Leadership Message: November ’22

by Kasia Halliday, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, a Vice-Chair and Training and Education Officer on the CIArb UAE Branch Committee

I am delighted to write the Leadership Message for the 6^th Edition of the CIArb UAE Branch’s Newsletter and the last edition for 2022. It has been an exceptional year for the CIArb UAE Branch. The training and education courses offered, continue to increase in popularity. The Events team led by Zeina Obeid, and the Young Members Group (YMG) led by Arun Visweswaran, continue to deliver a multitude of seminars and events, not only offering invaluable insight into the industry but also providing practical knowledge and assistance to develop a career in arbitration. I feel privileged to be part of this success and to see the continued growth of the CIArb UAE Branch.  

It’s been almost two years since I took up the role of the Education and Training Officer for the CIArb UAE Branch, and at the Annual General Meeting held in June 2022, I was also elected Vice Chair representing the Emirate of Dubai. Over this period, I am delighted that we continued to provide training and education services aligned with one of the CIArb’s key objectives:  

“To promote and facilitate worldwide the determination of disputes by arbitration and alternative means of private dispute resolution other than resolution by the court”.  

The training modules offer a staged introduction into the subject of arbitration and ADR, and a pathway leading to Fellowship in arbitration and / or mediation. The first in the series of the training modules offered by the UAE Branch, is the Introduction to International Arbitration course. The course provides candidates with an understanding of the general principles of International Arbitration and its relationship to other dispute resolution processes, as well as an introduction to the legal framework, and good practice & procedure in International Arbitration within their jurisdiction.  

We run the Introduction to International Arbitration course twice a year, typically early spring and late autumn, and it’s always one of our most popular courses. Successful completion of this course enables candidates to join CIArb at Associate level. In the next few months, we are planning to deliver the Introduction to International Arbitration course in Arabic for the first time. It’s been a long and challenging process to get to this point and I am incredibly grateful to everyone who contributed to making this possible.     

CIArb members are a very diverse group of professionals, and CIArb’s Associate members are probably the most diverse of all our members, consisting of junior professionals on their chosen career path, to established professionals from various non-arbitration fields, who have decided to either develop or enhance their knowledge of arbitration, and possibly even transition into arbitration entirely.  

In this newsletter, we meet two Associate members and one Fellow member, representing experts, funders and engineers, all of whom are at different stages of their respective careers, following different paths to their current roles in arbitration, all of whom are a testament to the diversity of CIArb members.  

We chat with Maria Eustaquito, a Junior Consultant and aspiring Quantum Expert from CBBG who transferred from construction management; Dilip Massand, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Phoenix Advisors, specializing in litigation management and investment, a truly international professional who transitioned from advising a hedge fund in the US for a Global Asset Recovery, to funding arbitration in UAE; and finally Kunal Mishra, a Contracts Engineer at  the National Marine Dredging Company, who manages dispute avoidance and dispute resolution procedures related to marine projects.  

I have thoroughly enjoyed talking to each one of our interviewees and I hope you enjoy reading their stories. I’m sure that we all agree that there is nothing like a real-life story. I am a great believer that real-life examples of people’s journeys can inspire, motivate or encourage us to persevere in our chosen direction or switch the trajectory altogether.  

If any of the interviews spark an interest in you towards pursuing a career in arbitration, to take part in CIArb’s training or attend any of our events or seminars, I would like to refer you to the Training & Events section of this Newsletter.  

Equally, if you would like to share your “story”, we would love to hear from you.    

I hope you enjoy reading this newsletter.  

Thank you  

Kasia Halliday  

---

Kasia Halliday, is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, a Vice-Chair and Training & Education Officer on the CIArb UAE Branch Committee. She is a Chartered Surveyor and an Associate Director at Berkeley Research Group, providing quantum expert assistance to clients and counsel. She can be contacted on KHalliday@thinkbrg.com

Leadership Message: August ’22

by Robert Sliwinski C.Arb FCIArb Chair of the CIArb UAE Branch   

I am honoured to be writing this message to you all having been elected as Chair of the CIArb UAE Branch at the AGM held in June 2022.  Thank you to the Committee for giving me this opportunity and I hope that this will be a very successful year for all of us. 

For those of you who I have not yet had the chance to meet in person and by way of background, I have over 40 years’ experience in the construction industry with particular emphasis on all forms of alternative dispute resolution.  

