Three law firms share the summer limelight as LIDW25 begins with International Arbitration Day.
Author – Ben Rigby
The first week of June marks the start of summer and the return of London International Disputes Week (LIDW), an event now firmly established in the hearts and minds of the international disputes community as London’s flagship event for global dispute resolution.
“International Arbitration has always been and remains a core and crucial part of LIDW,” notes Artem Doudko, an LIDW board member and partner at Osborne Clarke, remarking on its continuing popularity.
LIDW, taking place from 2-6 June, is unique in the diversity of events it contains, both for the comprehensive nature of its programming and the relevance of its content, as well as the diversity of its speakers, with gender balance and a range of perspectives reflected across the Day.
This year’s theme, “Innovation in Dispute Resolution: Navigating Global Risks,” spans International Arbitration Day on Monday, 2nd June.
This year’s IAD – the third of its kind – sees three firms, Linklaters, Simmons & Simmons, and Squire Patton Boggs, all proudly international, easily accessible, and long-term City of London supporters of LIDW, host three separate keynote speakers: Kevin Nash from the LCIA, Sophie Lamb KC from Latham & Watkins, and Mrs Justice Cockerill.
As they do, they represent institutional excellence and innovative thinking, wise counsel and arbitral assurance, and judicial insight aligned to commercial sensibility. Each of the keynote speakers illustrates the broader diversity of talent on offer to navigate and resolve commercial disputes, both public and private, present in the programming on offer at each of the venues throughout the day.
While the firms need little introduction, as with the previous two years, each hub hosts a keynote speech and four in-person panel sessions, allowing delegates to walk between firms, while each firm has contributed speakers of their own during the Day.
Thanks, then, to Teresa Laboucarie-Polak and Julia Grothaus of Linklaters, David Blumenal and Stuart Dutson of Simmons & Simmons, Bahar Charyevva and Naomi Briercliffe of Squire Patton Boggs for their contributions.
Introducing the event, Luiz Aboim of Mayer Brown and Vanessa Naish of Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, co-leads of LIDW’s IAD, said the event’s popularity was “a testament to the importance of international arbitration to the London disputes market, and London’s prominence as a global arbitration hub.”
Aboim praised the organisers for putting together “an exceptional line-up of speakers” – whether they are in-house lawyers from leading global construction and energy companies, prominent arbitrators, or leading counsel from London, Sydney, or New Delhi, as well as experts from renowned firms like FTI Consulting, Cornerstone Research, Opus2, HKA, J.S. Held, and others, without whose support the Day would not be possible.
Both speakers and delegates will explore an evolving arbitration landscape. The speed of that evolution spans regions, whether the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa and Latin America, on the one hand, the European Union, or, more sensitively, disputes involving Russia. This year’s IAD has comprehensively covered global business risks and their associated dispute resolution.
Delegates will experience topics that span corporate and private equity arbitration in Asia and disputes involving state-owned entities. They will also explore arbitration’s role in significant infrastructure projects in the Middle East and conflicts related to mining and natural resources in Africa and Latin America.
Institutions are omnipresent. Linklaters will host speakers from the ICC, LCIA, SIAC and the Saudi Centre for Commercial Arbitration during the day. At the same time, investor-state arbitration is well covered, from Mrs Justice Cockerill’s keynote address to ICSID participation in a following panel debate, to a fascinating session at Simmons & Simmons, discussing, in the wake of the Achmea decision, how practitioners are grappling with the implications for the enforcement of intra-EU investment awards.
With key discussions on innovation, jurisdictional developments, and the future of arbitration, this year’s IAD balances procedural insights with arbitrators offering answers in an “Any Questions” format, while academic insights from leading universities neatly balance the views of disputes boutiques, arbitrator-only entities, and independent arbitrators.
It is easy to see how Aboim and Naish say that International Arbitration Day establishes the tone for a dynamic and thought-provoking week that will equip delegates to navigate increasingly uncertain global risks, because each hub’s content clearly supplies that intention, whether attending online or virtually.
The LCIA’s Kevin Nash agrees: “Consistent with London’s standing as a leading forum for resolving disputes, LIDW has firmly established itself as a preeminent week on the calendar. International Arbitration Day boasts a fantastic lineup of speakers and content that engages global perspectives on key issues. I am honoured to open the 2025 programme and look forward to a robust exchange of ideas with key stakeholders.”
Summing up the day, Professor Loukas Mistelis, LIDW co-chair and partner at Clyde & Co said: “International Arbitration Day has become one of the centrepieces of LIDW and manifests the role international arbitration occupies on the LIDW agenda. This year the three hub firms and the arbitration committee of LIDW have curated an excellent programme.”
The day culminates at LIDW25’s opening reception at London’s historic Southwark Cathedral. See you there.