England – West Midlands Branch

2008 Annual Report byTimothy Willis, Chairman.

The focus for the branch this year has been its programme of education and training events. The policy of inviting local chambers and firms to host events and the mixture of local and external speakers has worked well. My thanks on behalf of the committee for their support and contributions.

Attendance at events has been good. The subjects have been varied, covering arbitration, adjudication, contentious heads of claim and extensions of time and liquidated damages, to name but some. Mark Entwistle is the final speaker in this year's programme speaking on the subject of: "Winning ways of presenting your evidence in adjudication".

We have held joint events with the Adjudication Society and have been able to publicise events to a wider audience through the Society of Construction Law. This has been possible due to those societies' excellent internet based communications facilities.

In addition to the programme of evening events, we have held workshops and training events including the Adjudication Workshop on 26 March. The Arbitrator's Surgery was cancelled due to lack of numbers. This may be due to CIArb's new panel policy or it may reflect the wider malaise in domestic arbitration. Perversely, at the anecdotal level, it appears arbitration may be making something of a comeback.

This year's annual conference was also the occasion for the visit to the branch of Teresa Cheng SC, the outgoing President. The format sought to replicate the real choices as to methods of dispute resolution which parties have in the context of a particular dispute and was hugely enjoyable to participate in. We were fortunate to have a fantastic panel of contributors. Teresa Cheng SC and Colin Wall, both based in Hong Kong, were involved, along with others from around the UK and from closer to home. The format of parties, their representatives and expert dispute advisors was novel, and extremely well received by delegates and participants alike.

The branch has made links with the University of Wolverhampton. Talks have been given to undergraduates at the university and university members have attended a number of branch events.

A meeting has been held to set up a mooting competition with the university and to offer a prize to support the winning team. Based upon mooting materials developed from the successful Cambridge moots organised by CIArb, this is an exciting development. A further meeting at the end of March will progress matters.

The branch has also made contact with the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry to propose a local ADR scheme for its members. Early indications are positive. The scheme itself has been produced but the implementation of such a service will take time and the committee will be taking this forward.

Michael Stephens stood for office at Congress against a very strong list of contenders. The Irish Branch, who held such an excellent conference in Dublin last year, had a very strong candidate in Joe Behan, who narrowly beat Doug Jones.

I look forward to the branch extending its hospitality to Joe Behan. Doug Jones will no doubt make an excellent president to follow if his track record as Chairman of the Board of Trustees is anything to go by.

The structural problem of the dislocation between trustees and branches was a central issue for Congress. The Congress spent much of its time collecting the views of the branches in order to develop policy in March 2009 - rather than reporting decisions made in 2008. As a result there is not a great deal of substance to report from Congress and the meeting with trustees. I flew out to Malaysia to arrive early Friday morning and left in the early hours of Sunday. The programme of meetings was full and we were made welcome by the Minister for Tourism who arranged lavish local entertainment at the dinner held to mark the event. My thanks to the Malaysian Branch who organised everything except the postponing of the monsoon.

One area of development that both Bloomsbury Square and the branch will be following up on this year is the Young Members Group and the diversification of branch events to meet the needs and interests of those in the early part of their professional careers.

This is my last year as Chairman of the Branch. I hand over to Robert Harrison who has been a great support as Vice Chairman.

Much has been achieved by the committee and it is their hard work which has made my time as chairman both manageable and enjoyable. My thanks to them.

I look forward to continuing to participate in the committee and wish Robert the best of success in the coming year.

Last Updated: 13 May 2009