I moved to Dubai four years ago to further my arbitration practice and am now Counsel at Al Suwaidi & Co based in Business Bay whilst still sitting as an arbitrator and continuing to represent a variety of clients in all areas of arbitration and litigation.  I am also registered to practice in the DIFC and ADGM courts. 

I have very much enjoyed being a part of the organisation of the Institute and prior to leaving the UK, I was a member of the Thames Valley Branch for over 15 years serving on the committee and undertaking two three years terms as the Branch Chairman.   

As a CIArb approved trainer, I tutor on both domestic and international arbitration, mediation and adjudication for candidates worldwide.  I feel that this is a very important aspect of being part of the Institute and as a Chartered Arbitrator allowing me to pass on the knowledge I have gained from my time in practice. 

My involvement with the CIArb has increased over the years as I have served on and am now the Chair of the Panels Management Group that oversees the arbitrators, adjudicators and mediators appointment panels.  This allows me to interact with members worldwide to help ensure that CIArb’s high professional standards are maintained.   

Branch Activities 

2021 continued to be a difficult time for many and most activities had to remain online rather than in person.  However, the Branch did manage to hold two in person events during Dubai Arbitration Week in November 2021.   

The first being a panel discussion and reception where the topic under debate was whether construction disputes were likely to remain mainstream in view of the rising momentum in technology, sports and maritime disputes.  The lively debate was moderated by Zeina Obeid, who concluded the debate by taking votes on the subject from over 100 attendees. The results: construction remains the arena with most ADR disputes and it is likely to remain that way in the near future.  This makes me realise that many industries do not utilise ADR as effectively as they could and we should continue to interact with all industries to show how ADR can be a real benefit to them. 

The second event of the week was the CIArb YMG annual global conference, which was being held in Dubai for the very first time.  The theme of the conference was “Arbitration in a Changing World”, which was apt at this pivotal juncture in the world grappling with the changes brought about by the global pandemic.  

More information on both these events can be found at: https://www.ciarb.org/our-network/middle-east-subcontinent/uae/branch-information/ 

Events 

As to 2022 we have already held a variety of events, both online and in person, including: 

• A joint event with DIAC on how to get your first arbitral appointment 
• A joint event with the French Chapter on keeping your disputes in check 
• A webinar with the Qatar Branch on Mediation 
• An in person discussion and social  
• YMG held a very successful quiz night and social 

Looking forward to the rest of this year there are a number of events already confirmed, including: 

• Joint events with ADGM and ICC 
• The continuation of the  ‘How to’ series, the next one being on “How to get your first appointment as an arbitral secretary” 
• A joint event with the Iberian Chapter and DIAC 
• A mock arbitration for the students of BuiD 
• CIArb Dubai Arbitration Week Event 2022
• Young Members Group debate during Dubai Arbitration Week 2022 

Courses 

We are also organising a number of courses which include: 

• Introduction to International Arbitration – Online course organised by the Qatar branch 
• Module 1 – Law, Practice and Procedure of International Arbitration over 4 days starting in August and September 2022 
• Module 1 – Mediation is in the process of being organised and it is hoped that this will be available later this year 

Other Matters 

The Branch has been approached for their support on a number of other initiatives including support for Dubai’s bid to host the ICCA Conference in 2026, potential opportunities for members to act as interns in the DIFC Courts and assistance in providing training in arbitration to judges in the UAE and possibly throughout the GCC region.  All of these are worthwhile and it is hoped that our membership will be able to benefit from these in due course. 

2022 is also a CIArb Congress and Presidential Election year.  This is an event where branch chairs from all the regions have the opportunity to meet with the Institute’s Director General and other senior members of the leadership team and discuss future plans, ongoing issues and other matters concerning the running of the Institute.  It is also when the Election will take place for the next President.  I will provide further details on this as the year progresses. 

Finally 

I would like to thank all the current and departing committee members for their time and effort over the last year, which has not been easy for any of us.  In addition, I would like to welcome those new committee members who have joined us and I look forward to working with all of you for the advancement of all form of ADR in our region over the next year. 

Last but not least I would like to thank you, the members of the branch, for your support at our events and I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible over the next few months. 

Contact 

My contact details are below and please feel free to get in touch with any suggestions, ideas, concerns, etc that you may have and I will do my best to address them for you. 

---

Robert Sliwinski is a Chartered Arbitrator, Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and Chair of the CIArb UAE Branch. Alongside sitting as arbitrator, Robert works as Counsel with at Al Suwaidi & Co and can be contacted on r.sliwinski@alsuwidi.ae. 

