INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION 1/3LY
IN CONVERSATION WITH ADRIAN WINSTANLEY 25
IN CONVERSATION WITH ADRIAN WINSTANLEY LONDON COURT OF INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION Ben Knowles, Partner at Clyde & Co LLP, in conversation with Adrian Winstanley OBE, outgoing Director General of the London Court of International Arbitration, and a member of the LCIA Court and Board
FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE SUCCESS OF THE LCIA
We’ve also led the market in certain respects, such as the LCIA Court’s landmark decision to publish abstracts of challenge decisions. The LCIA journal Arbitration International has remained at the pinnacle of academic journals in the field, under its excellent and independent editorial board; and the LCIA’s worldwide conferences are firmly established as the best in the world. These, then, are some of the highlights for me. BEN Do you think the LCIA has any distinct advantages, over and above, its direct competitors? ADRIAN I believe that the LCIA Secretariat has a deserved reputation for responsiveness and efficiency, and that the LCIA’s time-based charges generally produce more cost effective arbitration than the ad valorem alternative. We also have a strong reputation for appointing the highest- quality arbitrators; assisted by a more centralised procedure for selection and appointment by the LCIA Court. The new LCIA arbitration rules, to be published later in 2014, will, I believe, be the very best available.
BEN The London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) has had a great run of success over your 17 year tenure as Director General. What have been your personal highlights? ADRIAN The success during this period is not, of course, attributable to my efforts alone. The quality of the LCIA staff; the leadership of the Board and Court; and the support within our Users’ Councils has been vital to its success – we have an excellent team. That said, I am very proud of what has been achieved over my time at the LCIA. When I joined in 1997, we had a well-deserved reputation for excellence but a small market share. In 1996, just 37 cases were referred; and we now handle something like 300 referrals annually. And whilst our market share has dramatically increased, I believe we have succeeded in retaining our reputation for delivering an excellent and cost effective service. Continuous development and striving for improvement, underpin the success of the LCIA. We have come from handling modest cases with modest sums in dispute, to dealing with some of the biggest and most technically complex cases in the field. We have also expanded from our historical roots in London to open offices in Dubai, India, Mauritius and Seoul, independently or in joint ventures; bringing our physical presence more in line with the long-standing international reach of our administrative services.
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