As we enter the 9th year of the Pledge, we are excited to bring you this first edition of our
Newsletter.
The ERA Pledge UK Bar Subcommittee is pleased to launch the Bar Guidelines to assist members of the UK Bar and those working in bar practice management to implement the aims of the Pledge.
For more details, see the
News Release and the
ERA Pledge Bar Guidelines.
We are delighted to be collaborating with Jus Connect on an exciting new initiative to provide greater visibility to female arbitrators and foster diversity and inclusion within the arbitration community.
Supporters of the Pledge can now register or claim a complimentary profile on Jus Connect’s searchable database of arbitration professionals.
If you are a signatory or member of the Pledge (male or female)with at least 2 years’ full-time experience in arbitration, you can sign up andcreate a profile here
https://jusmundi.typeform.com/to/h8udTuor,or claim an existing profile on Jus Connect.
More details are available
here.
Congratulations to the ICC Arbitration Guide on Disability Inclusion in International Arbitration and ADR for winning the 2024 ERA Pledge Award!
This is a ground-breaking guide for advancing diversity inclusion in the field of international arbitration and alternative disputes resolution and a very worthy winner! The award was presented by Pledge Corporate Subcommittee members, Karl Hennessee and Yasmin Mohammad at the Global Arbitration Review Awards Ceremony in Paris yesterday.
We would also thank and congratulate all the other nominees for this year’s ERA Pledge Award for their hard work and commitment to promoting diversity and female representation in arbitration
On 1 February 2024, ICSID published its 2023 caseload statistics (
see here). ICSID reported significantly improved gender diversity statistics:
- 32%
of all appointments were women, up from 23% in 2022;
- 51%
of ICSID appointments were women, up from 37% in 2022; and
- 24%
of party appointments were women, up from 16% in 2022.
Eight senior judges, including the Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales, have made a statement encouraging the greater participation of junior counsel in oral arguments in hearings:
https://lnkd.in/ecRsxugY.
The statement notes that women are under-represented as leading advocates, and that “it is desirable therefore to
give junior counsel in general, and female junior counsel in particular, better opportunities to advance oral argument in courts and tribunals.”
Going forward, England and Wales judges will be expected to ask whether a speaking part for junior counsel has been considered, particularly where junior counsel have been heavily involved in drafting the written arguments.
One of the ERA Pledge’s focus areas for 2024 is
equal advocacy opportunities and we fully support this initiative of the UK Judiciary.
We are delighted to announce that our Middle East Sub-Committee launched the Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia this month! A testament to the strides made in the realm of diversity and inclusion within the Kingdom’s arbitration community, a two-panel event was held which provided an opportunity to discuss and celebrate the headway made in equal gender representation within the legal sector. The launch event in Riyadh was a significant milestone for female representation in the Saudi legal sector. The thought-provoking discussions and shared personal journeys laid the foundation for a future that values diversity, equality, and fair representation. The event concluded with a call to action for the legal community, both within Saudi Arabia and globally, to continue championing diversity and supporting equal representation. With change underway, it is imperative for everyone to contribute towards this transformative journey.
The event was generously sponsored by Reed Smith, Masin, FTI and HKA, and supported by SCCA, Al Tamimi and Co, Lexis Nexis and the Equal Representation For Expert Witnesses Pledge.
The ERA Pledge Bar Subcommittee has been created to advance equal opportunities for women in arbitration working at the Bar. If you would like to join this important Subcommittee and help drive forward the diversity goals of the ERA Pledge at the Bar, please email
hjones@3vb.com to register your interest. The founding members of the Bar Subcommittee are: Jane Davies Evans, Anneliese Day KC, Marion Smith KC, Lyndsey de Mestre KC, Sarah Tulip, Catherine Reeves and Lucy Burrows.
More details can be found in the
Call to Action.
The survey highlighted that, in 2022, women were appointed as the sole expert witness in just 10% of disputes worldwide, and that 64% of lawyers had not seen any female expert witnesses in action. It also highlighted a fantastic pipeline of expert witnesses wanting to fulfill this incredibly important role in the future. All categories of respondents saw the main challenge for female experts being lawyers selecting experts they have used before.
Discover more insights from the ERE Pledge survey 2023
report.
