Our Members

John Abbott is a former partner at Laytons where he was a Mediator & Arbitrator in the Dispute Resolution team.

John handled a wide range of complex and high-value commercial litigation and international arbitration, often involving multi-jurisdictional issues.

He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (International Arbitration) and is also an experienced mediator accredited in the UK by the Civil Mediation Council.

With more than 30 years' of experience and expertise, John is a very effective dispute resolution lawyer. In practice, he was a tenacious litigator with the ability to identify key issues early enabling him to resolve issues as quickly and cost effectively as the circumstances allow.

Michael Lawrence is an accomplished and experienced construction professional, Chartered Civil Engineer and dispute specialist.

Michael is fluent in Spanish and has extensive international experience, having worked in the UK, Paraguay, Spain, the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Lebanon and Malaysia.

Michael has worked with and led teams on major projects under the FIDIC “Rainbow” suite of contracts.

Michael is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and is actively involved in the Dispute Resolution Board Foundation.

Marieke Witkamp FCIArb is a Houston based international arbitrator with an LLM in Dutch and US Law and a Texas bar license.

She also holds the CIArb Diploma in International Maritime Arbitration. Marieke has over 20 years of dispute resolution experience and a unique professional background. She is originally trained as a commercial judge in the Netherlands and became an international commercial and arbitration lawyer after moving abroad to the United States and the Middle East.

Marieke’s areas of expertise are maritime, insurance, construction, energy law and post M&A disputes but she is comfortable with almost any contractual dispute that comes up. As a judge she had to deal with anything that entered her docket.

Richard Price has a background in general commercial litigation, including contract and licensing disputes, becoming regarded as one of the UK’s leading patent and trade mark litigation lawyers.

Working as a neutral in ADR , he brings over 50 years’ experience as a solicitor in commercial litigation, leading teams in landmark cases and heading market-leading IP litigation practices, and spear-heading the Taylor Wessing merger in 2002. He has extensive experience in many jurisdictions including the USA, Hong Kong and Western and Central Europe, as well as the UK.

His practice there covered all aspects of IP law at all levels up to and including the UK House of Lords and Supreme Court, and the Privy Council, leading the winning teams in all four cases there.

Most recently, as head of IP Arbitration and Mediation at CMS London, he focussed on the resolution of disputes in multi-jurisdictional contract, patent, trade mark, passing off and copyright cases across a wide range of sectors.

He has conducted as a neutral both arbitrations and mediations in licensing and contractual disputes, as well as patent, trademark and passing off cases, all being international ones.

Steffen Pedersen is an international arbitrator and mediator with a focus on maritime and commercial disputes. He has received 169 appointments globally (as of 24/11/2024) in LMAA, SCMA, SIAC, HKIAC, DIAC, AIAC, HKMAG as well as ad hoc arbitrations. He has sat as sole, party-appointed and Chair (presider) and drafted over 30 awards.

A native Dane Steffen is qualified as a lawyer in Hong Kong, England & Wales and Nauru.  He holds degrees from City University, London; City University, Hong Kong; King’s College, London; the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London; and holds an LLM (summa cum laude) in US and environmental law from PACE University in New York.

As lawyer Steffen worked in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and most recently in Singapore, where he was a partner in a leading law firm, focusing on arbitration. He handled well over 100 international arbitrations during his career.   Whilst still a lawyer he also built a practice as an arbitrator and general third party neutral becoming a full-time independent arbitrator and mediator upon joining ArbDB Chambers on 1 March 2022.

His experience as both lawyer and neutral extends to the full range of shipping and offshore matters, including disputes related to commodities, construction (all types of vessels/units, including superyachts), EPC contracts, drilling contracts, sale and purchase disputes, pooling agreements, charterparties, sale and leasebacks and cargo/bill of lading.

Steffen is known to combine Scandinavian efficiency and pragmatism with a deep knowledge of the common law and healthy awareness of, and respect for, diverse legal cultures.  His expertise spans the globe, but he has particular experience in dealing with Asian parties in dispute resolution. He has advanced Mandarin which often proves useful in China related disputes.

Steffen is a member of the arbitration panels of many of the leading institutions in the world, including the SCMA, HKIAC, LCIA, MIAC and KCAB and is currently on the SIAC Reserve List.   He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, an Aspiring Full Member of the London Maritime Arbitrators Association and is a Member of the Baltic Exchange.