Leadership Message: May ’22

by Sadaff Habib, a member of the CIArb UAE Branch Committee.

As a member of the CIArb UAE Branch, I am delighted to write the Leadership Message for the fourth edition of our newsletter. 

Last year ended on a high note with the launch of our first ever mentoring program. The CIArb offers training modules for the pathway to Fellowship in arbitration and to mediation. To supplement this, we decided to start a mentoring program so that more experienced practitioners can impart their wisdom to those seeking to establish and grow themselves.  

Most would attest to benefitting from some sort of mentoring relationship in their professional and even personal life. Mentors are like lighthouses guiding us with their lamp of knowledge and experience. Personally, I am immensely grateful to all my professional and personal lighthouses. There are a host of benefits to mentoring: it encourages and empowers personal growth and development in mentees, helps to identify and (hopefully) completes gaps in knowledge, increases self confidence and for the mentor it builds on coaching and mentoring skills.  

Our mentoring program is structured to run the course of one year. Each group is given the liberty to decide how it wishes to structure the relationship depending on the needs of each group.  

We initially planned to have four mentoring groups but the overwhelming response that we received led us to building 5 mentoring groups with four mentees, a facilitator and a mentor in each group.  

For this mentoring cycle, some groups kicked off by discussing various practice notes on arbitration. Others decided to practically navigate the arbitration process by examining the role of the arbitrator at each stage of an arbitration. 

Ultimately, the success of the process is down to its participants and particularly the mentees. I am excited to say that during this mentoring cycle the mentees have been exceptionally enthusiastic. There are plans in the pipeline initiated by one of the mentoring groups to run a moot arbitration to give participants a flavor of a ‘real life’ arbitration.  

It’s definitely not all work and no play. We recently gathered to share an iftar during Ramadan. It was fantastic for everyone to meet in person. It was interesting to learn the backgrounds of the different individuals and their experience with the process so far. The idea is to have many more of these social events.  

It is very easy to get caught up in the day to day and to loose sight of the big picture and the reason as to why we do what we do. My message to those that signed up to the mentoring program is to keep the momentum going, the more time you invest in the process and the more open you are to the process the more that you will get out of it. For those who may be stuck in a rut, reach out. Sometimes it helps to talk to someone more experienced to get a change in perspective. Last but not least, bring enjoyment into what you do and stop taking yourself too seriously. That first appointment as arbitrator or mediator or expert witness will come, it is only a matter of time.  

As my time with CIArb UAE Branch Committee comes to an end. I am grateful that I can look back to fond memories of the mentoring program and to the enthusiasm of the participants, their contagious energy and drive to do better. I can only see this program growing from height to height and I am excited for what lies ahead as it paves the way for a new genre of neutrals.  

Thank you

---

Sadaff Habib is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and Committee Member of the CIArb UAE Branch. She sits as Arbitrator and is an Associate with Beale & Company Solicitors LLP. Sadaff can be contacted on  S.Habib@beale-law.com  

Leadership Message: February ’22

by Arun Visweswaran, Chairperson of the CIArb Young Members Group, UAE Branch  

It gives me great pleasure to write this Leadership Message as the Chairperson of the UAE’s CIArb Young Members Group in the first newsletter of 2022.  

2021 was a momentous year for the UAE Chapter of the CIArb Young Members Group which, successfully hosted the global annual conference of the Young Members Group in Dubai for the very first time. 

The theme for the conference was “Arbitration in a Changing World” – which was apt at this pivotal juncture in the world grappling with the changes brought about by the global pandemic. The users of arbitration have constantly strived to innovate and adapt arbitration to the wider changes in the world and therefore the conference was an opportune moment to look back at the evolution of arbitration and look to the changes that are in store for the future – be it from the perspective of climate change, technology or ways to further promote diversity and inclusion.   The vibrancy of the discussions at the conference demonstrated the importance of these issues and we are glad to have played a small part in furthering the dialogue. 

Speaking of change, we at the CIArb YMG decided to host the conference in a hybrid format to allow both in-person and virtual attendance – a first of its kind for the annual conference.  This turned out to be significant as we managed to ensure the conference was accessible to CIArb members both in the UAE and across the globe. There were attendees from five continents attending throughout the day – something that may have been impossible even in normal times.  We have set the precedent for future annual conferences and this is a welcome change as it promotes inclusion and connectivity amongst the CIArb community.  