The ERA Pledge celebrated its 7
th anniversary on 16 May. The Pledge hosted stands at various events, talking to attendees about the work of the Pledge and securing new signatories, as well as handing out cupcakes to mark the occasion. See LinkedIn posts and photos from the events
here and
here.
Each year to mark the anniversary, we report on the progress of the Pledge over the previous year and look ahead to plans for the coming year. See Blog:
Seven Years of the ERA Pledge by Ashley Jones.
The ERA Pledge Global Steering Committee is delighted to announce that Alison Pearsall, formerly Senior Legal Counsel at Veolia, will be the new co-chair of the Corporate Subcommittee. She takes over from Samantha Bakstad (BP) who has led the group since its inception in September 2019.
Founder and co-chair of the Global Steering Committee, Sylvia Noury KC, says “We are delighted that Alison has agreed to take on the role of co-chair of the Corporate Subcommittee. She is an active and committed member of the Global Steering Committee, Corporate Subcommittee and Paris Pledge group and passionate about driving forward progress in diversity. This together with her extensive in-house experience makes her a perfect fit for the role. We are truly grateful to Sam Bakstad for her hard work in setting up and chairing the Corporate Subcommittee for the last nearly 4 years.”
The Pledge Corporate Subcommittee also welcomes the following new members who have recently joined: Hannah Boehm (Roche), Camilla Godman (Omni Bridgeway), Tuuli Timonen (Nokia),and Katherine Young (Shell). We are excited to bring new members on board to provide new ideas and different perspectives to the work of the group, including new industry sectors (technology and life sciences) which are not currently represented in the Corporate Subcommittee.
The work of the Corporate Subcommittee is still a priority area for the ERA Pledge. While progress is being made in institutional and co-arbitrator appointments, the latest statistics revealed a disappointing drop in party appointments of female arbitrators from 19.4% in 2020 to 17.9% in 2021. There remains more work to be done with corporates and their external counsel to tackle the persistent challenges hindering progress towards better gender diversity in party appointments.
Mute Off Thursdays Compendium of Women Arbitrators has won the 2023 Global Arbitration Review ERA Pledge Award for launching a compendium of women arbitrators around the world. The compendium lists 176 accomplished female arbitrators and includes a diverse range of professional, cultural and ethnic backgrounds. It will serve as a valuable resource for parties, counsel and institutions taking active steps to increase the representation of women on arbitral tribunals. Further information
here.
The award was presented at the GAR Awards Ceremony in Paris on 30 March 2023 by the ERA Pledge Global Steering Committee Secretary Ashley Jones and Co-Chair Justin D’Agostino, and accepted by Elena Gutierrez Garcia de Cortazar and Ema Vidak Friedman on behalf of MUTE OFF Thursdays.
30 March 2023
For the first time in its history, the SCC board appointed a majority of female arbitrators with women making up 54 percent of the arbitrators appointed by the SCC in 2022. This is clearly in line with the gender equality goal that the SCC is working towards and is consistent with the Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge signed by the SCC.
To read the full article, please click
here.
21 April 2023
Mute Off Thursdays Compendium of Women Arbitrators has won the 2023 Global Arbitration Review ERA Pledge Award for launching a compendium of women arbitrators around the world. The compendium lists 176 accomplished female arbitrators and includes a diverse range of professional, cultural and ethnic backgrounds. It will serve as a valuable resource for parties, counsel and institutions taking active steps to increase the representation of women on arbitral tribunals. Further information
here.
The award was presented at the GAR Awards Ceremony in Paris on 30 March 2023 by the ERA Pledge Global Steering Committee Secretary Ashley Jones and Co-Chair Justin D’Agostino, and accepted by Elena Gutierrez Garcia de Cortazar and Ema Vidak Friedman on behalf of MUTE OFF Thursdays.
30 March 2023
The Belgian Centre for Arbitration and Mediation (CEPANI) have introduced a new rule. This rule requires the CEPANI appointment committee and president to take into account "considerations of diversity and inclusion" when forming a tribunal in addition to the arbitrator's availability, qualifications and ability to act in the case.
In addition, a new Diversity and Inclusion Standing Committee has been created to promote and monitor diversity and inclusion at CEPANI. One of their goals is to include a diversity and inclusion requirement in the arbitration clause itself in future.
