in London, Dubai, Singapore and the United States is delighted to announce that Marieke Witkamp has accepted an invitation to join Chambers.

Marieke Witkamp is an international arbitrator, who has worked on three Continents as an arbitrator and previously as a Commercial Judge in the Netherlands and as Counsel. Marieke is a Dutch National, now based in Houston, Texas and is licensed by the Texas Bar. Marieke has also worked in Qatar.

Marieke is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb) and holds the CIArb Diploma in International Maritime Law, as well as an LLM in Dutch and US Law. Marieke’s areas of expertise include maritime, insurance, construction, energy law and M&A disputes. She has sat as sole arbitrator, emergency arbitrator and mostly as chair of arbitral tribunals.

Marieke will now be practising as a full time independent Third-Party Neutral through ArbDB Chambers.

Tony Marks, the Chair of ArbDB Chambers, commented:

“We are delighted to welcome Marieke as a Member of ArbDB Chambers. Marieke is already a distinguished arbitrator. We look forward to working with Marieke further to develop her arbitration practice internationally. This continues to build our strong team of multi-professional arbitrators, adjudicators and mediators in ArbDB Chambers ”.

Marieke can be contacted for appointments through the Clerk to ArbDB Chambers, Martin Poulter, martin.poulter@arbdb.com and tel: +44 (0)203 514 9020.

ArbDB Chambers Member, Robert Sliwinski, Chair UAE Branch of CIArb, is speaking at Doha Arbitration Day on Thursday 25th April 2024 during a session titled " Broadening Horizons: Contemporary Approaches in ADR,"

Robert is also speaking at the Pakistan International Disputes Weekend 2024 on 12th May on the subject of “ADR Capacity Building: Training and Education Discussing the role of training and education in enhancing ADR capacity in the region – cross border trainings”

Please contact Clerk to Chambers – Martin Poulter – about Robert’s availability for appointments on 0203514 9020 or by email: martin.poulter@arbdb.com

ArbDB Chambers Member, Stephen Bate has been reappointed to the Sport Resolutions Panels of Arbitrators and Mediators.

In addition, Michael Cover has been accepted to join the International Mediation Panel of the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board (KCAB) International, having already joined their Panel of International Arbitrators in June 2022.