Working Groups members

Ronald AUSTIN

Ronald is the Senior Advisor to the International Real Estate Group and Moderator of the Global Mediation Group at Clifford Chance where he was a partner for over 35 years. Having commenced his career in London, he has practised in Paris since 1970 having qualified as a solicitor,

Ronald is a CEDR Accredited Mediator, a Mediateur Agréé by the CMAP, a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and a member of the Board of the RICS Paris Dispute Resolution Group.
He has practised as a legal adviser at all stages of the cycle in international real estate transactions, acting for English, Japanese, German, French and other investors in landmark transactions. He has advised on French and Belgian investments of various types in Nigeria. He has advised on numerous legal aspects of Formula One Motor Racing. He is developing a mediation culture in Clifford Chance through his creation of the Global Mediation Group of which he is the Moderator. Ronald acts as a mediator in business disputes and has lectured on mediation to the Paris Bar School (EFB) and the Institute of Construction (ICH). Ronald has written numerous articles and spoken at numerous conferences on real estate, sports law and mediation.

Claude AMAR

Claude Amar is an architect (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts, Paris) and has studied Finance at INSEAD and Negotiation at Harvard (with Robert Mnookin’s team). He was trained as a mediator by Gary Friedman, at the Centre for Mediation in Law in San Francisco. Claude is an IMI certified mediator and has been accredited by several international mediation centres, including CMAP and IEAM in Paris and ICM in Santa Monica. Moreover, Claude is the General Secretary for the Academy of Mediation, an IMI (International Mediation Institute) Standards Commission member and the President of IFCM’s (Institut Français de Certification des Médiateurs). Claude is also a mediator with “Espace d’Accès à la Médiation”, a pro bono organization dedicated to providing mediation services to people with limited means. He is the founder and President of the EyeTech Foundation, an NGO dedicated to cataract blindness treatment.

Greg BOND

Greg Bond, born in the UK, has lived in Germany for over twenty years. He teaches crosscultural communication, negotiation and mediation at the Technical University of Wildau, Berlin, Germany. He also works freelance as a trainer, mediator, moderator and translator. He has a master’s in mediation from the Europe University Viadrina Frankfurt / Oder, Germany, writing his thesis on crosscultural mediation at the 6th International Chamber of Commerce International Mediation Competition in Paris, and a doctorate in German literature.

Joy DAVIES

Joy Davies is a Principal Lecturer in the Professional Division at Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University, England. Joy was admitted as a Solicitor in England and Wales in 1987 and practised commercial litigation in private practice prior to joining Nottingham Law School in 2002. Joy is an accredited mediator with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and has participated in international conferences on dispute resolution. Joy, who holds a Masters degree in Advanced Litigation and a Masters degree in Education, specialises in Commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution at the law school. Joy is Course Leader for the LLM in Advanced Litigation and Dispute Resolution, the LLM in Professional Practice and the MBA in Legal Practice. Joy designs, produces and delivers courses to practitioners in law firms and runs the Nottingham Law School Mediation Skills Competition.

Rosemary HOWELL

Dr. Rosemary Howell has experience as a lawyer, strategic planner, teacher and CEO and has served a term as the Secretary General of the Law Council of Australia. She delivers mediation, coaching, facilitation and training services to a diverse range of business and government clients in 6 countries. She also teaches negotiation and dispute resolution at undergraduate and postgraduate level as a Professorial Visiting Fellow at the University of New South Wales in Australia and is the architect of its Master of Dispute Resolution program which was introduced in 2010.

Jim LAWRENCE

Jim Lawrence is Director, Blakely Advocacy Institute, University of Houston Law Center. He currently teaches Legal Negotiation, Advanced Negotiation and Advocacy Survey and he also directs the Law Center’s highly successful Moot Court Program. He serves as a senior consultant to The Advocates, a national and international trial and arbitration advocacy consulting firm, where he is engaged in the study of judge, jury, and arbitration decision making and the development of successful trial and arbitration advocacy. Mr. Lawrence is Communications Specialist for the American Bar Association’s Family Law Trial Advocacy Institute, a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and he holds a Certificate in Advanced Arbitration Skills from the Law Center’s A.A. White Dispute Resolution Center. He is also a Qualified Mediator in Texas. He recently co-authored “Psychological Dynamics in Arbitration Advocacy”, which was published in The Art of Advocacy in International Commercial Arbitration (Bishop and Kehoe, 2nd Ed.).