The Arbitration Pledge represented by Pledge Champions Jane Miles and Noha Elgendy was delighted to be partnering with the 11th ICC MENA Conference on International Arbitration, which took place at Abu Dhabi Global Market on 16 February 2023.
The conference, themed ‘Rethinking Dispute Resolution in an Ever-Changing World’ also highlighted the ICC’s centenary by opening with a discussion around the ICC’s Centenary Declaration on Dispute Prevention and Resolution. The conference covered a variety of topics, including a special panel with His Excellency Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade; Robin Mills, CEO of Qamar Energy; Kamal Shehadi, Chief Strategy Officer of e& International on ‘Finding Opportunity in Times of Uncertainty’ which was moderated by the ICC’s Claudia Salomon, President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration in Paris.
Other panel discussions looked at Energy Transition and Renewables in MENA as well asSupply Chain Disruption in the context of disputes. The conference concluded with a ‘Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Scrutiny of Award’ which included anin-depth review of how the ICC Court scrutinises awards before they are issued to parties.
Visit the
event website to view the full programme and speaker list.
16 February 2023
The Financial Times has published an article on the efforts of both the ERA Pledge, as well as the Equal Representation for Expert Witnesses (ERE) Pledge, in achieving a fair representation of women on arbitral tribunals and as expert witness appointees.
As stated in the article by the ERA Pledge founder Sylvia Noury KC, there is progress being made, with the recent ICCA Report revealing that the proportion of women appointed as arbitrators has nearly doubled in the last five years.
To read the article in full click
here.
18 October 2022
The Pledge Corporate Sub-committee has published an updated set of Corporate Guidelines to further assist corporates with implementing diversity objectives set out in the ERA Pledge.
The
Corporate Guidelines are aimed at providing corporate signatories with a framework for concrete steps to assist those wishing to implement the Pledge within their organisation. They can be adopted as and when appropriate, and to the extent appropriate, for each signatory. They are ‘best practice’ principles and do not form any binding commitment for signatories. The Corporate Guidelines were drafted by the Pledge Corporate Sub-committee (see members listed
here) and are expressly supported by Airbus, Anglo American, BP, Burford Capital, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Omni Bridgeway, Shell and Vannin Capital.
23 September 2022
The updated 2022 ICCA Report of the Cross-Institutional Task Force on Gender Diversity in Arbitral Appointments and Proceedings has been published with further information on gender diversity statistics, featuring contributions from the ERA Pledge. It shares a vision of how gender diversity can progress in the field, publishing recent statistics on the appointment of female arbitrators, as well as outlining best practices and opportunities to promote gender diversity in international arbitration. The 2022 Update provides even more data, information, anecdotes, analysis and recommendations, but most importantly, it demonstrates measurable progress in the representation and inclusion of women in international arbitration – with, of course, much more to be done in the multi-faceted field of diversity.
The updated report is available to read
here.
23 September 2022
The ERA Pledge is delighted to announce the launch of the ERA Pledge in Cameroon, on 8 June, during an international arbitration training programme organised by SOAS and hosted by the Centre de Médiation et d’Arbitrage du GICAM (CMAG), a leading African arbitral institution in Douala. Marie-Andrée Ngwe, President of the CMAG, signed the Pledge on the Centre’s behalf in the presence of Global Steering Committee member Gisèle Stephens-Chu and African Sub-committee members Sylvie Bebohi Ebongo and Aurélia Kamga, as well as several local press reporters.
8 June 2022
The ERA Pledge is delighted to announce the appointment of Macarena Letelier, Executive Director of the Santiago Arbitration and Mediation Centre, as the new co-chair of its Latin America Subcommittee. Macarena is taking over from Ana Carolina Weber, who held the position for the past three years and is now initiating a sole practice dedicated to arbitration. The full Press Release is accessible to read
here in both English and Spanish.
11 May 2022
ICC International Court of Arbitration has won the 2022 Global Arbitration Review ERA Pledge Award for building an LGBTQIA network and launching a task force on disability inclusion. The LGBTQIA network aims to support members' personal and professional development, sharing best practice and building understanding of those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer or questioning, intersex or asexual. The task force on disability inclusion will study and analyse the ways in which ICC can meet the needs of those in the international arbitration community who may need accommodations or changes for the way they work.
