LIDW Main Conference

Opening remarks

Keynote speech

Keynote speech by the Rt. Hon. Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury

Panel session: The evolving role of the in-house disputes lawyer: what are the priorities, and what does it mean for private practice?

In this opening session, a panel of senior disputes lawyers from in-house and government roles will discuss current and future priorities, perspectives on the dispute resolution landscape and market, how their roles and working lives are evolving, and what those in private practice can and should be doing to help clients deliver in a changing and demanding world.  This session will take place under Chatham House Rule.

Panel:  Michael Fletcher - Partner, Pinsent Masons LLP (Chair); Sarah Long - EMEA Head of Litigation, J.P. Morgan; Martin Boyle - Head of Legal, Dispute Resolution, Employment and Immigration, Ocado Group plc; Brett Welch - Director of Litigation, the UK Government Legal Department; Sarah West - Legal Counsel, UK Litigation & Regulatory, Google

Coffee Break

Panel session: Opening up the international dispute resolution toolbox: are existing methods fit for purpose?

This panel will discuss the approaches under different dispute resolution regimes and consider whether the tools are fit for purpose. Focusing on costs, delay, and resolution, they will consider international users, and how the statutory framework and judicial support of London as a seat could work to reduce costs, focus on party autonomy, reduce the abuse of procedural rules and tactics, and enhance the efficient use of procedural tools for an improved user experience and better outcomes.

Panel: Wendy Miles KC - Barrister and Arbitrator, Twenty Essex (Chair); Christopher M. Campbell MCIArb - Senior Litigation Counsel, Baker Hughes; Professor Sarah Green - Commissioner for Commercial and Common Law, The Law Commission of England and Wales; Richard Indge, Senior Managing Director, Ankura; Jane Player - International Mediator, Independent Mediators

Panel session: Navigating the maze: cross-border disclosure challenges

This session will explore the complex documentary evidence issues that arise in multi-jurisdictional disputes and investigations, looking at practical strategies for addressing them.  Topics will include: navigating differing jurisdictional regimes around privilege, confidentiality, data protection, data retention and access to documents; handling material in the context of parallel proceedings; and difficulties posed by national blocking statutes.  The session will also look at how new and developing technologies can help tackle the issues which arise.

Panel:   Charles Hollander KC, Brick Court (Chair); Akima Paul Lambert - Partner, Hogan Lovells International LLP; Joanna Ludlam - Partner, Baker McKenzie; Leon Major, Director of Training and Advisory Services, KL Discovery; Ra'eesa Mehta - Associate, Herbert Smith Freehills, and President of the Junior London Solicitors Litigation Association

Lunch

Panel session: The future of collective redress in the UK and EU

The global class and collective actions landscape is rapidly evolving.  Our multi-jurisdictional panel will focus in particular on the implementation by EU member states of the Representative Actions Directive (which requires implementation by June 2023) - including the work of "qualified entities" who may bring actions and the use of opt-in versus opt-out regimes - as well as recent legal and market developments in the UK.

Panel: Kate Pollock - Partner, Stewarts (Chair); Tasneem Azad – Managing Director, Kroll; Christoph Baus - Partner, Latham & Watkins LLP (Germany); Marieke Bredenoord-Spoek - Counsel, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek (Netherlands); Walter Merricks CBE; Sarah Abram KC, Brick Court

Panel session: As the world changes: the role of the judiciary, in their words (in partnership with the Standing International Forum of Commercial Courts (SIFoCC))

In partnership with LIDW, the Standing International Forum of Commercial Courts (SIFoCC) presents an international judicial conversation across the topics of corporate legal responsibility and ESG, and the “complexification” of international disputes. This session follows the fourth full meeting of the world’s commercial courts in Sydney in October 2022, and precedes the fifth full meeting in 2024 in the Middle East.

Panel: The Hon. James Allsop AC - Former Chief Justice of the Federal Courts of Australia (Chair); Ms Adenike Adewale, Acting Head of Secretariat, SiFOCC (Opening Remarks); Mme. Fabienne Schaller - President, International Commercial Chamber, Court of Appeal, Paris; Rt. Hon. Sir Geoffrey Vos - Master of the Rolls, England and Wales; Justice Nick Segal - Permanent Judge, Grand Court of the Cayman Islands (Financial Services Division); Sir William Blair, Chairman of the Regulatory Tribunal, Qatar International Court and Dispute Resolution Centre, and former Judge in Charge of the Commercial Court, London

Coffee Break

Taking a healthier approach to dispute resolution: lessons from the MBC Litigation Guidance

The Mindful Business Charter exists to reduce the unnecessary sources of stress and promote better mental health and wellbeing in the workplace. The practice of litigation has long been an area of legal work where unhealthy and unhelpful practices, particularly between opposing sides of a dispute, have proliferated. As part of a fireside chat, Naomi Pryde, partner at DLA Piper, will discuss the recently-launched Mindful Business Charter Litigation Guidance and its implications for disputes practitioners in conversation with Richard Martin, Executive Officer of the Mindful Business Charter.

Naomi Pryde - Partner, DLA Piper In conversation with Richard Martin - Executive Officer, Mindful Business Charter

Panel session: Looking to the future: how will the metaverse and AI change practice?

This session, which will include a presentation from Meta, will explore what the latest developments in technology, and those on the horizon, mean for dispute resolution.  The panellists will discuss the impact of technology including the metaverse, Web3 and ChatGPT on the types of disputes which may arise, how disputes are resolved, and on the role of lawyers and others working in the dispute resolution world. 

Panel: The Honourable Mr Justice Waksman, Judge of the Commercial Court and the Technology and Construction Court (Chair); Jack Gilbert, Director & Associate General Counsel, EMEA Disputes, Meta; Nicole Hazaz - Manager, Customer Success, Everlaw; Professor Tom Melham, Professor of Computer Science - University of Oxford, Fellow and Tutor in Computation - Balliol College; Jenifer Swallow, Lawyer, Strategic Consultant

Keynote speech

Keynote speech by Deborah Enix-Ross, President of the American Bar Association and Senior Adviser to the International Dispute Resolution Group of Debevoise & Plimpton, who will be introduced by Barry Fletcher, LIDW Strategy Group and DLA Piper.

Closing remarks