The Equal Representation for Expert Witnesses (ERE) Pledge has been launched to drive, on an equal opportunity basis, an increase in the number of women appointed as expert witnesses in dispute resolution procedures worldwide. The ERE Pledge’s objective is to achieve a fair representation of women as experts as soon as practically possible, with the ultimate goal of gender parity. Discussing the launch, and the ERE Pledge’s raison d’être, Co-Founder and AlixPartners Managing Director Kathryn Britten commented:

“Having acted as an expert witness in major commercial disputes for almost 30 years, I have been consistently shocked by how few women have been appointed as my opposing experts – yet I have consistently seen very capable women producing excellent work as ‘Number 2’. We need to do something to ensure that talented women have the opportunity to act as expert witnesses in their own right.”

Co-Founder and AlixPartners Managing Director Isabel Kunsman added:

“As an expert witness, I am acutely aware of the need to do more in my own profession. There are many impressive women working in this field but the higher up the ranks you go, the lower the number of women you see, particularly among testifying expert witnesses.”

Above left to right: Kathryn Britten and Isabel Kunsman In 2020, curious to assess the landscape and attribute some concrete figures to this issue, Kathryn and Isabel, through AlixPartners, commissioned a survey. From the results, they discovered that 56% of arbitrators and lawyers had seen no women in expert roles in the last three years, while only 1% had seen four or more women in expert roles in the same period. Analysis of ICSID awards from 2016 to 2020 also showed that, out of 75 awards, only 3% included female experts. This percentage was even lower than the percentage included in the PwC/Queen Mary Survey published in 2020, which showed that 11% of the 180 awards in arbitral proceedings administered by the ICC in Paris and New York between 2014 and 2018 included female experts. While this all made for disappointing reading, in sharing these statistics, Kathryn and Isabel have been encouraged by members of the international arbitration community to increase the visibility of gender disparity in arbitration expert testimony, and such members have offered their support to promote the representation of testifying women experts in arbitration. Over the last six months, the Co-Founders have been engaging with various members of the international arbitration and litigation community to discuss an initiative to address the scarcity of female expert witnesses in litigation and arbitration. As part of the initiative, they have been working with other experts, lawyers and interested parties, to create a pledge – similar to the Equal Representation in Arbitration (ERA) Pledge – to drive a commitment to create equal opportunities for female expert witnesses in all areas of dispute resolution. The Co-Founders’ efforts to engage the community have already seen results and have achieved significant milestones to date: First, the formal launch of the ERE Pledge itself on a new website, and second, the creation of a Steering Committee for the ERE Pledge to promote it, gather advice and perspectives, and implement additional ideas to address the scarcity of testifying female expert witnesses. Isabel commented: “We are ensuring that the Steering Committee features members from across the consulting firms active in the litigation and arbitration space, and we now have representatives from many leading consultancies and accounting firms.” Kathryn added: “We are both thrilled that senior members of ArbitralWomen, the ERA Pledge, and leading arbitral bodies have also already agreed to join the Global Steering Committee.” The Co-Founders strongly believe that for the ERE Pledge to succeed it must be nurtured across firms, generations, and geographies. In summary, the goals of the ERE Pledge are to:

• increase, on an equal opportunity basis, the number of women appearing as testifying experts, in order to achieve proportional representation and eventually full parity;
• support the hiring, mentoring, and promotion of female experts;
• create a coalition of supporters and advocates for female testifying experts in the world of dispute resolution;
• encourage women to aspire to be expert witnesses in their chosen professions;
• widen the pool of expert witnesses available and help to promote the visibility of the qualifications of female expert witnesses.