For more information about the GAR Awards click
here. For further information on ICC’s initiatives see the
LGBTQIA network and the
Disability Task Force.
1 April 2022
The Paris-based members of the Pledge Steering Committee, YPSC and Teynier Pic hosted an event during Paris Arbitration Week (28 March - 1 April 2022), featuring Eric O’Donnell, Head of Legal Operations at Total Energies. Eric explained how diversity and inclusion is integral to the Total Energies’ corporate strategy and how it is implemented, as well as providing personal reflections on the benefits of diversity and the need to tackle unconscious bias. Following his keynote, participants were invited to network and discuss actions to implement their commitments to the ERA Pledge.
View the photographs from the event
here28 March – 1 April 2022
The ERA Pledge is delighted to announce the launch of the ERA Pledge in Israel last week during the Tel-Aviv Arbitration Week 2022 (TAAW). During the main TAAW conference, Pledge Steering Committee member Gisele Stephens-Chu presented the Pledge’s genesis, objectives, and achievements. The conference also included a thought-provoking panel discussion moderated by Tatiana Minaeva entitled “Diversity in International Arbitration” and a women practitioners event with the ICC Court of Arbitration President, Claudia Salomon, hosted by ICC YAF member Nuna Lerner which also featured the Pledge.
Find out more about the Tel-Aviv Arbitration Week
here.
13 March – 16 March 2022
Independent arbitral institution Delos has launched a universal open access arbitrator database, with the aim of improving diversity in arbitration. The database is free to use and to appear in. Arbitrators can provide as much information about themselves as they wish. The database will assist Delos in making diverse appointments, but also allows parties and counsel, as well as other arbitral institutions, to compile arbitrator shortlists more easily. It is hoped that the database will reduce barriers for new counsel entrants to gain information about arbitrator candidates. In addition, the database will assist in identifying diverse conference speakers and publication contributors.
Delos’ open access arbitrator database can be found
hereThe Pledge is pleased to announce that the
ERA Female Arbitrator Search Tool, launched in 2016, will now be hosted by ICCA. The Tool allows practitioners and parties to identify qualified female arbitrators to hear their cases. Search requests are sent on a confidential basis directly to the independent ERA Search Committee, which will respond with a list of suitable female candidates.
The ERA Search Committee is formed entirely of volunteers from dispute resolution organisations – it does not include individuals from law firms. ICCA does not make or endorse recommendations.
ICCA will shortly launch an update of the Report of Cross-Institutional Task Force on Gender Diversity in Arbitral Appointments and Proceedings. Keep an eye on ICCA's
website and social media for the announcement.
The Push 4 Parity initiative, put together by the ERA Pledge Young Practitioners Sub-committee, is preparing for its third season – focusing on advocacy from a counsel’s perspective.
The Push 4 Parity series is a series of webinars taught by diverse voices in the field, including leading arbitrators, practitioners and representatives from major arbitral institutions. The Push 4 Parity series offers practical advice on topics of interest to emerging and aspiring arbitrators, such as the different paths to becoming an arbitrator, networking, personal branding and marketing techniques, getting on the rosters of arbitral institutions, securing the first arbitral appointments, dealing with disclosures of potential conflicts of interest, preparing for and conducting arbitration proceedings with confidence, participating in tribunal deliberations with more senior arbitrators and drafting effective awards.
You can read more about the background to the Push 4 Parity initiative and previous seasons
here23 February 2022
The ERA Pledge is delighted to announce the appointment of Justin D’Agostino, global Chief Executive Officer at Herbert Smith Freehills, as the new co-chair of its Global Steering Committee. Justin is taking over from Samantha Bakstad who will step down from the role after nearly three years to focus on her role leading the Pledge’s Corporate Subcommittee.
The Press Release is accessible
here.
13 January 2022
The Pledge has formed a new USA Subcommittee which launches this month to take forward the promotion of the ERA Pledge among the broad geographic reach of the United States, focusing on increasing awareness and driving change in the appointment of female arbitrators, female practitioners as lead counsel and the advancement of female in-house counsel. The Press Release is accessible
here.
