This month, ArbitralWomen is delighted to match 60 ArbitralWomen members in our ArbitralWomen Connect programme!

Mayer Brown has launched new interview series entitled “Arbitration Amidst Adversity: A view from Ukraine”. The series has a close focus on Ukrainian women in arbitration. Hosted by Mayer Brown’s Volodymyr Yaremko, the series delves into experiences of remarkable Ukrainian women, active in the field of international arbitration, exploring their unique perspectives on the challenges and opportunities they face during the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The ArbitralWomen Mentorship Programme links experienced dispute resolution practitioners (general counsel, lawyers in private practice, mediators, arbitrators and experts) with talented, ambitious women with high potential, enabling the latter to benefit from the advice and experience of the former. Applicants are matched with a Mentor from their jurisdiction, sector or professional background. When a match is confirmed, the mentoring partners meet regularly (such meetings need not be in person), at a frequency that is convenient for both for one year. Applications can be submitted for both Mentors and Mentees by current ArbitralWomen members via the ArbitralWomen website. The application window for this year’s programme is 15 August to 15 September 2023. Look out for posts on the ArbitralWomen social media outlets notifying of the opening of the application window. We particularly encourage Members to apply to serve as ArbitralWomen Mentors and invite experienced practitioners, in-house counsel and those with backgrounds in forensic evaluation, compliance, and mediation to apply. It is not necessary to have prior experience as a Mentor.”

Expert witnesses play a crucial role in the justice system, but women are often underrepresented in this field. In May 2022, the Equal Representation for Expert Witnesses (ERE) Pledge was launched to address this issue and improve the visibility and representation of women as expert witnesses. The pledge has already gained tremendous support, with over 1,100 signatories, including many prominent individuals and organisations. To measure progress, understand why people are signing up to the ERE Pledge, and find out more about the challenges facing female experts, the ERE team is running a short survey, and would greatly appreciate responses from ArbitralWomen members. The survey aims to continue the momentum of the past 12 months, drive change, and gather perspectives from experts and aspiring experts and the lawyers who will be responsible for appointing them. The ERE team is asking for help from the community to complete the survey, which should take less than 5 minutes. The survey will remain open until Wednesday, 10 May 2023. To complete the survey, click the link here and also feel free to share it with your colleagues and network to continue raising awareness of this vitally important initiative. In addition, if you haven't already signed the ERE Pledge, please do so here. Thank you for your support in this important effort. Submitted by ArbitralWomen member Kathryn Britten, Managing Director, Alix Partners

2022 was yet another turbulent year for the world. Just as normalcy was beginning to emerge after the Covid-19 pandemic, the year was abruptly impacted by the war in Ukraine. That, and the challenging economic situation that followed, is reflected in the SCC Arbitration Institute’s statistics for 2022. The SCC’s activities were significantly impacted by the ongoing war in Ukraine and the troubling economic situation that surfaced in 2022. The business community continues to face hardships and challenges with delivery delays, lower order intake, savings packages, delayed business projects, decreased or paused investment, and much more. These variables, of course, also had an influence on the number of cases that the SCC administered.

For the SCC, we continue to note a drop in the number of cases handled when compared to our historic high in 2020. However, despite fewer arbitrations being commenced at the SCC during 2022, we see a significant increase in the amounts in dispute this year compared to last year, an increase from EUR 840 million to EUR 1.6 billion, says Caroline Falconer, Secretary General at the SCC.

The SCC continues to handle disputes in a timely and cost-efficient manner

As always, the ability to quickly resolve disputes is of great importance to the users of dispute resolution services. This becomes even more important during uncertain times. Despite the considerable increase in dispute value, the SCC continues to handle disputes in a timely and cost-efficient manner. During 2022, 67 percent of the disputes administered under the SCC Arbitration Rules were concluded within 12 months (from referral to award). For disputes administered under the SCC Expedited Arbitration Rules, 84 percent were concluded within 6 months.

