INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION 1/3LY
IN CONVERSATION WITH ADRIAN WINSTANLEY 25
IN CONVERS AT ION WI TH ADRI AN WINS TANLE Y LONDON COURT OF INTERNAT IONAL ARBI TRAT ION Ben Knowles, Partner at Clyde & Co LLP, in conversationwith AdrianWinstanley OBE, outgoing Director General of the London Court of International Arbitration, and amember of the LCIA Court and Board
FACTORS CONTRIBUT ING TO THE SUCCESS OF THE LCI A
We’ve also led themarket 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? ADRI AN I believe that the LCIA Secretariat has a deserved reputation for responsiveness and efficiency, and that the LCIA’s time-based charges generally producemore cost effective arbitration than the ad valoremalternative. We also have a strong reputation for appointing the highest- quality arbitrators; assisted by amore 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? ADRI AN The success during this period is not, of course, attributable tomy 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 amvery proud of what has been achieved over my time at the LCIA. When I joined in 1997, we had awell-deserved reputation for excellence but a small market share. In 1996, just 37 cases were referred; andwe nowhandle something like 300 referrals annually. Andwhilst 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 fromhandling modest cases withmodest sums in dispute, to dealing with some of the biggest andmost technically complex cases in the field. We have also expanded fromour historical roots in London to open offices in Dubai, India, Mauritius and Seoul, independently or in joint ventures; bringing our physical presencemore in line with the long-standing international reach of our administrative services.
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