Publish time: Mon Mar 29 00:00:00 CST 2010
London has been one of the most important centres in the world for the resolution of international commercial disputes for a long time, and a large amount of top legal talents for the resolution of disputes are gathered there. In order to improve BAC’s fame and influence in the London legal community, Secretary General WANG Hongsong led a delegation to carry out the promotion campaign from Mar. 16 to 18, 2009, so as to promote the exchange and cooperation between BAC and the British legal community in an all-round manner.
BAC delegation held talks successively with Judith Gill QC, Director of the International Arbitration Department of Allen & Overy LLP; Director of the International Arbitration Department Paula Hodges, Partner of the Litigation and Arbitration Department Alexander Oddy and senior lawyer Chris Parker of Herbert Smith LLP; Chairman Alan Jenkins, Partner of the International Litigation and Arbitration Department Stuart Dutson of Eversheds LLP; and Director of the Litigation and Arbitration Department Jonathan Sacher, Partner of the Litigation and Arbitration Department Michael Polonsky, Director of the Construction Engineering Department Terry De Souza and Director of the International Department John Taylor of Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP. BAC delegation introduced in details the special provisions of BAC in such aspects as the arbitration rules, the mediation rules and the charging manners in consideration of the special demands by international parties, and answered the questions put forward by the foreign counterparts from the standpoints as users of the arbitration or mediation services. After exchanges and discussions, many foreign counterparts expressed the opinion that BAC has obvious advantages as a choice for international arbitration cases involving Chinese parties. At the same time, BAC also reached clear intent with several law firms on further cooperation.
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| Visit to Allen & Overy | Visit to BLP |
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| Visit to Eversheds | Visit to Herbert Smith |
The system of dividing lawyers into barristers and solicitors is adopted in Britain, and a lot of barristers became arbitrators with huge influence because of their rich experiences in the resolution of disputes. BAC delegation paid a special visit to two law firms that are most famous in the resolution of disputes concerning construction engineering projects: Atkin Chambers and Keating Chambers. In the talks, the representative on behalf of Atkin Chambers is Andrew Burr, Editor-in-Chief of the British Construction Law Review and a senior barrister & arbitrator; the representatives on behalf of Keating Chambers are four senior arbitrators skilled in the resolution of disputes concerning construction engineering projects: Philip Boulding QC, Robert Gaitskell QC, John Uff CBE QC and Richard Fernyhough QC. Due to the leading position of BAC’s business in the resolution of disputes concerning construction engineering projects, the two law firms showed great interest in the cooperation with BAC to carry out the business in the construction engineering field and to organize the trainings for arbitrators and engineering dispute reviewers.
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| Visit to Keating Chambers | Visit to Akin Chambers |
Besides, BAC delegation paid a special visit to 20 Essex Street Chambers, an institution with a long history and specializes in the commercial barrister’s business, and had talks with world-famous senior arbitrators Julian Lew QC and Alexander Layton QC and BAC’s British arbitrator Michael Lee; both sides especially made in-depth discussions on how to make Chinese arbitration institutions get broader recognition in the international society.
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| Visit to 20 Essex Street Chambers | Exchanging gifts with world-famous senior arbitrator Julian Lew QC |
During the stay in London, BAC delegation visited the services facilities of the International Dispute Resolution Centre (IDRC) accompanied by Damian Hickman, Director of the IDRC; and paid separately visits to the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) and Roselex, a dispute resolution institution in the engineering field, that have their offices in IDRC. During the talks with Adrian Winstanley, Director General of the LCIA, both parties shares their practices and experiences in the exploration of the arbitration market; in the exchanges with Graham Massey, Advisory Director of the CEDR, both parties emphatically discussed the approaches to promote the broad recognition of mediation in commercial sectors. The talks with Edward Moore, President of Roselex, focused on the methods and experiences in the management of disputes concerning construction engineering projects. After the talks, all parties expressed their wish to further strengthen the contact and continuously improve their service levels in the dispute resolution through the sharing of experiences.
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| Group photo with Damian Hickman (2nd from the left), Director of the IDRC, and Adrian Winstanley (3rd from the left), Director General of the LCIA | |
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| Group photo with Graham Massey (3rd from the right), Advisory Director of the CEDR | Group photo with Edward Moore, President of Roselex |
In order to increase the contact between BAC and relevant educational institutions in London, BAC delegation made a special visit to the Commercial Law Research Centre of Queen Mary, University of London on Mar. 16 and had talks with Prof. Loukas Mistelis, Director of the International Arbitration College under the Centre, both sides reached a preliminary intent on the cooperation in the aspects of research and training.
In the evening of Mar. 17, Secretary General WANG Hongsong of BAC gave a topic lecture on the dispute resolution in China at University of London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) on invitation, the lecture attracted a large amount of teachers and students in the Department of Financial Management and the School of Law. In the lecture, Secretary General WANG Hongsong introduced to the audience the new development of arbitration, mediation and engineering dispute review in China; she also denoted: with the continuous development of the dispute resolution service industry in China, BAC is not only developing into a rising international centre for dispute resolution, but also is trying to become an information exchange centre and research & training centre for dispute resolution in China. In the questions and free speeches after the lecture, some teachers and doctoral students of SOAS engaging in the research on dispute resolution denoted that the lecture of Ms. WANG makes them realize that their previous information about the Chinese arbitration is incomplete, and they hope to have a further understanding and an overall perspective of the arbitration and mediation services in China by means of sending students to practice in BAC or cooperating with BAC in the research.
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| Scene of lecture at SOAS | Exchanges after the lecture |