I am proud that the SCC is such a reliable arbitration institute and that we can live up to our users’ high standards when it comes to resolving disputes in a cost and time efficient manner, says Caroline Falconer.

The SCC is a truly international arbitration institute

As with previous years, a considerable number of the cases the SCC administered in 2022 were international. Almost every other case (48 percent) was handled in English, with 41 percent of the parties coming from countries other than Sweden. In fact, 47 percent of the cases did not include any Swedish parties at all. For the cases commenced 2022, parties came from 38 different countries in total.

It is clear that the SCC is a truly international arbitration institute, favored for its neutral and user-friendly position in the international dispute resolution services market, says Caroline Falconer.

For the first time ever, the SCC appoints a majority of female arbitrators

The full SCC statistics for 2022 are available here. The original news article is available here. Reproduced from the SCC Arbitration News Page with the permission of Caroline Falconer, Secretary General of the SCC.

  The ArbitralWomen Educational Funding Committee consisting of ArbitralWomen Board members Mary Thomson, Louise Barrington and Sally el Sawah calls for nominations for its New Initiative Award. The ArbitralWomen Board considers education to be a top priority when allocating the organisation's resources. In 2021/2022, ArbitralWomen awarded grants to two organisations dedicated to the legal education of young women who would normally not have access to it. In 2021, Cambodian Legal Education for Women (‘CLEW’) and the Vis East Capacity Building Project (‘CBP’) received grants. Both programmes are multi-year undertakings. CLEW supports female students year-round while CBP takes place each autumn in three-year cycles coinciding with the Vis and Vis East arbitration competitions. CLEW brings young high school graduates from the provinces of Cambodia, registers them at law school and provides English language instruction. Selected graduates then enrol in a US Business Law JD programme at the same university. Throughout their studies, the young women live together in a dorm, are provided with food, a computer, a bicycle, and a small monthly stipend. After 5 years, many graduate and go on to further education, government service or join the Cambodian Bar. CBP sends a team of experts to jurisdictions which lack basic knowledge and infrastructure for arbitration. The team visits once a year for 10 days of intensive training and practice using the current Vis Moot problem. The students come from two or more law schools. At the end of the third year, the CBP team moves on to another jurisdiction, leaving behind three cohorts of enthusiastic grads from several law schools, who can continue the training with those who follow. Both are established programmes brought to the attention of the ArbitralWomen Board. ArbitralWomen calls on its members to nominate further programmes deserving of support by 31 July 2023. The New Initiative Award will be a lump sum support (i.e., for a one-time event or project, or as seed-money for a new programme) for initiatives designed to further the goals and principles espoused by ArbitralWomen. To apply for the grant, an event or programme must be nominated by two ArbitralWomen members, both in good standing for two years as of the date of the application. A nominator may, but need not, be one of the organisers of the event or programme being nominated. Each nominator should provide ArbitralWomen with a detailed letter of support. Additional requirements for eligibility include the following:

1. The programme or event must further the goals of ArbitralWomen, namely the education and promotion of women in arbitration and other forms of ADR. It is not limited to events or programmes aimed exclusively at women provided the women in the programme would benefit substantially from the programme.
2. Programmes must have an established track record, OR the programme organisers must have proven experience in organising and administering events like the one being proposed.
3. Depending on the nature and amount of the expenses to be funded, the New Initiative Award may be delivered in one or more instalments.
4. Other conditions may apply, depending on the nature of the event or programme.

Each recipient of a New Initiative Award will be required to provide a report following the guidelines provided by the Educational Funding Committee, by 31 December of the year in which the funding is provided, or within three months after the end of the programme or event, whichever is earlier. In the case of long-term programmes, a quarterly report may be required. Applicants or Programme organisers are invited to submit their detailed application by email with ‘ArbitralWomen’s New Initiative Award 2023’ in the subject line and the two nomination letters attached, to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. This year’s deadline is 31 July 2023.