Read the commentary to the Pledge. Take the Pledge. And finally, a message from the ERE Pledge team – please contact us with your ideas and/or questions regarding the ERE Pledge. Submitted by ArbitralWomen Members and ERE Pledge Co-Founders Kathryn Britten and Isabel Kunsman

In 2020, ArbitralWomen member Victoria Pernt founded the diversity initiative myArbitration – a video series about the world of arbitration featuring rising and prominent practitioners alike. After two successful seasons, Victoria takes myArbitration even further: on 11/11/22, together with Season Three, myArbitration will launch a new interactive format to feature and connect even more female practitioners. The format has been created in collaboration with the arbitration community, supported by ArbitralWomen Board members Rebeca Mosquera and Amanda Lee. The significance of myArbitration in bolstering equality and diversity in international arbitration was recognised by the community as the initiative was nominated and shortlisted for this year's GAR Pledge Award. "myArbitration has been a rewarding and eye-opening experience", says Victoria. "It is a great honor to showcase our community and raise awareness for diversity and our struggles. The more stories I hear, the more convinced I am of how important it is to share them and to speak up!" To encourage and facilitate just that, myArbitration will soon call for contributions from all ArbitralWomen members (for details see myArbitration.eu). Meanwhile, myArbitration has been filming further interviews for Season Three – myArbitration RELOADED (see loading stations with launch date on photos above). Much like the first two seasons, Season Three will feature prominent and rising arbitration practitioners, and specials about arbitration events and topics. Season One tackled topics from gender and socio-economic diversity to mentoring and showcasing initiatives, with Mirèze Philippe, Gabrielle Nater-Bass, Amanda Lee, Crina Baltag, Chiann Bao, Gaëlle Filhol, Stefanie Pfisterer, Lucy Greenwood, Catherine Rogers, Milena Djordjevic, Eric Schwartz and others. Season Two featured further outstanding members of the community from across the globe: Claudia Salomon, Sherlin Tung, Rebeca Mosquera and Nata Ghibradze (the first myArbitration co-host), John Fellas, Eduardo Zuleta, Friederike Schäfer, Hjordis Hjartardottir, Beka Injia, Sophie Tkemaladze, and Jaba Gvelebiani. myArbitration co-host Nata Ghibradze encourages ArbitralWomen members to feature their home turfs as co-hosts: "Come join the terrific experience of myArbitration!" (Above, left to right: myArbitration co-hosts Nata Ghibradze and Victoria Pernt) All episodes are available on myArbitration.eu and YouTube. For the latest updates, insights and BTS content, follow myArbitration on LinkedIn and Instagram. ArbitralWomen congratulates myArbitration co-hosts on their inspiring initiative and wishes them continued success in Season 3!

Ten years ago, a group of women formed Women in Dispute Resolution (WIDR) as a task force in the Dispute Resolution Section of the American Bar Association to assess the status of women in the profession, identify barriers to selection as a neutral, and to develop initiatives to increase participation of women in the dispute resolution profession. Many of the WIDR founders were and are ArbitralWomen members. To honour its ten-year anniversary, WIDR is celebrating the stories of its members who contributed to WIDR’s success over the past ten years with its series “Ten Years, Ten Voices” through a series of WIDR social media LinkedIn posts featuring articles and stories, a special edition of “Just Resolutions” in July 2022, and a special podcast later in 2022. “The stories of ‘why’ and ‘how’ WIDR came to be, and ‘what’ it has meant to so many, inspire us as we continue the work of advancing diversity in ADR,” said WIDR co-chairs Felicia Boyd of Norton Rose Fulbright and ArbitralWomen Member Deborah Hylton of Hylton ADR Services.  “We are excited to continue this work alongside ArbitralWomen, the ERA Pledge, R.E.A.L., the Ray Corollary Initiative, the ADR provider institutions committed to diversity, and so many other partners across our profession.” WIDR thanks its founders and past leaders for their vision and determination to launch WIDR and thanks those who continue to lead for taking up the work, making the time to share life and business lessons, and continuing to inspire. Congratulations to WIDR on its work over the past ten years and its ongoing celebration of the contributions of the many women who made WIDR a success! You can follow the WIDR handle on LinkedIn to read the inspiring stories being shared. Submitted by ArbitralWomen President Dana MacGrath