November 2021
As part of Phase 2, Burford is earmarking a further $100 million to The Equity Project and broadening its mission to address both female and racially diverse lawyers who have been historically underrepresented in the business of law, especially in leadership and partnership positions. In earmarking capital through The Equity Project, Burford provides these lawyers an edge as they pursue leadership positions in significant commercial litigations and arbitrations and eases pathways towards origination and client relationship credit.
More information about the next phase of The Equity Project is now live on Burford’s website
here.
You can read their press release
here.
October 2021
Encouraging statistics in International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)'s report on the 2021 financial year. Find out more
here.
6 August 2021
The Pledge is supporting the
Arbitrator Intelligence. Diversity Campaign 2021. The campaign is a 3-week push to try to collect information on diverse arbitrator candidates to feed into AI’s Arbitrator Reports which provide valuable insights into arbitrator candidates to provide reassurance to those recommending or appointing arbitrators who they have no person experience of. The goal is to collect 100 AI Questionnaires over the 3 week campaign. For more information on the AI Diversity Campaign, see
here.To provide arbitrator feedback, complete an AI Questionnaire (AIQ)
here.
12 September to 4 October 2021
This year’s GAR Pledge Award was won by MUTE OFF Thursdays, an initiative set up at the beginning of lockdown in March 2020 to help mid to senior women in arbitration exchange knowledge and remain connected to the arbitration community by hosting weekly zoom calls on a different topic each week. The initiative was launched by Ema Vidak Gojković, Gaëlle Filhol, Catherine Anne Kunz and Claire Morel de Westgaver.
1 July 2021
The ICC has issued a press release celebrating the five year anniversary of the Pledge, identifying ways it has turned its Pledge commitments into action. Find out more
here.
14 June 2021
The ERA Pledge celebrated its 5th Anniversary on 16 May 2021. To find out more about the Pledge’s journey so far, see the anniversary
video and
blog.
21 May 2021
The ERA Pledge Young Practitioners Subcommittee (YPSC) is delighted to announce they have entered into a partnership with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) to provide ERA members with discounted training.
Speaking on behalf of the YPSC, Sofia Klot, Caroline Croft and Elizabeth Chan said, “We are delighted to partner with CIArb to help our members access the fantastic arbitrator-training courses offered by CIArb and to help them gain accreditation as CIArb fellows. In doing so, we hope to support those launching their careers as arbitrators and to promote greater gender and other forms of diversity in arbitrator appointments in international dispute resolution.”
Catherine Dixon, Director General of CIArb said: “CIArb is a global membership and professional body dedicated to effective dispute resolution. CIArb is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion, supporting and enabling the best to join and progress in the ADR profession irrespective of their background. I'm proud that CIArb is working with the Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge in providing this training”.
Under the partnership, CIArb will provide ERA members who fulfil the entry conditions with discounted training on CIArb’s Module 3 Evidence and Writing course on its International Arbitration Pathway, or discounted access to its Accelerated Route to Fellowship in International Arbitration, at CIArb headquarters. Successful completion of either programme enables individuals to apply for peer interview for CIArb Fellowship (FCIArb).
Find out more about the programme
here. To learn more about CIArb, please visit
www.ciarb.org.
May 2021
The shortlist for the GAR Pledge Award 2021 has been announced. Congratulations and well done to all nominees for their outstanding contributions to advancing gender diversity in arbitration during 2020. Click
here to vote.
May 2021
Pledge signatory the International Commercial Arbitration Court (ICAC) (Ukraine) recently published its 2020 Annual Report. It reported that, in 2020, the number of female arbitrators involved in ICAC cases reached an amazing 42.4%. This is a 5.9% on its 2019 statistics. Additionally, the ICAC also reported that 57.4% of the party appointments were women.The ICAC Annual Report 2020 is available to view at this
link. April 2021
The Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration (SCCA) has signed the ERA Pledge and signalled its commitment to gender diversity in international arbitration. The Middle East is a focus area for the Pledge having recently launched our Pledge Middle East Subcommittee and the support of the arbitral institutions is essential to driving progress forward in the region.
April 2021
The World Bank has announced the appointment of Steering Committee member and African Subcommittee co-chair, Mrs. Adedoyin Rhodes-Vivour SAN, C.Arb, as a member of the World Bank Group Sanctions Board. With her appointment, she is presently the only Nigerian on the Board and has become one of the seven judges for a six year term.