Hansjörg SCHWARTZ

Dr. Hansjörg Schwartz is working as a Commercial Mediator and Negotiator since 1995. His special field of interest are conflicts and negotiations in professional sports (soccer). The research for his PhD took place in Turkey.

Geoff SHARP

Geoff Sharp is a commercial mediator from Wellington, New Zealand and was honoured to mediate the final of the ICC Commercial Mediation Competition in 2012. He has conducted hundreds of mediations over the past decade and runs a busy national mediation practise. In 2008 Geoff was honoured as LEADR’s 3rd Australasian Fellow and participated in Bond University’s Distinguished Practitioner in Residence program and is a Vice-Chair of the Independent Standards Commission of the International Mediation Institute. Geoff is on the Advisory Board of the Centre for Dispute Resolution, Singapore. As well as being admitted to the Bar in both New Zealand and Australia, Geoff is a nationally accredited mediator in Australia and is a member of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre’s panel of mediators. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the International Academy of Mediators (USA).

Colin WALL

Colin is a Chartered Arbitrator, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in both the arbitration and mediation disciplines and an accredited mediator. He has served as a full time dispute resolver, acting as an arbitrator, mediator, Dispute Adjudication Board member and a Dispute Resolution Adviser for the last 20 years. He is a current Co-President of the Union Internationale des Avocats, World Forum of Mediation Centres, a Past President of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, a past Chairman of the Hong Kong Mediation Council and is also a mediation trainer. Colin is a member of numerous mediation and arbitration panels and is an Honorary Professor at The University of Hong Kong and a guest lecturer in Arbitration, Mediation and ADR at various undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

Alan LIMBURY

Alan Limbury is a Mediator and Arbitrator, holding Masters degrees in Law from Oxford University and in Dispute Resolution from the University of Technology in Sydney. Admitted as a barrister in England before emigrating to Australia in 1964, he practised as a litigation lawyer in major Sydney law firms before turning in 1987 to mediation and, more recently, to arbitration, as Managing Director of his own consultancy, Strategic Resolution. Although based in Australia, he also mediates in Europe as an Associate Member of Crown Office Chambers in London. During his membership of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, between 2004 and 2010, Alan became a Fellow through both the mediation and arbitration pathways and a Chartered Arbitrator, Chairman of the Mediation Sub-Committee, Chairman of the Practice and Standards Committee and a member of the Board of Management. He was also a Director of the Australian Branch and its Vice-President, Mediation.

Giovanni DE BERTI

Giovanni De Berti has been in practice for many years as a lawyer, arbitrator and mediator, is the senior partner of the Milan law firm De Berti Jacchia Franchini Forlani, a member of the Italian Bar and a non-practising barrister of Gray’s Inn. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a fellow in mediation, and has been a member of the Practice and Standards Committee, a chairman of the Mediation Sub-committee and of the Med-Arb Working Group of the CIArb. Giovanni is an accredited mediator with, inter alia, the Milan Bar Mediation Institution, the Milan Chamber of Arbitration, CEDR, ICDR, the International Mediation Institute and the Italy-China Business Mediation Centre. He has been active as arbitrator, mediator and attorney in institutional and ad hoc arbitration and mediation proceedings and as author, lecturer and trainer on arbitration and ADR.

Heather DOUGLAS

Heather Douglas – Consultant and Mediator: Commercial, Mediation & Arbitration Services Ltd, Hong Kong.
Heather is a solicitor admitted in the jurisdictions of England & Wales and Hong Kong but not currently in practice. She is an accredited mediator with the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre [HKIAC]. Heather has been involved in dispute resolution for the last 16 years in Australia, England and Hong Kong. She has taught negotiation and mediation to both undergraduate and postgraduate students in Hong Kong and is regularly involved in delivering commercial mediation training in Hong Kong. Heather is also one of the assessors for the HKIAC Mediator Accreditation Assessments

Rebecca ATTREE

Rebecca Attree is an ADRg Accredited Commercial Mediator, a qualified solicitor, and an Experienced Member of the Law Society Civil and Commercial Mediators Panel. She is a full time mediator and skills trainer. Her mediation practice focuses on civil disputes. Many of the disputes are multi-party, frequently involving an international dimension; many are with large corporates, some are with litigants in person, and some are hybrid, involving business and personal issues. Rebecca has a hybrid commercial/ private client skill set that appreciates the importance of the continuance of business while preserving ongoing relationships when disputes arise among family members.
Rebecca graduated in law from Downing College, Cambridge and qualified as a company commercial solicitor in the City of London (Richards Butler and Laytons). In 1993 Rebecca set up Attree & Co, her own solicitor’s practice, specialising in contentious and non-contentious international commercial advice. Attree & Co now provides mediation services and training to corporates and individuals.
In addition, Rebecca is an ADR Net Director and Panel Mediator, a Lead Mediator with Bromley Community Mediation Services and was a Judge at the 7th ICC Mediation Competitions. She is also an Oral examiner for the Qualified Lawyer Transfer Tests. She is fluent in Italian, and speaks good French. Rebecca is also the Chairman and a Director of a property development company specialising in building new build residential and commercial properties
Rebecca regularly trains and coaches solicitors and barristers in mediation advocacy skills. She also trains business people in mediation skills. Rebecca is involved in devising training courses for Community Mediators through London Community Mediation Services.

Richard LUTRINGER

Richard Lutringer mediates commercial, financial, securities and business disputes, including disputes among partners and shareholders and probate disputes. Mr. Lutringer has served as a judge/mediator at the annual ICC Mediation Competition 2009 - 2012 and is on the mediation roster of the American Arbitration Association, the Federal District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the New York County Supreme Court, Commercial Division and the New Jersey Superior Courts, board of directors of the Greater NY Chapter of the Association for Conflict Resolution, Chair of the Standards and Ethics Committee of the New York State Dispute Resolution Association, Chair of the Mediation Advisory Committee of the New York County Surrogate’s Court. He has a J.D. with Specialization in International Affairs from Cornell University, a Master of Comparative Law from the University of Chicago and has taken courses in civil law at L.M.U., Munich, Germany.

Chris MIERS

Christopher Miers is a Chartered Architect and Chartered Arbitrator and is Managing Director of Probyn Miers Limited, London, UK. He specialises in Dispute Resolution work in the construction industry in the UK and internationally, where he regularly undertakes appointments as an arbitrator, adjudicator, mediator, dispute board member or expert witness. Christopher is a CEDR accredited mediator and is regularly appointed as mediator in construction disputes. He was a founder member of the Construction Contracts Mediators Group and is a Panel Member of Resolex, UK. He is the author of the guide to Mediation within the UK Architect’s Legal Handbook. He is an international adjudicator on the FIDIC President’s List and is listed on many panels of Arbitrators and Adjudicators. He is the RIBA representative on the Appeals Tribunal for the Construction Industry Council, and an RIBA representative on the Joint Contracts Tribunal in the UK. Christopher has worked on projects in the Caribbean, Costa Rica, France, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Nepal, New Zealand, Portugal, Sudan, UAE, Ukraine and United Kingdom.

Fiona O'DONNELL

Fiona is Director of Legal Services at the University of Dundee and holds a specialist accreditation in Commercial Mediation from the Law Society of Scotland.

She is Lead Mediator for the Dundee edr (early dispute resolution) Service www.dundee.ac.uk/academic/edr/ and conducts mediations with staff and students. She established a Higher and Further Education Mediation Forum in Scotland and carries out external mediations for universities, colleges and organisations.

Fiona was panel mediator for the Aberdeen Sheriff Court and is now a panel mediator for a National Health Service pilot in Scotland. She trained with Core Mediation in Edinburgh in 2004 and CEDR in London in 2008.

She was a Board Member of the Scottish Mediation Network, 2006-2010 and co editor of a Guide to Mediation in Scotland. In 2008 she received a CEDR award for excellence in ADR in Innovation.

As a solicitor, her work covers employment and discrimination issues, contractual disputes and student complaints and discipline. She tries to incorporate the principles of mediation in her work to promote better dispute resolution.