Full Member of the LMAA, is dual qualified as a master mariner and a solicitor. His previous careers were in the merchant navy and as a City solicitor. Brian is also a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society, the Royal Institute of Navigation, the Nautical Institute and the Energy Institute. Since 2003 he has acted as arbitrator, mediator and expert determiner and published in excess of 500 awards. He has written a number of papers relating to controversial issues involved in the construction of speed and consumption warranties in charterparty disputes. Brian will give a brief introductory presentation reflecting on a rich maritime experience which has benefited his practice as a maritime arbitrator.

Reader in Shipping, Insurance and Commercial Law at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London and director of the Centre’s Insurance Law Institute and its LLM Programme in International Shipping Law. She is the author of Electronic Documents in Maritime Trade: Law and Practice (2nd edn, OUP, 2019) and the editor of The Role of Arbitration in Shipping Law (OUP, 2016). The title of her presentation is ‘Decision-making in maritime disputes and the value of industry expertise’. She will discuss how, in complex factual disputes, industry expertise on the panel adds value to the decision-making process that goes beyond what may be gained from expert witnesses.

Aspiring Full Member of the LMAA, practises as a maritime arbitrator and commercial disputes mediator in London, Hamburg and Singapore. She also works as a shipping and commodity derivatives consultant and as an expert witness. Previously Karina was engaged for some twenty-five years in the chartering, trading and shipbroking business. Her presentation is entitled ‘Boons – the unexpected benefits of a non-lawyer arbitrator’. She will discuss a non-lawyer’s different mindset, pragmatism, practical knowledge of the parties’ motives and familiarity with the issues.

Aspiring Full Member of the LMAA, is an arbitrator in independent practice and a part-time professional support lawyer (content provider) for LexisNexis UK on its arbitration practical guidance module. He has more than 25 years’ experience of maritime, commercial and investment arbitration as a solicitor in London and Paris, as a former Registrar of the LCIA, and as a case assessor for insurers and funders. His presentation is entitled ‘Non-lawyer arbitrators: an endangered species?’