30 March 2017 –

Dispute Resolution Data (DRD), an online data subscription service providing the first ever access to closed international arbitration and mediation process information, has been awarded the Global Arbitration Review (GAR) award for the “Best Innovation in the Field of International Arbitration.” The annual GAR Awards banquet was held at the Palazzo Parigi Hotel in Milan, Italy on Wednesday, March 29^th. Co-founders Bill and Debi Slate, along with DRD’s Latin America Advisor, Diana Droulers, were in attendance to accept the GAR Award for “Best Innovation in the Field of International Arbitration.” The award for innovation by an individual or organisation was presented by Antonio Crivellaro of BonelliErede, who quoted American inventor Charles Kettering: “If you have always done it that way, it is probably wrong.” Dispute Resolution Data was joined by a field of nine other nominees representing significant initiatives worldwide. The GAR Awards were sponsored by Italian law firm Bonelli Erede and Shearman & Sterling, and the Milan Chamber of Commerce was a supporting organization. DRD collects data from over 136 nations via contributing institutions and then separates the data into twenty-eight different international commercial case types and aggregates the data among seven geographic regions. This dynamic data informs attorneys and other researchers worldwide in areas such as costs, timelines, risk management, strategy and gender information regarding arbitrators and mediators. The software for DRD’s application was developed by the Charleston Digital Hub of Booz Allen Hamilton. For more information, please contact Natalie Baker, 843-352-8260 ext. 1 or visit www.disputeresolutiondata.com

Thanks to continued feedback from institutional partners and end users, our software team has been working diligently to develop some exciting new features. In the coming months you will see a focus on end user engagement and interaction throughout the DRD application. The first quarter of 2017 has brought some exciting enhancements to facilitate end user detailed analysis, broaden currency collection methods, and focus on increased template functionality. Dispute Resolution Data will continue to seek out opportunities to observe and spend time with our end users, listening and learning, to help inform us of your most significant business challenges and how DRD can provide solutions. Here are some of our recent enhancements: A Detailed Stats page for our data researchers. A series of filters located on the left column combined with our Case Type and Region Filters drive a series of stats that give the end user an in-depth look at granular data. For example, knowing that all arbitration cases are awarded in an average time of 67.7 weeks is interesting but when you filter the cases by size looking at cases between 100,000 and 1,000,000 USD you see that the average time falls to 65.9 weeks. Our data collection template continues to evolve - DRD is now enabling end users to specify different currencies for any amount entered into the template for the situations where a contract currency may be different than the currency used to pay the institutional fees, and capturing new data on the amount in controversy for mediation cases. Collecting this new data will allow users to look at interesting trends on mediation in relation to amounts in controversy. Through your feedback we have continued to refine and add helper text throughout the template in an effort for data entry to be universally understood. This includes definitions explaining possible outcomes for case conclusions. These definitions can now be found on our FAQ page. Finally, we have been focused on developing new statistics using trend data. DRD has been able to capture case data from the past seven years and will be developing graphs with user selectable date fields to display within the application. These graphs will be located in the Arbitration/Mediation navigation windows and will allow the end user to see how averages such as claim or award amounts have changed over time. Pictured below is a scatter plot that produces a correlation between claim amounts over time. In this example we are viewing the trend of claim amounts in international commercial arbitration cases from 2009 to 2017. In the graph, the dotted trend line shows that the average claim has increased from $4,000,000.00 to almost $7,000,000.00 over the past seven years. An increase of over 50% during that time could point to a growing trust in commercial organizations in arbitration as a dispute resolution process. This new functionality will add a new layer of interaction for our end users within the application to help them make data driven decisions.