Adedoyin has significant experience in dispute settlement and arbitration and she is regularly ranked by publications as a pre-eminent arbitrator. She has also been described as highly recommended by clients and peers for her skill and versatile thinking as well as providing clients with a wealth of expertise as both arbitrator and counsel across the financial services and energy sectors. Adedoyin is honoured to be appointed to the Sanctions Board and looks forward to working in the World Bank Family. The ERA Pledge and African Subcommittee congratulates her and wishes her all the best with her new appointment. It is truly very well deserved.
You can view our Linked In post
here for more information on Mrs. Adedoyin Rhodes-Vivour SAN, C.Arb.
December 2020
The European Commission signed the ERA Pledge in respect of its trade and investment dispute settlement activities on 18 December 2020. See the EC’s press release
here and letter from the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission
here 18 December 2020
The ERA Pledge Middle East Subcommittee was launched in December 2020, as the fourth regional subcommittee of the Pledge following the Latin America, India and Africa subcommittees. The Middle East Subcommittee will promote the ERA Pledge across the international arbitration community in the Middle East. The steering committee is co-chaired by Prof Dr Nayla Comair-Obeid and Antonia Birt, and is composed of arbitration practitioners, in-house counsel, technical experts, arbitrators, and members of arbitral institutions, from several Middle Eastern jurisdictions and those further afield with a focus on Middle Eastern practice. The launch event for the Subcommittee is expected to take place in March 2021.
December 2020
The Pledge Corporate Sub-committee has published a set of Corporate Guidelines for Implementation of the Pledge (available in
English and
Spanish).The Corporate Guidelines are aimed at providing corporate signatories with a framework for concrete steps to assist those wishing to implement the Pledge within their organisation. They can be adopted as and when appropriate, and to the extent appropriate, for each signatory. They are ‘best practice’ principles and do not form any binding commitment for signatories. The Corporate Guidelines were drafted by the Pledge Corporate Sub-committee (see members listed
here) and are expressly supported by Airbus, Anglo American, BP, Burford Capital, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Omni Bridgeway, Shell and Vannin Capital.
26 November 2020
A Checklist of Best Practices for the Selection of Arbitrators was launched by the Paris members of the Pledge Steering Committee in October 2020. The Checklist outlines the best practices, methods and tools available for selecting arbitrators, relying on objective criteria that promote both efficiency and diversity in arbitration. You can access a copy of the Checklist here in
French and
English, and more information is available
here. (Please note, the survey at the end of this article is in French and meant for the time being for those based in France only.)
October 2020
ERA Pledge launches Young Practitioners Subcommittee bringing its message of gender diversity to the new generations. The Press Release is accessible
here.
14 September 2020
The eighth volume of the ICCA Reports series, the ICCA Report of the Cross-Institutional Task Force on Gender Diversity in Arbitral Appointments and Proceedings, has been released. The Report shares a vision of how gender diversity can progress in the field and publishes recent statistics on the appointment of female arbitrators, as well as outlining best practices and opportunities to promote
gender diversity in international arbitration. The report is accessible
here.
29 July 2020
The winner of the ERA Pledge GAR Award 2020, announced at the GAR Awards Ceremony on 9 July, is the LCIA for appointing 43% female arbitrators during 2018. The LCIA’s 2019 statistics are even better with the LCIA appointing female arbitrators in 48% of the appointments made by the institution. Congratulations to the LCIA! You can read the full list of very worthy nominees
here.
17 July 2020
On 23 June, a meeting of the Global Steering Committee took place using Microsoft Teams. About 40 members attended to discuss (i) the 2019 female arbitrator appointment statistics; (ii) ideas for future virtual events; and (iii) a round-up of the Pledge events and activities of the various regional members and sub-committees. It was fantastic to hear about all the great work being done across the different regions and plans for harnessing the new virtual world for future Pledge events.
23 June 2020
Freshfields blog: ERA Pledge surpasses 4,000 signatories. click
here.
3 June 2020
Africa Sub-Committee update: the Africa Sub-Committee recently convened to discuss its formal launch event and agenda for the year ahead. The Sub-Committee is delighted to report that Africa now has the second highest number of signatories after Europe.