Robert has over 35 years’ experience of the construction industry with particular emphasis on all forms of alternative dispute resolution.  After 12 years as a quantity surveyor Robert entered the Bar dealing with civil, landlord & tenant, property and construction law issues whilst also undertaking arbitration and adjudication disputes as the neutral. 

Robert currently practices from SWL Chambers as Counsel representing a variety of clients from numerous industry sectors and is regularly appointed as arbitrator, adjudicator, expert determiner, mediator, and dispute board member through ArbDB Chambers in London.  Robert additionally practices in the GGC Region as Counsel with Al Suwaidi & Company in Dubai specialising in all aspects of the property and construction industry.

Jane is listed as a Global Leader in Who’s Who Mediation and featured in Legal 500 Hall of Fame 2022.

Jane is a former city solicitor, and now a full-time mediator with over 25 years’ experience of mediating commercial cases. She has mediated hundreds of disputes and is frequently chosen for her extensive mediation experience as well as her ability to handle complex and emotive cases.

Jane was accredited as a commercial mediator in 1996 (CEDR). She currently President of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, of which she is a Fellow, and a CMC registered mediator and an IMI (The International Mediation Institute) Certified International Mediator.

Jane has mediated a wide variety of disputes including:  Commercial Disputes, Business and Partnership, Professional Negligence, Boardroom Disputes, Joint Ventures, Family Business and Trusts, Employment and Workspace, Medical Negligence, Personal Injury and Property and Construction.

Sheila Bates, MCIArb, CEDR accredited mediator (2007) is an international dispute resolution professional, facilitator and trainer. She has wide-ranging international experience gained in consulting, multi-nationals, financial institutions and public sector organisations over more than 25 years. She is a member of the CEDR mediation panel.

As a mediator, Sheila is particularly in interested in cross cultural and workplace and employment disputes. She has an in-depth knowledge of emerging markets. Sheila led the implementation of mediation in an international financial institution as part of its internal justice system.

Tony Marks has more than thirty years’ experience of dispute resolution. He was a solicitor and litigation partner at CMS Cameron McKenna from 1983 to 2008 and now practises as an independent mediator and arbitrator. He has sat as sole arbitrator and as Tribunal member in a number of commercial arbitrations and acted as mediator in a wide range of disputes. 

 

He is an accredited mediator with ADR Group, a member of ADR Chambers and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. As a litigation partner, his primary areas of industry specialisation were in financial markets, financial services, corporate and energy disputes, information technology and commodities and futures markets, although he had experience of disputes in diverse business areas.

Paul Rose is a Chartered Arbitrator, a Chartered Surveyor and an Accredited Mediator with Clerksroom the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and RICS. Paul has mediated some 150 mediations and he has over some 51 years’ broad experience as a Chartered Surveyor both in private practice and in the corporate sector.

Paul is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a member of the President’s Panel of Arbitrators at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and CIArb Disputes Service panel – property. He undertakes arbitrations under the Pubs Code and the Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Act 2022. He is also a member of the President’s Panel of Mediators at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators as well as RICS Neighbourhood Disputes Panel; and is one of the few people dual qualified as a commercial Mediator and an Arbitrator. Paul is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Dubai Mediation Centre.

Paul is also a member of the Panel of Arbitrators of the London Court of International Arbitration and the panel of Arbitrators and Mediators of the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration and the Saudi Centre for Commercial Arbitration.

He is a member of the panel of Mediators at the Dubai Mediation Centre and is a member of the RICS.

Anthony Fincham is a highly experienced and skilled mediator, who was until recently a partner at a leading London Law Firm. Anthony specialises in workplace dispute resolution. He has mediated in a wide range of other types of dispute.

He is a member of the Court of Appeal Mediation Panel and until recently, a Member of the City of London Law Society Employment Committee. Anthony is a former non-executive director of ADR Group and Chairman of ADR London.

John Wright is a Chartered Arbitrator and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. After 40 years in practice as a solicitor he now sits full time as an Arbitrator, Adjudicator, Mediator and Dispute Board Member, chiefly in construction and engineering projects but also encompassing disputes arising in the energy, commodity, travel, mining, real estate and banking fields.

John is on the FIDIC President’s List of Approved Dispute Adjudicators and is currently sitting on a number of Dispute Boards and Arbitral Tribunals globally. He is also included on arbitration, adjudication and mediation panels worldwide including the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Thailand, Vietnam and Georgia.

