Arbitration barristers.

Typical instructions placed with counsel on the panel include:

• International arbitration under the LCIA, ICC, SIAC, HKIAC, DIAC, SCC and ICSID rules, and ad hoc references under UNCITRAL.
• Construction and infrastructure arbitration on FIDIC, NEC, JCT and bespoke EPC contracts, including delay, disruption, variation and defects claims.
• Energy, oil gas and natural resources disputes: production sharing contracts, concession agreements, gas sales and price review, offtake and decommissioning.
• International trade and commodities arbitration under GAFTA, FOSFA, LMAA and RSA rules, including sale of goods, quality, shipment and demurrage claims.
• Banking and finance disputes: facility agreements, guarantees, derivatives, trade finance instruments and Islamic finance structures.
• JV and shareholder disputes, including deadlock, exit and put and call mechanics, warranty and earn out claims arising on the sale of a business.
• Professional negligence arbitrations and claims against engineers, quantity surveyors, valuers, accountants and other professionals with arbitration clauses in their retainers.
• Investment treaty arbitrations under bilateral investment treaties, the Energy Charter Treaty and the ICSID Convention, including expropriation and fair and equitable treatment claims.
• Jurisdiction and applicable international law arguments, separability, incorporation of arbitration clauses and multi contract or multi party references.
• Court work supporting arbitration: section 9 stays, section 44 interim relief, section 67 and 68 challenges, section 69 appeals and enforcement of awards under the New York Convention.

The choice of arbitral centres shapes cost, timetable and the tribunal's approach to document production and evidence. LCIA and ICC references remain the most common choice for high value cross border commercial dispute work with a London or European connection, with the ICC Court scrutinising awards and the LCIA offering a lighter touch and, usually, a lower administrative cost. Trade and shipping work runs through LMAA, GAFTA and FOSFA on short procedural timetables and documents only awards where the amounts allow.

In the Gulf and Asia the picture is different again. DIAC HKIAC and SIAC references now account for a substantial share of construction and infrastructure and energy work, and counsel need to be comfortable with local court practice at the seat as well as with the institutional rules. The barristers on our panel appear regularly in Dubai and Hong Kong matters, both in person and remotely, and have worked alongside local counsel where a licensed advocate is required at the seat.

Ad hoc references under the UNCITRAL Rules or bespoke clauses still make up a meaningful part of the work, particularly in energy, natural resources and state contracts. Institute and ad hoc references demand different skills: an ad hoc case gives the tribunal and the parties more control over the procedure, but there is no institution to fix defaults on appointment, fees or timetable, so tight drafting and firm procedural advocacy matter more.

Construction and infrastructure is the largest single strand: FIDIC Red, Yellow and Silver Book claims, NEC compensation events, EPC and EPCM disputes on power, water, rail and process plant, and the extension of time, prolongation, acceleration and defects arguments that come with them. Counsel work with delay and quantum experts as a matter of routine and are used to Scott Schedules running to thousands of lines.

Energy, oil gas and natural resources work covers upstream joint operating agreements, farm in and farm out disputes, gas sales agreement price reviews, LNG offtake, mining concessions and licence terminations. These references frequently overlap with public international law where a state or state owned entity is a party.

International trade, commodities and shipping arbitration covers sale of goods under GAFTA and FOSFA forms, string contracts, quality and condition disputes, charterparty and bill of lading claims and sanctions related non performance. Banking and finance arbitration covers facility and security documents, derivatives, guarantees and trade finance instruments.

Corporate and commercial references round out the practice: a shareholder dispute or joint venture breakdown referred under an arbitration clause in the shareholders agreement, warranty and indemnity claims on a share purchase agreement, agency and distribution terminations and technology and outsourcing disputes.

London remains the busiest seat in the world for commercial arbitration. Proceedings seated in London are governed by the Arbitration Act 1996, with the Commercial Court providing support through interim relief and witness summonses, and supervision through challenges to jurisdiction and serious irregularity and, in limited circumstances, appeals on a point of English law. That supervisory jurisdiction is one of the reasons parties choose London, and counsel who appear in the Commercial Court as well as before tribunals are best placed to advise on the interaction between the two.

Where proceedings are seated in Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Paris, Stockholm or Geneva, English barristers routinely appear as advocates before the tribunal even though the local courts supervise the reference. The panel includes counsel with substantial experience of hearings in the Gulf and in Hong Kong, and we can coordinate with local counsel at the seat where a filing or an application to the supervisory court is required.

Enforcement is the last stage that clients often overlook at the drafting stage. Awards made in a New York Convention state are enforceable in more than one hundred and seventy jurisdictions, and counsel will advise on where the respondent holds assets, whether to seek security in support of the reference, and how to convert an award into an enforceable judgment.

Several barristers on the panel accept appointments as arbitrator as well as acting as counsel. They sit as sole arbitrator, party appointed arbitrator and chair in institutional and ad hoc references, and hold CIArb qualifications where the appointing body requires them. Acting in both capacities keeps counsel close to how tribunals actually reason, which is directly useful when they are advocating.

If you need a nomination for a party appointment, a chair or a sole arbitrator, we can produce a shortlist with CVs, sector experience, availability against the proposed timetable and an hourly rate within a day or two. Conflict checks are run before any name is disclosed to the other side or to the institution, and appointments are declined where independence or availability would be in question.

Send a short brief with the contract and the arbitration clause, the parties and their jurisdictions, the sums in dispute, the rules and seat if already fixed, and any deadline in the procedural timetable. We come back with shortlisted counsel, an indicative fixed fee for the next stage of work and confirmation of when conflict checks will clear.

For urgent matters such as an emergency arbitrator application, a section 44 application in the Commercial Court or an imminent deadline for a response to a request for arbitration, counsel can usually be engaged within twenty four to forty eight hours. Advisory work on jurisdiction, merits or enforcement strategy is normally set up within two to three working days.