23 April 2020
The Casablanca International Mediation & Arbitration Centre is pleased to announce it has officially joined the campaign for a more diverse and balanced international arbitration community (ERA Pledge). CIMAC’s Secretary General, Hicham Zegrary said “Diversity and Gender issues are part of CIMAC ‘DNA’. Both our Court of Arbitration and Secretariat are composed of peoples from all over the world. By signing the ERA Pledge, we commit ourselves to do more!!!”.
14 April 2020
This year’s 27th Vis Moot was held as a Virtual Vis Moot for the first time. In the
Opening Ceremony, Steering Committee member Patrizia Netal spoke about the ERA Pledge and equal representation (min 7:00 – 7:45). This year’s competition had a majority female panel in the
final round including Jackie van Haersolte-van Hof and Prof Petra Butler.
9 April 2020
12 September 2019
July 2019
11 June 2019
7 May 2019
4 April 2019
4 April 2019
25 March 2019
7 December 2018
ArbitralWomen: The second edition of the book on “Women Pioneers in Dispute Resolution” published in September 2018 was launched in New York on 8 November 2018 during the Gala Dinner celebrating the ArbitralWomen 25th Jubilee (
click here to download). The second edition features women from a wide geographical coverage: 78 women from nearly 50 countries and from all continents.
November 2018
15 November 2018
31 October 2018
01 July 2018
25 June 2018
18 June 2018
7 May 2018
1 May 2018
10 April 2018
6 April 2018
29 March 2018
22 March 2018
8 March 2018
7 March 2018
7 March 2018
7 March 2018
1 March 2018
15 February 2018
ASIL holds a Women in Arbitration Panel featuring a discussion on the Arbitration Pledge. Click
here to watch the video.
10 January 2018
ERA Pledge launches 10 New Year Resolutions. Click
here to watch the video or
here to download the poster.
1 January 2018
January 2018
1 January 2018
27 December 2017
24 November 2017
20 November 2017
15 November 2017
6 November 2017
23 October 2017
27 July 2017
27 June 2017
12 June 2017
8 June 2017
31 May 2017
18 May 2017
16 May 2017
March 2017
31 March 2017
30 March 2017
8 November 2016
First Quarter 2017
27 September 2016
15 September 2016
8 September 2016
August 2016
18 August 2016
16 August 2016
22 July 2016
Pledge to name more women as arbitrators reaches U.S. firms
21 June 2016
2 June 2016
31 May 2016
25 May 2016
24 May 2016
24 May 2016
19 May 2016
18 May 2016
18 May 2016
18 May 2016
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May 2016
16 March 2016
The ERA Pledge is delighted to announce the launch of the ERA Pledge in Cameroon, on 8 June, during an international arbitration training programme organised by SOAS and hosted by the Centre de Médiation et d’Arbitrage du GICAM (CMAG), a leading African arbitral institution in Douala. Marie-Andrée Ngwe, President of the CMAG, signed the Pledge on the Centre’s behalf in the presence of Global Steering Committee member Gisèle Stephens-Chu and African Sub-committee members Sylvie Bebohi Ebongo and Aurélia Kamga, as well as several local press reporters.
8 June 2022
The Arbitration Pledge represented by Pledge Champions Jane Miles and Noha Elgendy was delighted to be partnering with the 11th ICC MENA Conference on International Arbitration, which took place at Abu Dhabi Global Market on 16 February 2023.
The conference, themed ‘Rethinking Dispute Resolution in an Ever-Changing World’ also highlighted the ICC’s centenary by opening with a discussion around the ICC’s Centenary Declaration on Dispute Prevention and Resolution. The conference covered a variety of topics, including a special panel with His Excellency Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade; Robin Mills, CEO of Qamar Energy; Kamal Shehadi, Chief Strategy Officer of e& International on ‘Finding Opportunity in Times of Uncertainty’ which was moderated by the ICC’s Claudia Salomon, President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration in Paris.
Other panel discussions looked at Energy Transition and Renewables in MENA as well asSupply Chain Disruption in the context of disputes. The conference concluded with a ‘Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Scrutiny of Award’ which included anin-depth review of how the ICC Court scrutinises awards before they are issued to parties.
Visit the
event website to view the full programme and speaker list.
16 February 2023