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Digital Technologies and International Commercial Courts event with HBKU

12
November 2024
Time
11:00 AM - 12:45 PM
Category
Event
Location
Boulevard Ballroom, M Floor, Wyndham Grand Doha West Bay Beach
Event Organiser
HBKU
Digital Tech and International Courts

As part of the ongoing QICDRC-HBKU Lecture Series, this event will focus on the evolving role of international commercial courts in resolving disputes involving digital technologies. The discussions will delve into how these courts adjudicate digital disputes and their use of cutting-edge technologies to enhance legal proceedings. The panel will also examine the suitability of these courts in addressing digital technology-related cases compared to alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and online dispute resolution (ODR) mechanisms.

Refreshments: 11:00 – 11:30
Introductions & Panel Discussion: 11:30 – 12:45
Networking: 12:45 – 13:30

Event Structure:

Introductions by:
● Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, President of QICDRC and former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
● Dean Susan Karamanian, Dean of HBKU College of Law

Moderator:
● Professor Georgios Dimitropoulos, Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Research HBKU College of Law

Panelists:
● Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, President of QICDRC and former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
● Sir William Blair, Chairman of the QFC Regulatory Tribunal and former Judge-in-Charge of the Commercial Court of England and Wales
● Linda Fitz-Alan,Registrar and CEO of the ADGM Courts
● Professor Pietro Ortolani, Professor of Digital Conflict Resolution at Radboud University, Netherlands

Key Themes:

● The resolution of digital technology disputes by international commercial courts
● The use of digital technologies in legal proceedings.
● A comparison between the role of international courts, ADR, and ODR mechanisms in managing digital disputes.

This event will serve as a vital platform for legal professionals, academics, and industry experts to engage in substantive discussions on the evolving landscape of digital dispute resolution. Participants will have the opportunity to network and exchange insights on the convergence of technology and law in international commerce.

Speakers

Dr. Susan L. Karamanian (JD)

Dean, HBKU College of Law

Susan L. Karamanian is Dean of HBKU's College of Law. She previously held leadership positions at the American University of Sharjah and the George Washington University Law School. Susan is a member of the Executive Council of the American Society of International Law (ASIL) and was previously Vice President of ASIL. She was also President of the Washington Foreign Law Society. She has lectured on international law at the University of Paris, the OAS Academy of International Law, Tamil Nadu National Law School, the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, and the Hague Academy of International Law (Director of English Studies). She has presented two lectures (“The Right to Property under International Law” and “The Intersection of Public International Law and Private International Law”) as part of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law. She is a trustee of the Center for American and International Law, where she chairs the Southwestern Institute for International and Comparative Law, and a director of Texas Appleseed. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Council on Germany, the American Bar Foundation, and the Texas Bar Foundation.

The Rt. Hon. The Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd

President

Lord Thomas has been President of the Qatar International Court since 2018.

Lord Thomas was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1969, becoming a Queen’s Counsel in 1984. In 1996, he was appointed a High Court Judge and was assigned to the Queen’s Bench Division, serving on the Commercial Court. In 2003, he became a Lord Justice of Appeal and was appointed to the Privy Council. He served as the Senior Presiding Judge from 2003 to 2006. 

In 2008, he was appointed Vice President of the Queen’s Bench Division and Deputy Head of Criminal Justice. In 2011, he became President of the Queen’s Bench Division. Thereafter, in 2013, he succeeded Lord Judge as Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales. He retired from that post in 2017, prior to taking up the present position in Qatar where he succeeded Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers. 

Lord Thomas holds several extra-judicial posts, including as Honorary Fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge and Fellow of the Universities of Cardiff, Aberystwyth, Swansea and Bangor and Honorary Doctor of Law of the Universities of South Wales, the West of England, Wales and of Cardiff Metropolitan University. He is a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales.

In 2016, he formed the Standing International Forum of Commercial Courts. He was appointed Chairman of the Financial Markets Law Committee in November 2017. He has been Chancellor of Aberystwyth University since January 2018.
 

Sir William Blair

Chairman

Sir William Blair has been a judge of the Qatar International Court since 2017.

He graduated from the University of Oxford and practiced at the English Bar, where he specialised in the law of banking and finance. He became a Queen’s Counsel in 1994 and was Chairman of the Commercial Bar Association between 2003 and 2005. He was appointed a High Court Judge in England and Wales in 2008 and became President of the Board of Appeal of the European Supervisory Authorities in 2012. Sir William served as Chairman of the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Tribunal until March 2011 and was a judge in London’s Commercial Court between 2008 and 2017, becoming Judge in Charge of the Commercial Court in 2016. 

