Setting the scene for ArbFest

Following the Scottish Arbitration Centre’s hosting of the largest ever International Council for Commercial Arbitration (“ICCA”) Congress, in Edinburgh last year, I thought Scotland should aim to capitalise on the goodwill generated by holding our first international arbitration day. However, an arbitration day sounded a bit dull, so we are calling it a festival.

So, the Centre will host the inaugural Edinburgh International Arbitration Festival, or ArbFest2023 for short, on 21 and 22 September. Festivalgoers and sponsors will have a unique opportunity to gain insights into the latest international developments at the main festival, and will be able to network with leading experts during the programme events comprising the food, drink, music and dance festivals.

The Thursday afternoon will focus on the book festival. Gary Born, partner at WilmerHale, will headline, discussing and taking questions on his thriller novel The File. The book festival will also launch the 21st volume in ICCA’s Congress Series, themed “Arbitration’s Age of Enlightenment?”, and celebrate the publication of the papers presented at ICCA Edinburgh. These events will be followed by the food and drink festivals, involving a networking reception and informal dinner.

Conference themes

The main festival, an arbitration conference at the Signet Library on the Friday, will be co-chaired by Lise Bosman, executive director of ICCA, and Brandon Malone, a director of the Scottish Arbitration Centre. Justin D’Agostino MH, CEO and partner at Herbert Smith Freehills and an Edinburgh native, and Carita Wallgren-Lindholm, arbitrator and former chair of the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR, will headline. The conference will focus on arbitration and (a) emerging technologies and the environment and society, and (b) geographical diversity and the role of smaller states and emerging seats.

Performers will include, in order of appearance, Lord Glennie KC, chair of the board of the Centre; Lady Wolffe KC, President of the Court of the Centre; Lucy Greenwood, President of the Campaign for Greener Arbitration; Carlos Carvalho, senior business development consultant at Opus 2; Duncan Bagshaw, registrar of the Centre; Hanna Roos, arbitrator; Claire Morel de Westgaver, partner at BCLP; Steven Finizio, partner at WilmerHale; Craig Tevendale, partner at Herbert Smith Freehills; Ana Stanič, arbitrator; Alison Macdonald KC, barrister at Essex Court Chambers; Audley Sheppard KC, Vice President of ICCA; Ndanga Kamau, arbitrator; and Laura Bergamini, senior legal counsel at ICSID/World Bank. More speakers will be announced soon.

The main festival will again be followed by food and drink festivals, and then music and dance festivals in the form of a Scottish ceilidh.

Support

Registration is now open at scottisharbitrationcentre.org/arbfest/. If you want to partner with the Centre on this unique new international arbitration event, the same page has a link to information on sponsorship packages.

I am delighted that ICCA is supporting ArbFest2023. It illustrates the strength of our relationship with this important international arbitration body. I very much look forward to welcoming our friends from the international community back to Scotland. I also hope that local firms and practitioners will attend and support this new initiative as we work to boost Scotland’s arbitration industry.