with Her Honour Judge Elizabeth Brimer, Arran Dowling-Hussey, Ushan Premaratne, and Anita Natalia
Tuesday, 04 April 2023 | 5pm – 6pm AEST (GMT+10) | Online
“Will it work for me and my clients?”
“Is it cost-effective?”
“Is it fair?
Some international perspectives provided by arbitration practitioners in other jurisdictions
The County Court of Victoria is now encouraging litigants to consider referral of their disputes to arbitration.
The problem is this: despite the existence of world-class arbitration legislation, arbitration is not widely used in Victoria (and other parts of Australia).
Many local practitioners like the idea of arbitration – flexibility, the chance to avoid lengthy queues in court, capped fees for arbitrators, and the receipt of a binding decision in 90 or 120 days from the commencement of the arbitration.
But many local practitioners want to learn more about arbitration, and do so before they advise their clients to participate in arbitrations. The questions that keep coming up are as follows:
- How does it work?
- It is going to be fair and cost-effective?
- Why pay for a private decision-maker?
- How does the arbitration legislation fit with the applicable rules of arbitration?
- What are the key take aways from the arbitration legislation?
- Does it work effectively, cost-efficiently and fairly in other places
In this fireside chat, Judge Elizabeth Brimer of the County Court of Victoria will lead a discussion in which three guests will answer these questions and others. The goal is the demystification of arbitration for Victorian practitioners.
Her Honour is the head of the Arbitration List at the County Court of Victoria.
Her Honour’s three guests are legal practitioners with significant experience in arbitrations – in domestic and international arbitrations. Each one is very familiar with the Model Law – this is the set of rules underpinning the domestic arbitration legislation in his or her ‘home’ jurisdiction, and it is the same set of rules underpinning the Commercial Arbitration Act 2011 (Vic).
Her Honour’s three guests are:
- Arran Dowling Hussey – a barrister and arbitrator at 4-5 Gray’s Inn Square, London.
- Ushan Premaratne – a Partner at Withers KhattarWong LLP, Singapore.
- Anita Natalia – a Senior Associate at Herbert Smith Freehills LLP, Kuala Lumpur
About the speakers:
Her Honour Judge Elizabeth Brimer
Her Honour Judge Elizabeth Brimer’s appointment to the County Court was announced by the Attorney-General of Victoria on 16 April 2019.
With a career in the law of more than 25 years, her Honour was admitted to practice in 1994 and signed the Bar Roll in 1999. In November 2018, her Honour was appointed Senior Counsel. Her Honour has extensive experience in civil, commercial, criminal and OH&S law, class actions and sports law. Her Honour was a Code of Conduct Commissioner for Cricket Australia. Her Honour is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb;) and Arbitrator, general list of arbitrators, Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Arran Dowling-Hussey
Arran is an experienced barrister, adjudicator, arbitrator and mediator. He is called in London (2007), Belfast (2006) and Dublin (2003), has rights of audience in the Courts of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (“ADGM”) (2020), registered in the Falkland Islands and at the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) Courts (2020). Arran is a Registered Legal Practitioner at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) courts in Dubai. He is also based at the Law Library, Dublin. His practice includes advocacy, drafting statements of case, contractual documents and advising on commercial, chancery, construction, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and international matters. Arran is a member of a number of London based legal/construction and/or ADR committees including the Council of the Society of Construction Law, Board of Trustees of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the committee of the Adjudication Society.
Ushan Premaratne
Ushan is a Partner at Withers KhattarWong LLP, a leading law firm in Singapore. He enjoys a broad-based international arbitration and litigation practice. Ushan regularly appears in commercial arbitrations relating to private equity investments, software contracts and commodities. He is frequently instructed to act in arbitration-related litigation before the Singapore Court and advises clients from numerous jurisdictions regarding the arbitral process and enforcement of arbitral awards in Singapore. As a seasoned advocate, Ushan is adept at handling both trial and appellate litigation in relation to complex, high-value, cross-border commercial disputes.
Anita Natalia
Anita is a Senior Associate with Herbert Smith Freehills. She is a commercial litigator and her work focuses on commercial litigation and arbitration. Her portfolio of dispute resolution work involves a wide variety of commercial and corporate disputes and litigation including domestic and international arbitrations. Anita has worked closely with clients from many countries including Australia and Singapore in their cross-border disputes. She has appeared at all tiers of the Malaysian Courts.
Anita is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a Fellow of the Malaysian Institute of Arbitrators. She is on the panel of arbitrators of the Asian International Arbitration Centre. Anita is also the Regional Ambassador for Malaysia and Member of HK45, Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre.