Where to draw the line on Confidentiality? The Role of the Seat in protecting privacy in arbitration

March 22, 2023

 

Privacy and confidentiality are two of the benefits traditionally touted in the name of arbitration. In most respects, arbitration is private because the parties and the tribunal control who can participate or access documents produced in the proceedings. The private nature of arbitration often leads parties to assume that it is also confidential. While many states have express or implied confidentiality obligations in arbitration, the position is by no means uniform. Given the speed with which information travels digitally, confidentiality in arbitration proceedings is a growing concern and should be addressed by parties to proceedings at every stage of the process.

Join us on 22nd March 2023 at 9 AM (AST)/1 PM (GMT) as we discuss the importance of confidentiality, how parties can protect their privacy, and debate the varying approaches to dealing with confidentiality in arbitration legislation. 

To register for this event, visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/x/confidentiality-at-the-crossroads-english-arbitration-reform-tickets-549437601657

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Panelists

Arabella di Iorio

Arabella has been working offshore for over 20 years. She began her career at the English Chancery Bar, before working for Linklaters in London, and Appleby in Bermuda. She headed the litigation and trusts practices at Maples and Calder for 11 years before joining Michael Fay QC to set up Agon Litigation. She handles complex, high value international disputes working closely with onshore teams. She regularly advises on a wide range of commercial disputes, on freezing, anti-suit and other injunctive relief. She is a well respected trusts litigator, advising both trustees and beneficiaries. Her clients and opponents have included major financial institutions, technology companies, large conglomerates and high net worth individuals. Arabella regularly appears before the Commercial Court, the Court of Appeal and the Privy Council. She is a mediator and sits as an arbitrator on disputes of any size. Arabella frequently acts as an expert witness on BVI law. 

 

Shan Greer

Shan Greer is an international arbitrator, mediator and advocate associated with Arbitra International in London. She has over twenty years of experience advising clients on a wide variety of commercial transactions and disputes with specific expertise in construction law. Known for a practical and commercially sensitive approach, Shan Greer has successfully handled a wide variety of transactions and disputes across multiple jurisdictions in the Caribbean, Europe and North America. She qualified as a barrister and solicitor in England and has a Master from Kings College London in Construction Law and Dispute Resolution.  She is admitted to practice in Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and Belize.   

Shan Greer regularly acts as an arbitrator, adjudicator and mediator in ad hoc, institutional, international and domestic arbitrations in both civil and common law jurisdictions. She is currently named to the roster of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution, British Virgin Islands International Arbitration Centre, Dispute Resolution Centre in Trinidad and Tobago, Dispute Resolution Association in St. Lucia and the Jamaica International Arbitration Centre. Saint Lucia nominated Shan Greer for inclusion in the CARICOM Secretariats List of Arbitrators and Conciliators established under the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.  Recently, she was appointed by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in an international oil and gas dispute.

Shan Greer is passionate about education.  She not only co-founded the Caribbean ADR Initiative, a nonprofit promoting the use of ADR in the Caribbean, but is a past Chair and current Education Director for the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Caribbean Branch. Both these roles have afforded her the opportunity to share her expertise and experience with other Caribbean professionals with the view to building capacity in the region.

 

Shai Wade

Shai Wade is the Head of the International Arbitration Group of RPC and co-author of the principal textbook commentary on LCIA Arbitration. He is experienced in large-scale complex arbitration disputes arising from the Oil and Gas and Energy sectors, investment arbitration and international law disputes. He is also experienced in international trade, IT and Telecoms, Engineering and Construction disputes and in joint-venture and corporate disputes. Shai sits as arbitrator and as counsel under the rules of the major arbitration institutions, including the ICC, LCIA, UNCITRAL, ICSID and the arbitration rules of various trade associations.Shai is recognised as a Global Leader by Who's Who Legal: Arbitration, as a Leading Individual: International Arbitration by Legal 500 and a ranked International Arbitration Lawyer by Chambers and Partners.  

 

Conway Blake

Conway Blake is International Counsel in the International Disputes Group at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, based in London. He serves as counsel in a range of contentious matters, particularly in investor-state arbitration, public international law disputes and commercial arbitrations governed by various substantive laws and conducted under the major arbitral rules. He has been recognised as a leading figure international arbitration and public international law in Who’s Who Legal and The Legal 500. He is a visiting lecturer in international commercial arbitration at the University of the West Indies, and has represented corporate and sovereign clients in arbitral disputes in the Caribbean region, particularly in the energy and telecommunication sectors. 

 

Maxim Osadchiy 

Maxim Osadchiy is a senior associate in the International Dispute Resolution Group at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, resident in London. His practice focuses on commercial and investment treaty arbitration, and he also has experience in cross-border litigation, including before the English courts. Maxim has been counsel in disputes across a broad range of industry sectors, including oil & gas, services, mining, construction and pharmaceuticals, often involving parties from CIS and Eastern Europe. He has represented States, corporations and individuals in proceedings governed by substantive laws of civil and common law systems and conducted under the rules of the LCIA, ICC, SCC, HKIAC, VIAC, and UNCITRAL. Maxim maintains a strong interest in academia and teaches two popular dispute resolution courses at Queen Mary University of London: International Arbitration and Energy (led by Professor Dr. Maxi Scherer) and International Commercial Arbitration (led by Professor Stavros Brekoulakis).

 

Nancy M. Thevenin

Nancy M. Thevenin is an international arbitrator and mediator based in New York City. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, an adjunct professor of the International Commercial Arbitration course at St. John's University School of Law, a past chair of the New York State Bar Association’s International Section, and a Member of the ICSID Panel of Arbitrators for the Republic of Haiti. 

Ms. Thevenin also advises on arbitrations, mediation strategy, dispute boards, expertise proceedings, ad hoc cases and use of emergency arbitrator procedures. Her experience includes arbitrations under various institutional rules, including the ICC, ICDR, and ICSID and advising on early resolution of matters that would otherwise become formal disputes. Ms. Thevenin’s experience includes handling disputes for multinational companies and governments in the construction and engineering, financial services, commercial real estate and aviation industries, often involving issues concerning mergers and acquisition, sales, distribution, licensing, technology transfer and leasing agreements. 

A graduate of Cornell University and Tulane Law School, Ms. Thevenin started her practice as an international litigation and arbitration practitioner in Miami, Florida, then served as deputy director of arbitration and ADR for North America for the ICC International Court of Arbitration in New York, and thereafter, she was a special counsel in and global coordinator of Baker & McKenzie’s International Arbitration Practice Group. Ms. Thevenin currently serves as an outside general counsel for USCIB/ICC USA.  Ms. Thevenin works in English, Spanish, French and Haitian Creole