If you have not yet heard of Arbitration Lunch Match, it is the international women’s networking event of the moment for female arbitration practitioners, co-founded by ArbitralWomen members Ulrike Gantenberg (Gantenberg Dispute Experts) and Lisa Reiser (Baker McKenzie). Instead of networking with the arbitration community at a conference or convention, female participants are matched with up to four other women working in arbitration to meet for an intimate lunch in their hometown. But one key detail will not be revealed: participants will not be given the names of the other women they have been matched with. It's a blind date! Arbitration Lunch Match started in Germany in the midst of the first Covid-19 wave in spring 2020. In autumn 2021, Arbitration Lunch Match went global, with the first lunches taking place in locations outside Germany. By 2022, Arbitration Lunch Match had become a global phenomenon and was a runner up for the Pledge Award at the GAR Awards 2022! For the next Arbitration Lunch Match round taking place from 9 to 13 May 2022, there are so many event locations to choose from that it is hardly possible not to be captivated by it. This time around, female arbitration practitioners can choose between lunches taking place in 32 cities and 20 countries simultaneously. The founders of Arbitration Lunch Match recognize that such achievement and international reach became possible only with the help of 34 enthusiastic, dedicated and extraordinary female colleagues across the globe who serve as ambassadors of Arbitration Lunch Match. Members of ArbitralWomen who serve as ambassadors include Board member Elizabeth Chan and members Niuscha Bassiri, Cecilia Carrara, Kate Corby, Christina Doria, Alexandra Johnson, Sally Kotb, Gillian Lam, Annabelle Möckesch, Judith Mulholland, Désirée Prantl, Noradèle Radjai, Eugenie Rogers, Anna Stier, Marieke van Hooijdonk, Gretta Walters, Irene Welser, and Laura Zimmerman. The founders, ambassadors and participants agree: "In a time when we were forced to keep the distance, Arbitration Lunch Match has united the female arbitration community in a new way." “We were inspired to launch Arbitration Lunch Match when Covid-19 made large gatherings impossible, but video conferencing did not satisfy our need for social contact and casual exchange” commented Ulrike Gantenberg. Covid-19 certainly put social contacts and networking events to the test. But it also sparked new ideas and innovative paths such as Arbitration Lunch Match which is hopefully here to stay even after Covid-19 has long gone. “One of the aspects about Arbitration Lunch Match we are most proud of is the bond it created among female arbitration practitioners across the world,” explained Lisa Reiser. With Arbitration Lunch Match, participants meet up to four other female arbitration practitioners in their hometown – some have met before, others are new acquaintances. At the same time, however, participants become part of the larger community of female colleagues who simultaneously meet for lunches in other cities across the world. This connection is boosted by the organizers’ call to publish posts and photos of the lunch matches on LinkedIn, which creates a second layer of networking outside the local arbitration community. ArbitralWomen President Dana MacGrath commented, “I attended my first Arbitration Lunch Match round in the autumn of 2021. I met some fabulous women in my hometown of New York at a lovely outdoor restaurant venue. Since then, I have collaborated with some of those women on speaking engagements and strategies to navigate the arbitration field as women. In the days leading up to the luncheon, it was clear the Arbitration Lunch Match ambassadors were doing a lot of work to manage the arrangements of all the lunches – bravo and thank you!” Elizabeth Chan, ArbitralWomen Board Member and one of the main drivers of Arbitration Lunch Match in Asia, said, "I had the pleasure of co-organizing the first edition of Arbitration Lunch Match in Hong Kong in autumn 2021. We had over 50 participants from all walks of arbitration: external and in-house counsel, experts, academics, third party funders, representatives from arbitral institutions and more. We tried to include a mix of participants from different organizations at each lunch. The lunches offered a rare cross-institutional networking opportunity and demonstrated the depth of arbitration expertise in Hong Kong." Registration for Arbitration Lunch Match takes place exclusively via the website www.arbitrationlunch.com. Registration for the upcoming round will close on 22 April 2022. Register today to join in and be part of the next round of Arbitration Lunch Match! Submitted by ArbitralWomen Members Ulrike Gantenberg and Lisa Reiser

