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.

The novel dispute avoidance/conflict management scheme for sustainable development projects which ArbDB Chambers Member, Mark Appel, developed with others, including our former colleague, Wolf von Kumberg, ( see  https://www.carohadac.org/services/conflict-management-committee.html?langue=en ) has been short-listed for the 2023 GAR Innovation Award.

Our understanding is that the Awards will be announced during Paris Arbitration Week which starts 18th March 2024.

The Conflict Management Committee scheme is a novel process, which combines classical dispute avoidance approaches with, for the first time, the interests of not just employers and contractors but also local stakeholders. This should be particularly effective where there are significant local and environmental impacts. ArbDB Chambers Members, John Wright and Michael Cover were involved in the peer reviewing of this novel scheme.

ArbDB Chambers Member – Michael Cover - has been speaking at the Dispute Resolution Board Foundation Central and Eastern European Conference in Sofia 14 and 15 March 2024

Michael Cover was speaking at the Conference on the first day, focusing on the needs and interests of users of the Dispute Avoidance and Adjudication Boards.  

Michael was part of a distinguished Panel on Top 5 Guidelines on Drafting Position Papers.

Here is a link to the conference programme:

https://www.drb.org/2024-03-ceec-2024-sofia-program