A key takeaway for me from the conference is the amazing breadth and diversity of the CIArb community.  CIArb is one of the few global arbitration communities with chapters in numerous jurisdictions, and events like the annual conference provide a great platform to meet and connect meaningfully with CIArb members from across the globe.   

What stood out for me from my discussions with CIArb members from other countries was how everyone at CIArb was keen to foster change and initiate programmes that would help develop CIArb members – no matter their area of expertise or level of experience.    

The UAE CIArb YMG Committee shares the same goal. We are planning a host of events for 2022 and ideas to connect meaningfully with the young members of CIArb, including student members.  

I therefore take this opportunity to encourage you to get involved with CIArb as you will definitely get something out of it. I look forward to meeting both new and existing members at these events!  

Thank you

---

Arun Visweswaran is an Associate member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, the Chairperson of the CIArb UAE YMG Branch Committee and the Middle East Representative of the LCIA’s YIAG. He is a Senior Associate with Clifford Chance LLP and has been based in Dubai since 2013. 

Leadership Message: October ’21

by Fatima Balfaqeeh MCIArb

With the issuance of the second edition of our newsletter, please allow me to thank our community of CIArb members of the UAE Branch, and take this chance to introduce myself.  My Name is Fatima Balfaqeeh, the Vice Chair of the CIArb UAE Branch, and a UAE National Arbitrator, Mediator and Legal Counsel.  

With Expo 2020, an event of great significance to the UAE and the wider MENA region, one cannot help but feel inspired to excel in every field that one is endeavouring in, to be able to be a part of making a change in their domain or industry.

This is where my colleagues and I from the committee come in. Despite the many challenges that we have faced during 2020, we were able to recover and offer multiple training courses to ensure that our members are provided with as many avenues and options as possible to enhance and further their knowledge.

The Branch is also actively planning for several events in different forms including virtual, in person and hybrid formats to provide the opportunity for members to network with their peers and colleagues in various industries.

In addition, the Branch has launched many new initiatives geared towards enhancing the overall member experience within the Branch, such as the mentoring program to connect new practitioners with the more experienced, and this newsletter which provides a platform for members to amongst others remain in touch, contribute articles and get to know each other better through member profiles.

Please allow me to thank the committee members as well for all their hard work and creative ideas that are being rolled out, this newsletter being one of them. What I share with the rest of this committee’s members is a passion to share knowledge about the ADR field and find different platforms to do so.

We are looking forward to seeing you in all the training sessions, events and webinars!

Thank you

---

Fatima Balfaqeeh is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the Vice Chair of the CIArb UAE Branch, and a UAE National Arbitrator, Mediator and Legal Counsel. 

Leadership Message: July ’21

by Iryna Akulenka FCIArb

It gives me immense pleasure to write this very first Leadership Message for the quarterly Newsletter of the UAE Branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. We’ve come a long way!

This ‘Year of the 50th’, and in anticipation of the UAE’s golden jubilee on 2 December, I would like to celebrate the achievements of our exceptional ADR community, the UAE Branch of the CIArb, and most of all, our members. Let this Newsletter and indeed this year be all about you, and indeed for you, our valuable members!

Before I dive into some substantive thoughts on the recent trends and developments in ADR, I wanted to share a brief update on the Branch activities and news. This may be of particular interest to those of you who were unable to attend the Branch AGM on 3 June 2021.

Update on Branch Activities

2020 was a difficult year for many, but despite recent events, I am sure we will come out of this pandemic even more resilient and stronger together. Importantly, we still remain one of the biggest, most active and strategically important Branches in the world.

Education & Training

Thanks to our valuable faculty, course administrators and Education & Training team, we continued to successfully run our courses online. I am so grateful for the efforts of all those involved in the process.

Events

We successfully ran a number of webinars and online panel discussions, including webinars in the Arabic language. I am thankful to those who helped organizing the events and to all of our guest speakers for their valuable time and insight.

We are currently working on a series of webinars that we hope will be of interest to our members. As always, we are open to suggestions should you have a particular topic in mind, or would like to take part as a speaker.

While we still operate in the virtual world, we are now considering in-person events towards 2021 Q4. The decision to hold an in-person event will be informed by the Covid-19 updates, in compliance with local laws, rules, regulations, restrictions and in line with recommended best practices.

Communication and Member Engagement

I am pleased to report that we have completely revamped our communication strategy, making it more aligned with the Institute’s global Strategy for 2021-2023 (https://www.ciarb.org/about-us/strategy-2021-2023/), hence a more comprehensive and in-depth Newsletter which I hope you will enjoy reading.

