Arbitration

Immediately after leaving employment to go into practice on his own in 1998, Hew Dundas was invited to be sole arbitrator in an international dispute between companies from two different (non-UK) European countries where the seat of the arbitration was in Scotland and the substantive law was English. This case was followed by another in SE Asia involving seven parties from five jurisdictions. Arbitration was the way forward. He subsequently qualified as an arbitrator both UK-domestically (FCIArb) and internationally (DipICArb); he won the CIArb President's Prize for the highest mark in any CIArb Award-Writing examination in 2000.  He was admitted to the CIArb Panel of Chartered Arbitrators in May 2003.

He deals with general commercial cases while specialising in oil and gas, construction, maritime, insurance and financial cases reflecting his extensive experience (click here for CV ) from nearly 25 years in commerce. He is a great believer in pro-active use of the Arbitration Act 1996 and of any applicable rules and has suggested in publications that modern English arbitration has not fully shed the restraints of pre-1996 law and practice of arbitration. He is an enthusiastic advocate of streamlined arbitration processes such as the LMAA’s SCP or ACI’s ASCAP and the forthcoming provisionally-named ‘Bloomsbury Rules’ of the CIArb.

He has written extensively about arbitration law and has been published in journals in the UK, USA, Hong Kong, Russia and Kazakhstan and has been read in more than 30 countries [click here to see list of recent publications with links to the texts]. He writes and publishes his own arbitration newsletter with recipients in more than 20 countries. [Click here to access these Newsletters].

He was extensively involved in the detailed review and drafting of the Arbitration (Scotland) Bill 2003 which is expected to become law shortly in Scotland; it is the first ever full codification of Scots arbitration law which, at present, comprises over 800 years of case law. Note that, in 1990, Scotland enacted the UNCITRAL Model Law for international arbitration in Scotland although there are reportedly very few cases indeed of it being applied in practice, the case referred to above almost becoming the first.

He is founder and Chairman of the Oil & Gas Branch of the Arbitration Club, Co-Founder of the Maritime Branch and a member of the Commodities Branch. He is also a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Arbitrators, a member of the London Shipping Law Centre, the Average Adjusters Association, the Institute of Petroleum and the IBA UK Energy Lawyers Group.

He is also a Member of the International Arbitration Club and a Member of the CIArb Arbitration Practice Sub-Committee.