Sir William is a member of London’s Financial Markets Law Committee and chairs the Monetary Law Committee of the International Law Association (MOCOMILA). He is a Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics (LSE), Peking University (PKU) and East China University of Political Science and Law (ECUPL).

In 2016, the College of Law at Qatar University established the Sir William Blair Chair in Alternative Dispute Resolution. In 2017, Sir William was appointed Professor of Financial Law and Ethics at Queen Mary University of London, based at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies.

In August 2018, he was appointed Chair of the Bank of England’s new Enforcement Decision Making Committee.
 

Linda Fitz-Alan

Registrar and Chief Executive, ADGM Courts

Linda joined ADGM Courts as Registrar and Chief Executive in September 2015, where she has made ADGM an international trailblazer for innovative judicial services, and for pioneering game-changing technology in dispute resolution. She leads the administration and operations of ADGM Courts, including the design and delivery of the Court’s comprehensive digital services and unique eCourts Platform. Linda also leads ADGM's extensive dispute resolution services, including the court-annexed mediation scheme, and overseeing the state-of-the-art ADGM Arbitration Centre.

In November 2022, Linda pioneered and launched an additional two world first projects: the introduction of blockchain technology for the global enforcement of commercial judgments and “mediation in the metaverse”. The first-ever blockchain technology to be used in the global enforcement of commercial judgments verifies the authenticity of judgments directly between courts and drives sustainable change in the justice sector. The “mediation in the metaverse” service is transforming mediation into the next-generation approach to settle disputes.

As a champion for gender equality, Linda serves on the Advisory Council of Masdar’s Women in Sustainability, Environment and Renewable Energy (WiSER) platform, and also leads ADGM’s Gender Equality Initiative, which has strategic partnerships with several local and international organisations.

Linda previously served as CEO and Principal Registrar of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, Australia. Linda has also been a Partner of two Australian law firms and held a senior legal position with a large commercial insurer, located in New York, USA.
In 2022 and 2023, Linda was listed in Forbes Middle East’s “50 Most Powerful Businesswomen” and "100 Most Powerful Businesswomen 2023" respectively. Linda was also recognised by her Australian community in June 2022 by being awarded the 2022 Australian Business Person of the Year. In April 2023 and 2024, Linda was listed in Arabian Business’ 50 Inspiring Women Leaders, and in June 2024, Linda was awarded the Lifetime Contribution Award at the LexisNexis Middle East Legal Awards 2024.

Pietro Ortolani

Professor of Digital Conflict Resolution, Radboud University

Pietro Ortolani is a Professor of Digital Conflict Resolution at Radboud University in the Netherlands. He holds a law degree from the University of Pisa and a Ph.D. in arbitration from LUISS Guido Carli University, Rome. Before joining Radboud University, he was a Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Procedural Law, a Research Associate at the University of Pisa and a Law Research Associate at Queen Mary, University of London. Pietro is admitted to the Bar in Italy and he also works as a practitioner, mainly in the field of arbitration. He has experience in both ad hoc and institutional arbitration. He has acted as an expert for the European Parliament, the European Commission, UNCITRAL and the International Labour Organization.

Dr. Georgios Dimitropoulos

Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Research HBKU College of Law

Georgios (George) Dimitropoulos is a scholar of international economic law and regulation. His research aims at rethinking the boundaries between domestic and international law and reconceptualizing economic sovereignty and governance. A major focus has been the rise of new digital technologies and their interaction with traditional models of internal law.

George is an Associate Professor of Law, as well as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and S.J.D. Program Coordinator at HBKU College of Law. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at Georgetown University in Qatar and a Research Associate at the University College London Centre for Blockchain Technologies (UCL CBT). He serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of World Investment & Trade (JWIT) and the Asia Pacific Law Review (APLR).

George studied law at the University of Athens, and holds an LL.M. and J.S.D. from Yale Law School, as well as an LL.M. and Ph.D. summa cum laude from the University of Heidelberg. Before joining HBKU he was a Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg and a Hauser Research Scholar at New York University (NYU) School of Law. He has held visiting positions at the Athens Public International Law Center (AthensPIL), Singapore Management University (SMU), University College London Centre for Law, Economics and Society (UCL CLES), the Université Catholique de Lyon (UCLy) and the Jigme Singye Wangchuck (JSW) School of Law in Bhutan.

His work has appeared in journals such as the Washington Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law, the Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business, the World Trade Review, and the Journal of International Economic Law. Some of his recent work includes a book on Regulating Blockchain: Techno-Social and Legal Challenges (with Philipp Hacker, Ioannis Lianos and Stefan Eich – Oxford University Press, 2019) and a book on International Commercial Courts: The Future of Transnational Adjudication (with Stavros Brekoulakis – Cambridge University Press, 2022).

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