A call to women in arbitration

‘Women in Arab Arbitration’ (WIAR), an independent networking forum for female arbitration practitioners, was launched last month during the Dubai Arbitration Week. The forum is the brainchild of three prominent private practice lawyers Heba Osman of Fenwick Elliot, Laila El Shentenawi of Al Tamimi & Company and Nayiri Boghossian of Al Owais. “The idea came to us when Nayiri and I had the opportunity to be part of an all-women tribunal. It suddenly occurred to us that we don’t know enough practicing female arbitrators. In recent years, arbitration institutions have been taking on more of an affirmative action to include more women on panels however the fact remains that female arbitrators aren’t appointed as much,” said Osman. Boghossian added,” It is usually more difficult for a female lawyer who is interested in sitting as an arbitrator to get an appointment compared to their male counterparts. However, we hope that this will change through our forum, this can open their minds to the prospects of being an arbitrator.” Through this forum, Osman, Boghossian and El Shentenawi intend to create a platform for female arbitrators with calibre and experience to have a chance to interact with each other and be promoted within the arbitration community in order to get the chance to be appointed as arbitrators.

The forum will have its official launch in a couple of months (watch this space). It is hoped that the forum will evolve further to provide mini-training sessions. However, the primary focus remains networking and giving visibility to female arbitrators. For more details, contact nayiri@alowaislegal.com, hosman@fenwickelliott.com or L.ElShentenawi@tamimi.com.