In line with Strategic Aim 1¹ we continue to promote constructive dispute resolution, locally, regionally, and internationally. To that end, we continue delivering our training and develop strategic relationships in the local ADR community and business community at large. Soon, I hope to be reporting on some of the newly developed partnerships in the local and regional ADR arena.

In line with Strategic Aim 2² being a global thought leader, we have proudly introduced publication of Members’ Articles in our Newsletter. We hope you find these interesting and insightful, and we encourage our members to keep writing and publishing on topical matters.

Last but not least, and in line with Strategic Aim 3³ we have introduced Members’ Profiles in our Newsletter, where we would like to give the spotlight to our diverse membership base. To that end, and to remain inclusive (we are not an elite industry!), we include member profiles of different membership levels, background and gender. We hope you enjoy getting to know one another!

Other Initiatives

In addition to all of the above, we are currently in the process of:

• Improving the LinkedIn page of the Branch, thereby increasing our online presence (do follow our page!);
• Planning a series of interviews and/or surveys, in order to better understand the needs of our members;
• Kick starting our own mentorship scheme (based upon the outcome of the centrally piloted scheme in the UK);
• Rolling out courses in the Arabic language;
• Running a pilot of a new ‘Applied Arbitration for Fellows’ course before rolling out fully thereafter;
• Working on joint initiatives with the newly added partner universities;
• Working on growing Branch membership; and
• Planning a series of ‘How To’ events on topical matters.

Students

I would like to separately mention that we remain very keen to develop our Students membership and we continue working with local universities. This year, we have added yet another collaboration partner and are already planning a joint event after summer. Student Membership is still free; they also benefit from discounted courses, free virtual internship programme, mentorship programme and others. They are our future!

2021 White & Case/QMUL International Arbitration Survey (‘the Survey’)

I am sure many of you will be aware of the recently published results of the Survey. It already generated a great deal of debate amongst practitioners globally, and I encourage UAE Branch members to provide commentary and perhaps publish their articles in the next editions of the Newsletter.

Based on the Survey findings, some of the current trends in International Arbitration which may be of interest are:

• Use of emerging technologies such as A.I. and others
• Virtual hearings: are they here to stay? If so, what skills are vital?
• Sustainability in Arbitration – how can we all be ‘greener’?
• Cybersecurity and Data protection

Some of the other proposed topics that may be of interest:

• The rise of Mediation⁴
• Dispute avoidance and prevention
• Lawyers v Non-lawyers arbitrators: a never ending debate?

Separately, I am extremely pleased to see that thanks to the ongoing judicial support, various investment initiatives and a strong ADR ecosystem, the UAE remains a regional and international hub for dispute resolution. This is reflected in the Survey findings with Dubai being ranked the 10th out of the top ten arbitral seats globally. Congratulations!

Welcoming New Committee Members

In early June, we welcomed several new Committee members and I look forward to working together with the newly assembled team. Our Committee includes members from some nine countries, with a great mix of practitioners from both civil and common law backgrounds.

In addition, I am pleased to report that we now have seven female Committee members, nearly reaching parity in gender representation.

I am also extremely grateful to have with us Ms Fatima Balfaqeeh, our Vice Chair. Having a UAE national on the Committee is certainly a more balanced reflection of the Branch demographics.

Thanks

I would like to sincerely thank all current and going Committee members, course administrators, tutors and faculty members, supporters and contributors. Thank you all for your time, efforts and ideas, especially during these difficult times.

But above all, I would like to thank our members. None of this would be possible without you, as without our members we would not even be here! It is indeed an honour and a pleasure to serve you.

Whilst it is still possible to carry out my role virtually, I absolutely look forward to seeing all of you in-person, as the situation with the ongoing pandemic improves. Until then, I hope you remain safe and well, and that you are looking forward to our in-person events as much as I do.

Thank you

---

Iryna Akulenka is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the Chair of the CIArb UAE Branch. She is a Senior Consultant with HKA and can be contacted on iryna.akulenka@gmail.com.

1. Strategic Aim 1: Globally promote the constructive resolution of disputes
2. Strategic Aim 2: Be a global, inclusive thought leader
3. Strategic Aim 3: Develop and support an inclusive global community of diverse dispute resolvers
4. Particularly in light of the UAE Government passing Federal Law No. 6 of 2021 On Mediation for the Settlement of Civil and Commercial Disputes