Arbitra, the management service for arbitrators, has welcomed four new members as it celebrates the birthday of its foundation. The new members, internationally recognised for their work in this area, are Adrian Cole, Dmitri Evseev, Dana MacGrath, and Eun Young Park all having formerly been partners at major international law firms including King & Spalding, Arnold & Porter, Sidley Austin and Kim & Chang respectively.

The four new members join Arbitra’s existing membership, which has grown steadily throughout the last year, whose numbers, with their arrival, now stand at 35 members.

The concierge-style service for arbitrators, mediators, and neutrals, with offices in London and Washington, D.C, launched with eighteen members in July 2021. Headed by chief executive Owen Lawrence, Arbitra aims to be a natural home for arbitrators, mediators, and dispute board members, helping them manage their careers and market and grow their practices.

Arbitra enables members to resolve disputes swiftly, fairly, and efficiently by focusing, without distractions, on dispute resolution. It operates a conflict-free membership-based structure that offers members the full range of practice management, consultancy, and administrative services, located at prominent London and Washington DC locations.

Owen Lawrence, the chief executive, said: “I am delighted to welcome such pre-eminent new members to Arbitra. Choosing the right person to resolve your dispute is crucial; at Arbitra, our members’ breadth and depth of knowledge are unrivalled.

“These four appointments add to this. They set the seal on a year in which our membership has doubled, thanks to market interest in our offering, helping us to reshape the way international arbitrators administer their practices and how law firms strategically find and appoint the right neutral.”

“Last year has seen the scope of our offering span a global range of sectors, industries, geographies, laws, and practice areas. Our members have represented Arbitra across all the leading arbitral institutions, as well as in flagship events such as Dubai, Tel Aviv, Paris, and London Arbitration Weeks, and the IBA’s Arbitration Day in Istanbul.”

“We work with them to enable them to focus on what they do best – resolving disputes – while we do the rest. That includes helping law firms and their clients select the individual best able to resolve their disputes, and so find the most suitable tribunal from a diverse stable,” added Lawrence.

Arbitra continues to act as a destination of choice for lawyers seeking to find and appoint tribunals to resolve their disputes privately, increasing the options available to law firms in resolving disputes for commercial clients.

“We understand and discuss the particular needs and requirements of a dispute with the parties to ensure the most suitable member to resolve it is put forward, and then work with them, through their lawyers, to support their disputes from start to finish,” said Lawrence. “There has been considerable demand for our recommendations, based on detailed knowledge, client understanding and case requirements at no cost to the law firm. There is continued strong demand from law firms and corporate counsel to use our services, which we expect to grow still further.”

Adrian Cole is globally recognised as the ‘go-to’ arbitrator based in the Middle East. With over thirty years of experience, Adrian is renowned for his expertise in Construction and Engineering disputes.

He was formerly the head of the Dispute Resolution Group at King & Spalding in the Middle East. Adrian has worked both in-house (International Counsel to Vinci in Hong Kong and Paris) and in private practice in the UK, Singapore, Hong Kong, and the Middle East. Prior to becoming a lawyer, Adrian studied engineering and construction and practiced as a quantity surveyor and has first-hand experience of the practical issues in the engineering and construction industries.

Adrian’s wide experience in domestic and international arbitration allows him to bring a commercial and pragmatic approach to the resolution of disputes in both civil and common law jurisdictions. He has sat on multi-billion dollar matters as chair, sole and party-appointed arbitrator under the institutional rules of UNCITRAL, ICC, LCIA, DIFC-LCIA, DIAC, ADCCAC, CRCICA, SIAC, HKIAC, BCDR-AAA, CIArb and IICRA.

Dmitri Evseev is a leading international arbitrator with considerable experience in investor-state and commercial arbitration disputes. An American national, Dmitri was previously a partner at the U.S. law firm Arnold & Porter for over ten years. Previous firms he has worked for include Winston & Strawn, White & Case, and Wilmer Cutler Hale Pickering & Dorr, all with strong arbitral pedigrees.

Dmitri has sat as an arbitrator for leading institutions such as the London Court of International Arbitration, the International Chamber of Commerce, and the Swedish Chamber of Commerce. He is the current vice-chair and member of the board of the SCC Arbitration Institute and an adjunct professor at Miami’s Pepperdine University. He is a member of the ICSID Panel of Arbitrators.

Dana MacGrath FCIArb is an independent arbitrator with over twenty years’ experience in disputes. Before becoming a full-time arbitrator in 2021, she practised at leading law firms such as Sidley Austin, Allen & Overy, O’Melveny & Myers, and Sullivan & Cromwell, as well as a litigation funder Omni Bridgeway. Dana has been involved in multi-billion-dollar cases involving joint and civil law disputes in matters administered by the AAA/ICDR, ICC, ICSID, LCIA, and Ad Hoc claims.

Her experience spans a broad range of industries, including oil and gas (including price reviews), construction, infrastructure, telecoms, I.P., life sciences, commercial, joint ventures, sale of goods and investor-state disputes. Dana is the immediate past president of Arbitral Women and, among other appointments, sits on the international steering committee of the Arbitration Pledge.

Eun Young Park is an independent arbitrator at Park Arbitration Chambers. Before taking that role, he was a partner and co-chair of the international arbitration and litigation group at a leading commercial law firm, Kim & Chang. He co-founded the firm’s arbitration practice in 1998.

A former president of the LCIA Asia Pacific Users’ Council and vice-president of the LCIA Court, Park has served as vice-chair of the IBA Arbitration Committee and was previously co-chair of the IBA’s Asia Pacific Arbitration Practice Group. He sits on the SIAC Court of Arbitration. He is also an adjunct professor at Sungkyunkuan University School of Law.