To celebrate International Women’s Day, Careers in Arbitration, founded by ArbitralWomen Board Member Amanda Lee, launched its third annual International Women’s Day campaign titled “Break the Bias: My Way”. Careers in Arbitration, a social media-based platform established with the goal of promoting diversity in arbitration by making it easier for arbitration enthusiasts, wherever they are based, to enter and excel in the field of international arbitration. For “Break the Bias: My Way”, Careers in Arbitration shared the profiles of women in arbitration who have taken arbitration career paths that are less travelled, helping to inspire those are interested in alternative roles in the field and to ‘break the bias’ that a career in arbitration is limited to counsel work or practice as an arbitrator. The campaign featured the career journeys of academics of different levels, experts, third party funders, tribunal secretaries, research assistants, stenographers, women occupying a wide range of institutional roles, legal tech professionals, and marketing professionals. The campaign featured ArbitralWomen members Fahira Brodlija, Christiane Deniger, Susan Franck, Ayse Lowe, Camille Ramos-Klee, and Patricia Shaughnessy, together with Ericka E. Estrada S., Iolanda Ghica, Francoise Ingabire, Funmi Iyayi, Victoria Kigen, Niamh Leinwather, Carolina Pitta e Cunha, Clémence Prévot, Catherine Reeves, Misha Talwar, Lydia Tang, Rebecca Warder, Leah Willersdorf, Blerina Xheraj and Elina Zlatanska. The posts are available on LinkedIn and will find a permanent home on Careers in Arbitration’s website in the future. Search for the hashtag #CiAMYWAY to read the career stories of all those who participated, to benefit from their top tips for a career in arbitration, and to learn about their sources of inspiration. Submitted by Amanda J. Lee, Founder of Careers in Arbitration.

MetaverseLegal was launched in January 2022 by a group of forward-thinking members of the legal community, including several ArbitralWomen members, as a decentralised LinkedIn page dedicated to the legal implications of the Metaverse. ArbitralWomen is pleased to support this exciting new initiative to promote thought leadership on the Metaverse and its implications for the diverse legal community, including those in international arbitration and alternative dispute resolution. ArbitralWomen Board Member and MetaverseLegal Administrator Elizabeth Chan explains, “MetaverseLegal offers a cross-practice resource for lawyers to understand the Metaverse. This is a necessary resource at a time when we are trying to grapple with what exactly it is and what impact it will have for legal practice. Each week, MetaverseLegal’s administrators offer several posts on different aspects of the Metaverse.” Focusing on the implications for the legal community, Elizabeth Chan notes, “For example, recent LinkedIn posts have addressed what the Metaverse is, the current virtual reality technologies for accessing it, what are decentralised autonomous organisations (DAO), and the impact of Metaverse transactions for competition law. The posts are short and simple, which adds to their educative value for lawyers, whatever their discipline.” ArbitralWomen member and MetaverseLegal Administrator Emily Hay commented, “MetaverseLegal has particular relevance for international arbitration and dispute resolution lawyers. New legal disputes will be an obvious consequence of the upcoming Web 3.0 technological revolution. Web 3.0 will add a new angle to traditional disputes and open the path towards completely different controversies. It will give rise to unprecedented challenges, draw new dimensions of dispute resolution and create new procedural playgrounds for dispute lawyers.” MetaverseLegal is the brainchild of Ekaterina Oger Grivnova, an international arbitration lawyer at Allen & Overy, who handed over decentralised governance to all MetaverseLegal administrators. “We have numerous arbitration practitioners among MetaverseLegal’s administrators, who have contributed posts and articles on the relevance of the Metaverse to our field of practice,” commented Ekaterina. “Topics have included legal jurisdiction in the Metaverse, dispute resolution methods for Metaverse disputes, and investment treaty disputes in the Metaverse.” The diverse team behind MetaverseLegal is engaged in a cutting-edge experiment of decentralised governance and management for this web-based initiative. MetaverseLegal is jointly created, owned and governed by its many administrators who all volunteered to be part of the project. Ekaterina notes, “As a result, the group of administrators reflects a diverse cross-section of the legal community, including lawyers with a range of experience in terms of legal practice (disputes lawyers and transactional lawyers), non-legal expertise (consultants), years of experience (from trainees to partners), nationality, gender, socio-economic background and more.” As Emily Hay explains, “There is no hierarchy among MetaverseLegal’s administrators. All decisions are made by a voting process using an app called Discord. Rules of governance have also been developed in this decentralised way. The group is currently working on many different projects, including creating a blog. More ambitiously, the group is working on the possibility of creating a DAO and potentially even creating its own Non-Fungible Token (NFT) collection of artwork by lawyers for charity and to fund the future work of MetaverseLegal.” “In other words, MetaverseLegal is an important innovation hub for legaltech. The process and outcome of this group’s work will offer important learnings for the international arbitration community, indeed the legal community anywhere and everywhere,” observed Elizabeth. “One can already see the significant representation of women among the management and administrators of MetalverseLegal,” commented ArbitralWomen President Dana MacGrath. “The inclusive nature and lack of hierarchical structure of MetarverseLegal would appear to naturally appeal to and draw from a diverse cross section of the community.”