Law360, New York (April 5, 2017, 3:47 PM EDT) – Gender diversity took center stage nearly a year ago when stakeholders in international arbitration signed a pledge to increase the number of female appointed arbitrators, and while diversity proponents say there's been improvement in recent years, work still remains. International arbitration was historically perceived as an "old boys' club" since male arbitrators received the vast majority of appointments and a woman working as lead counsel in an international arbitration proceeding was a rarity. And, perhaps uniquely in the legal realm, the lack of gender diversity in... (Lucy Greenwood and Mirèze Philippe interviewed) Full article available on Law360

GESSEL Arbitration Wall is an arbitration mobile app, i.e. a computer program designed for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. It is an easily accessible and user-friendly database of documents frequently used in arbitration, such as applicable rules, laws and instruments (e.g. IBA Rules or Guidelines) and also of other knowledge and reference materials (e.g. studies, reports). It focuses primarily on the arbitration procedure and all its legal surroundings (whether hard or soft law). The app called GESSEL Arbitration Wall is to serve promotion of arbitration. It is free of charge and designed for iOS (iPhones, iPads) and Android (e.g. Samsung, Sony, HTC or other kinds of phones and tablets using the Android system). It operates in the English language. For further information click here.

How to download the application?

The application can be downloaded from the AppStore (for IOS system) or GooglePlay (for the Android) available in all mobile devices. Upon entering the AppStore or GooglePlay, go to the search engine, enter Arbitration Wall and choose a free application GESSEL Arbitration Wall, then click on Install. For any question contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Kamila Podgórska-Gdańska, Marketing and communication manager, Gessel Law Firm

London – Oct. 18, 2016 – Published by Berwin Leighton Paisner Over the last 6 years BLP’s International Arbitration Group has conducted a number of surveys on arbitration user perceptions on various issues affecting the arbitration process. This year we would like to consider the issue of diversity among appointed arbitrators. There has been an increased awareness of this issue in recent years, particularly in relation to gender imbalance. However, the diversity debate does not begin and end with gender. Not only are the majority of international arbitrators male, they are also perceived to be predominantly white and from a relatively small number of jurisdictions. We would like to obtain the views of our professional colleagues on these and other related issues by requesting their responses to the 16 short questions in our survey. All responses will be treated as confidential. Please complete the survey. A report on the results of the survey will be circulated to all participants. You can read our introductory review of some of the issues around diversity in arbitrator appointments before completing the survey.

New York, NY – Oct. 21, 2016 – Published by CPR Pledge seeks to resolve under-representation of women in international arbitral tribunals The International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR) announced it has signed the Equal Representation in Arbitration pledge, joining other prominent members of the international arbitration community. The Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge is a call to the international dispute resolution community to commit to increase the number of women appointed as arbitrators on an equal opportunity basis. The result of a collaborative effort between global representatives of corporate entities, states, arbitral institutions, arbitration practitioners – both counsel and arbitrators – and academics, the pledge establishes concrete and actionable steps that the arbitration community can and must take towards establishing equal representation in arbitration. The Pledge commits signatories to consider women arbitrators “wherever possible.” Other concrete steps recommended by the pledge include taking steps to try to ensure that:

• committees, governing bodies and conference panels in the field of arbitration include a fair representation of women;
• lists of potential arbitrators or tribunal chairs provided to or considered by parties, counsel, in-house counsel or otherwise include a fair representation of female candidates;
• where they have the power to do so, counsel, arbitrators, representatives of corporates, states and arbitral institutions appoint a fair representation of female arbitrators;
• gender statistics for appointments (split by party and other appointment) are collated and made publicly available; and
• senior and experienced arbitration practitioners support, mentor/sponsor and encourage women to pursue arbitrator appointments and otherwise enhance their profiles and practice.

According to The American Lawyer’s 2015 Arbitration Scorecard looking at matters in a two-year period with at least $1 billion in dispute, the proportion of women among all arbitrators remains stuck at 4 percent. By comparison, of CPR’s more than 550 neutrals worldwide, roughly 15 percent are women.

“The Pledge is an important and necessary step toward improving equal representation in arbitration,” said Noah Hanft, President and CEO of CPR. “In this and many other ways, CPR is proud to play a significant role in effecting positive change in the field.”

About CPR: CPR is an independent nonprofit organization that, for more than 35 years, has helped global businesses prevent and resolve commercial disputes effectively and efficiently. Our membership consists of top corporations and law firms, academic and government institutions, and leading mediators and arbitrators around the world. CPR is unique as: (1) a thought leader, driving a global dispute resolution culture; (2) a developer of cutting-edge tools and resources, powered by the collective innovation of its membership; and (3) an ADR provider offering innovative, practical arbitration rules, mediation and other dispute resolution procedures, and neutrals worldwide. For more information, please visit www.cpradr.org.