On 21 June 2018, and within the context of introducing CRCICA to the international legal community, CRCICA Director visited two distinguished Law Firms in London; Pinsent Masons and Stephenson Harwood Law Firm. The meetings were attended by a number of partners and senior associates representing the two firms including Mr. Mark Roe, Partner and Head of international arbitration, specializing in construction and engineering matters and Mr. Jean-François Le Gal, Partner, specializing in international arbitration and multi-jurisdictional litigation (Pinsent Masons), Mr. Duncan Bagshaw, Counsel, Barrister and Member of the international arbitration and Africa groups (Stephenson Harwood).
Interesting topics were discussed during the visits focusing on CRCICA background, caseload, recent recognitions and activities. Discussions with Pinsent Masons’ lawyers focused on the scope of neutrality and diversity in the appointment of arbitrators process under CRCICA Rules allowing a great deal of autonomy for each party to nominate freely its arbitrator even if not listed in CRCICA’s panel of arbitrators. Discussions at Stephenson Harwood involved the role of CRCICA in Africa including Sub-Sahara Africa and the issue of the seat of arbitration in cases under CRCICA Rules, where in most cases Cairo-Egypt is the chosen seat. Choosing other seats in CRCICA Arbitrations such as Madrid, Paris and London was discussed as well.
