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Chaiman visits Kota Kinabalu Congress 16/01 REPORT OF CONGRESS – KOTA KINABALU – 24th AND 25th OCTOBER 2008 The Institute’s biennial Congress was held in Kota Kinabalu, on the island of Borneo, in the Malaysia state of Sabah. Daniel Brawn, Chair of the North West Branch, attended on behalf of the Branch. Proceedings were supervised by Teresa Cheng, this year’s President, excellently throughout. She was happy to take comments from the floor and respond to issues raised, and to call on others for a response where necessary. Address by the Chair of the Board of Trustees Congress was first addressed by the Chair of the Board of Trustees. He asked us to consider what the branches want from the Trustees? What can be improved? What is the purpose of branches? What is the purpose of Trustees? What is the relationship between branches and Bloomsbury Square? He pointed out that 50% of the Institute’s funding comes from subscriptions – we should find ways to increase the other 50%. A more efficient means of collection might help – possibly this could be out-sourced. We also have to find a way to deal with the exchange-rate mechanism – possibly members could pay in local currency. These issues were addressed over the next two days. Address by Michael Forbes Smith, Director General Michael Forbes Smith spoke next, mostly on his experiences since joining the Institute. He found that much of the fresh policy introduced with the new Charter, particularly in relation to the Pathways initiative, had not been implemented. For example, study of the law appeared in various modules, now it is all in Module 1. There is a move towards internet arbitration, which has yet to be finalised. A further problem is the interface between UNCITRAL and domestic law in many countries. In the UK, with the Arbitration Act 1996, we are regarded as “super-UNCITRAL”. A growth area for arbitration is central and south America, where the CIArb has almost no profile. This is because of the language barriers and because those countries use civil law procedures rather than common law. Michael was aware that there is little pure arbitration work within the UK at present. He mentioned the possibility of promoting 100 day arbitration – it appeared that the Trustees had been discussing this at their meeting immediately before the Congress. Michael then talked us through the Pathways study streams for arbitration, adjudication and mediation. The problem at present is with mediation; we can’t have a qualification of “Chartered Mediator” because CEDR and others objected, and “Fellow” is a practice qualification, so we have to look to what title can we give to practicing mediators. Branches will be graded A to D depending upon how active they are – those that provide the training courses will be grade D. Nothing was said as to the consequences of such grading. Address by Tony Marks, Director of Legal Services Congress was then addressed by Tony Marks, the new Director of Legal Services. As a body, the Institute sells education and we have a great collection of knowledge and expertise. We need to look to what else we can sell. The Institute has never been in the business of finding work for its members. The creation of chapters may help administratively, because some areas are huge – the term “geographic disenfranchisement” was used. Panel Management Groups were mentioned, then never mentioned again. Panel Management Certificates were referred to, these are required by members of the Presidential panels. For the arbitration, adjudication and mediation panels, members should submit electronic CVs, and must hold a certificate to stay on the panels. A letter about this should be coming out soon. Talk by Roy Pickavance Roy Pickavance of the East Midlands Branch put the CIArb website on the screen and showed how poor it was. It was certainly not of an acceptable standard for the 21st century. When you click on Google, the CIArb should be one of the first hits you get – in some countries’ Google websites, the CIArb was not even on the first page. When you find the site and click on things, or try to move between links, they don’t work. If any one has any suggestions for improvements to the website, please speak to Nicki Williams. Talks from the Regions Five regional branch Chairs had been invited to prepare presentations. The Chair of the Nigerian branch started by saying that as Chair, one of his main functions was finding work for his members. This was completely at odds with what Tony Marks has said. The Australian Chair made similar comments and various Chairs bemoaned the fact that members get referrals from other institutes but not from the CIArb. Adam Marjan from Kenya questioned the fairness of voting arrangements at Congress. The Chair of the Trustees promised to look into the weighting of votes. Adam also referred to the recent social unrest in Kenya, which was settled by United Nations mediation between the parties. He asked whether the CIArb could promote mediation for social issues. This provoked considerable discussion among the delegates, and apparently our Charter does not exclude it, although the CIArb administration made no comment and appeared unenthusiastic. The Chair of the Scottish Branch said that they have their own panels for arbitration and adjudication, not mediation yet as that is not popular in Scotland. They have a complaints procedure, complaints are made to the Chair, he could not say how well it works because it has never been used. The Irish Branch is very active, appointing arbitrators, running schemes and providing training. Bermuda is similarly active. Regionally they are part of USA. The USA Branch taught the American Arbitration Association how to conduct their business, and now AAA gets all the work and CIArb does not have nearly so many members! Discussion The Congress was then opened for all the Chairs to speak. The main topic was what we can offer new members. They get letters after their names, networking events, CPD events and formal education events to increase their expertise, but what they would really like is referrals of work. It was pointed out that one growth area for work is rent-review arbitration. International branches can run their own schemes; within the UK only Scotland and the Channel Islands do so. Where such schemes exist, they must not conflict with DRS schemes run from Bloomsbury Square. The North East Branch has devised its own arbitration scheme, which was suspended pending advice on whether the Charter permits it. At their meeting immediately before the Congress, the Trustees gave the go-ahead to this scheme. The West Midlands have devised their own scheme too, they were unaware that approval was required from the Trustees. The North West of England Branch is to be a guinea pig within the UK for the delivery of education, probably to run entry level courses, probably in adjudication initially. We already run courses in mediation. Our forthcoming demonstration arbitration for students was also mentioned and indeed on several occasions the NW branch was praised. A further issue was administration costs. A third of members do not give an internet address, yet we are keen to go paperless. Elections Elections were held for the Deputy President and the Vice President, who will become President over the next two years respectively. The Deputy is Jo Behan, from Ireland, and the Vice is Doug Jones from Australia. Sadly the North West’s own Peter Fenn was not elected, but he said this suits him better and he would be interested in standing again in a few years time. Peter Fenn and Paul Jensen are Trustees. Thanks Very warm thanks were given to the Malaysian Branch for arranging the Congress and the Conference that preceded it in Kuala Lumpur. Both events were extremely well organised, this was certainly the best Congress we have ever had. On the evening of the last night, the state government of Sabah held a banquet for us, attended by members of local government and senior members of the judiciary. The feast was spectacular, and was followed by troupes of tribal dancers and musicians. At one point a group of warriors came in pulling a line of balloons on a string, which they then proceeded to burst with shots from their blow-pipes across the room. They then invited members of the audience to take shots. Outside, the monsoon was starting, causing extreme weather conditions. It was a wonderful event and a privilege to attend. The previous Congress was held in Croydon. DANIEL BRAWN 28th NOVEMBER 2008