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The MetaverseLegal Team as of March 2022:

MetaverseLegal was initiated by Ekaterina Oger Grivnova. MetaverseLegal is created, owned and governed by all administrators (listed alphabetically): Folasade Abiodun, Oyindamola Abodunrin, Gizem Adalı, Oluwatosin Maryjane Adunmo, Vansh Aggarwal, Docia Agyemang Boakye, Farah Alabed, Oana Jeanina Astilean, Ivan Bracho Gonzalez, Paulina Brzezinska, Layla de Carvalho, Ceren Ceyhan, Elizabeth Chan, Ritwik Chawla, Vivian Ch'ng, Rachel Chiu, Anastasia Choromidou, Reena Choudhary, Alba Crespo Vildosola, Belemir Demirbag, Celestino Dincă, Alexandru-Andrei Dumitru, Rebecca-Georgia Dunca, Elif Duranay, Elifsu Erdem, Bamisé Fatoke, Ányela Yésica Flores Yapuchura, Karim Haidar, Elif Ceren Halatçı, Emily Hay, Amine Khaliss, Michael Komuczky, Seher Kurtuluş, Alexandre Lercher, Maxime Liccioni, Omar Mahmoud, Camila Maida, Alexander Mathai Paikaday, Andres Gustavo Mazuera Zuluaga, Daniel Morales, Elias El Murr, Chidimma Njoku, Ekaterina Oger Grivnova, Abisayo Olawuyi, Shriya Pandey, Denisa Pascu, Julian Luna Pastore, Daniela Pineda Rios, Maroof Rafique, Bernardo Regueira Campos, Laura Reichen, Célestine Renault, Jason Ruiz, Viktoria Schneider, Iliass Segame, Farhan Shafi, Karina Sibilska, Adesanya Temitayo, Nafosat Toshtemirova, Shresth Vardhan, Nicolás Junco Villamizar, Lindsay Woods, Ishan Zahoor and Filippo Zuti. The MetaverseLegal Team continues to grow and change as new members join.

As of March 2022, the arbitration practitioners among MetaverseLegal’s administrators include:

• Elizabeth Chan, Allen & Overy, Hong Kong
• Emily Hay, Hanotiau & van den Berg, Brussels, Belgium
• Ekaterina Oger Grivnova, Allen & Overy, Paris, France
• Filippo Zuti Giachetti, MDisputes, Milan, Italy
• Anastasia Choromidou, Volterra Fietta, London, UK
• Alexander Mathai Paikaday, Paikeday & Paikeday Lawyers, New Delhi, India
• Bernardo Regueira Campos, Guandalini Isfer Oliveira Franco Abogados, Curitiba, Brazil
• Michael Komuczky, Lamsky Ganzger Goeth Frankl, Vienna, Austria
• Viktoria Schneider, Hanefeld, Hamburg, Germany
• Karim Ali Haidar, KN Legal, Dubai, UAE
• Rachel Chiu, White & Case, London
• Juliette Asso, LaLive, Geneva
• Laura Reichen, Gantenberg Dispute Experts, Germany

Submitted by ArbitralWomen Board Member, Elizabeth Chan, and ArbitralWomen Member, Emily Hay, together with Ekaterina Oger Grivnova.