Course leader
Dr Manuel Penades is a Senior Lecturer in International Arbitration at King’s College London. Qualified as Solicitor for England and Wales, and Abogado in Spain, he is an expert in international arbitration, with regular experience across jurisdictions as arbitrator, counsel and expert witness. Before joining King’s College London, Manuel worked at the London School of Economics and Political Science (UK), where he also obtained his LLM, and practised in a major arbitration firm in London. His research on arbitration has been cited by commercial courts, and he recently led the Workforce at the IBA Toolkit on the impact of Insolvency on Arbitration. View Manuel's profile
Guest Speakers
A guest practitioner features every week, allowing participants direct access to world leaders in the field, through teaching and through the allocated networking time.
Week 1: Christian Leathley, Head of US and Latin American Arbitration practices, Herbert Smith Freehills
Christian Leathley is the Head of the Latin America Group, as well as the US Head of International Arbitration, at Herbert Smith Freehills LLP, New York. He specializes in international commercial and investment arbitration and has nearly 20 years' experience of working in all countries throughout Central and South America. He also sits as an arbitrator in English and Spanish language arbitrations. View profile
Week 1: Prof. Dr Jacomijn J. van Haersolte-van Hof, independent arbitrator and Professor of law at Leiden University
Jacomijn (Jackie) van Haersolte-van Hof is an independent arbitrator and professor of law at Leiden University. From 2014-2024, she was the Director General of the London Court of Arbitration. View profile
Week 2: Ana Serra e Moura, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)
Ana Serra is the current Deputy Secretary General of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, which she joined in 2011. Before joining the ICC, she worked with leading arbitrator Juan Fernández-Armesto, at Armesto & Asociados in Madrid and CCA Advogados Ontier in Lisbon. View profile
Week 3: Marie Berard, Head of International Arbitration Practice
Head of International Arbitration practice, Clifford Chance, London”. Her longer profile is: “Marie Berard is a partner at Clifford Chance, where she leads the London International Commercial Arbitration Group. Marie sits as arbitrator and acts as counsel for multinational corporations on a wide range of international arbitration proceedings pursuant to the major institutional rules (including LCIA, ICC) and ad-hoc arbitrations under UNCITRAL Rules. She is the Director of the LCIA Board and Vice President of the LCIA European Users' Council. View profile
Week 3: Eliana Tornese, Registrar, London Court of InternationalArbitration (LCIA)
Registrar, London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), London”. Her longer profile is: “Eliana Tornese is the Registrar at the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), which she joined in 2015. Prior to this she worked for 3 years as Counsel at the ICC and for 7 years in the international arbitration practice at BonelliErede in Milan. View profile
Week 3: Nigel Blackaby KC, Global co-head of Arbitration and Latin America Groups, Freshfields, Washington
Global co-head of Arbitration and Latin America Groups at Freshfields. Recognised as an 'undisputed leader in his field', Nigel has acted as counsel and arbitrator in over 100 ad hoc and institutional arbitrations (including over 30 investment arbitrations). He has particular expertise in Latin America and energy and mining disputes. He is co-author of the leading book Redfern and Hunter on International Arbitration (OUP, 2023)”. View profile
Week 4: Belinda McRae, Barrister,Twenty Essex Chambers (London)
Belinda McRae is a barrister in Twenty Essex Chambers (London), where she has developed a wide-ranging practice focusing on public international law, civil fraud and complex contract disputes, jurisdiction challenges (including relating to Brexit), and all aspects of international arbitration (including enforcement and challenges to awards in London-seated arbitrations). She has appeared before all instances of UK judiciary (including the UK Supreme Court - five times) and before arbitral tribunals under a variety of rules (UNCITRAL, ICSID, LCIA, ICC, and LMAA). Before joining Chambers, Belinda was an Associate at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP. View profile
Week 4: Jonathan Lim, Partner, Wilmer Hale
Jonathan Lim is partner at Wilmer Hale, London, where he specialises in complex international disputes. Triple-qualified (England, Singapore and New York), he has a broad practice representing private sector and government clients in all types of commercial and investment arbitrations seated in jurisdictions worldwide, both institutional and ad hoc. Mr Lim has also worked on WTO dispute settlement matters and advised international organisations and governments in Africa and Asia on public international law issues. View profile
Week 5: Paul Tan, Head of Asian Arbitraton, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
Paul Tan is partner and Head of Asian arbitration at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Singapore. Paul is a commercial litigation and international arbitration (both commercial and investor state) specialist. His practice focuses on managing disputes across South East Asia, with deep experience advising on complex issues of public and private international law. View profile
Week 5: Vivek Neelakantan, Deputy Registrar, Singapore International Arbitration Centre
Vivek is Deputy Registrar of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre. He has over 15 years’ experience in international dispute resolution and arbitration. Prior to joining SIAC, Vivek spent time in private practice in India and was as partner at a leading law firm in Singapore, regularly acting as counsel on international arbitrations under various institutional rules. Vivek was involved in the establishment of SIAC’s first overseas office in Mumbai, India. View profile
Week 6: Guled Yusuf, Allen & Overy
Guled is a partner at Allen & Overy’s International Arbitration Group, a member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration and the ICC Africa Commission. He was also appointed to the ICSID Panel of Conciliators by the Federal Republic of Somalia in 2021. Guled has extensive expertise in international commercial and investment arbitrations across the globe, as well as public international law. He has experience across a range of sectors and regions, but has particular expertise in the energy and infrastructure sectors as well as disputes relating to the African continent. View profile
Week 6: Richard Wells, Associate at A&E Shearman
Richard Wells is an Associate at A&E Shearman. A former doctor and medical researcher, Richard advises on international commercial arbitration and investment treaty arbitration. He has participated in arbitrations under most relevant arbitration rules (including LCIA, ICC, UNCITRAL, and ICSID Rules) and also provides advice on the structuring of investments and dispute avoidance mechanisms. View profile
Attending a virtual course with The Dickson Poon School of Law
This course is delivered online and live in our virtual classroom and so participants must be available to attend all the sessions at the published times to participate. You will be supported to participate, interact and network with other professionals.
Please note that all times are local to London, UK (BST). Participants based outside of the UK must ensure they can join the virtual classroom at the published course times.
What equipment do I need?
To participate, you need a stable internet connection and a computer or laptop with a camera and microphone. You will be sent full joining instructions for your course prior to the first session and our programme team will be available to assist with questions.
Entry requirements
A degree in Law (or another subject plus the conversion course) or Professional legal experience is recommended but not compulsory. Previous participants in the course include lawyers, public officials, bank managers, accountants and engineers. Given that the course covers the law and practice of arbitration, participants without a legal education background need to be interested in legal affairs. They will be provided with recommended introductory readings to help them feel more comfortable with the course material.
English proficiency is a key requirement. The course is suitable for those taught in English up to a degree level or who use English as their working language.