John has long been identified as a leading construction lawyer in Chambers Directory and the Legal 500 and is named as one of the world’s leading construction lawyers and one of the world’s Thought Leaders in Construction in the 2023 editions of the International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers. He is a past Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and past Co-Chair of the International Construction Projects committee of the International Bar Association.

Peter McQueen accepts appointments as arbitrator and mediator in respect of cross-border commercial disputes, in particular those relating to international trade and transport. 

He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and a Member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration and an Aspiring Full Member of the London Maritime Arbitrators Association (LMAA).

He has acted as an arbitrator in both ad hoc and institutional arbitrations, including those conducted under the auspices of Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration, the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre , the ICC, the LMAA, the Singapore International Arbitration Commission and the Singapore Chamber for Maritime Arbitration. 

He is an arbitration panel member of arbitration institutions in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and United Kingdom.

George Grant FRICS ACIArb is a Chartered Quantity Surveyor and practising Arbitrator with over 45 years experience in the fields of Development & Project Management, Cost Management, Contract Administration, Claims Consultancy, Dispute Resolution and Arbitration. Twenty seven of those years have now been spent in the Middle East (7yrs in Oman, 20 in the UAE). George has held top management positions in leading consultancy and corporate organisations and has completed many assignments throughout the region as well as in India and Africa and the Far East. He now runs his own international construction management consultancy practice based in Dubai and is a board member of various associated companies.

 

George has successfully pursued and defended multiple multimillion dollar claims and has extensive experience of contracts and commercial management work both in a building, civil and infrastructure environment. He is a practising Arbitrator, Mediator and Dispute Resolution Expert.

Stephen Bate is a British citizen, Chartered Arbitrator, barrister and accredited mediator, with a UK domestic and international commercial arbitration practice carried on through ARBDB, international arbitration chambers in London. His practice background is as a barrister at the English Bar, with over 30 years’ experience in a range of civil and commercial matters, specialising in media & entertainment law, latterly at 5RB barristers’ chambers until 2017.

Stephen was accredited as a mediator in the UK by the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) in 2002 and has since mediated approximately 200 cases with values up to £250M in a very wide range of commercial disputes, with a settlement rate of about 70%. His mediation practice is carried out through CEDR: www.cedr.com.

Stephen is listed in Who’s Who Legal 2022 and the Legal 500 2022 as a recommended / leading mediator.

Michael Cover is a Member of ArbDB Chambers. He has over 30 years’ experience as a Barrister and Solicitor, both in private practice and as in-house Counsel. He is an accredited Mediator with CEDR, a Fellow of the Civil Mediation Council and has been involved in over 280 mediations. Michael is named in the Legal 500 2024 in Tier 3 of UK Mediators and is rated as “Recommended” in Mediation in Who’s Who Legal. He is rated as both a Global and UK National Leader in Mediation Who’s Who Legal 2020. He has also completed Investor-State Mediation training with ICSID/CEDR/IMI and Dispute Board Training with the DBF.

He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb) and a Chartered Arbitrator (CArb) and has handed down over 120 arbitration awards, including under the arbitration rules of the ICC, the LCIA, CIMAR and AAA-ICDR. He is an Aspiring Full Member of the London Maritime Arbitrators Association.

Michael accepts instructions as arbitrator, mediator and adjudicator. He is on the panels of neutrals of many of the leading UK and international private dispute resolution institutions, including AAA/ICDR, AIADR, ADGM, AIAC, CEDR, CIArb, Clerksroom, CPR Panel of Distinguished Neutrals, DIAC, HKIAC, IPOS Mediation, KCAB, the Law Society of England and Wales, QICDRC, RIBA, SCCA, SCMA, UK Adjudicators, WIPO and the World Forum of Offshore Wind, as well as the RICS Dispute Board Register.

Mark Appel has nearly 40 years of global arbitration and mediation experience, having served in both executive and senior executive positions at the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), leaving ICDR/AAA as Senior Vice President, EMEA in December of 2015.

While serving as an AAA Executive, Mr. Appel personally administered or was responsible for the administration of thousands of commercial arbitrations and mediations.

Mr. Appel is thoroughly familiar with Civil and Common law arbitration and mediation practice and procedure, with over 30 years of experience in training arbitrators and mediators on four continents on behalf of various arbitral institutions, government ministries, Courts and NGOs.