Burford Capital is proud to be a contributing member of the Cross-Institutional Task Force on Gender Diversity in Arbitral Appointments and Proceedings, assembled in 2019 to bring together representatives of 18 leading international arbitration institutions, law firms, and gender diversity initiatives.
The aim of the taskforce is to both publish and analyze the most up-to-date statistics on women in arbitration and to identify opportunities and best practices for promoting gender diversity in arbitration. This has culminated in a report which is available both on Kluwer Arbitration and the ICCA website.
The report highlights that although gender diversity in arbitral tribunals is increasing due to the efforts of initiatives like the Pledge and the efforts of arbitral institutions, as of 2019 women still only comprised around 21% of arbitrator appointments.
This report argues that the greatest opportunity for improvement lies with the parties and the counsel that represent them, noting that while 34% of institutional appointments and 21.5% of co-arbitrator appointments were female in 2019, only 13.9% of party-appointments were female.
Included in the report is a discussion of the 2020 Equity Project Study findings and how in-house counsel can help promote gender equality in law firms, as well as a general discussion of how The Equity Project and other gender diversity initiatives are helping to move the needle.
Speaking to the collaboration that made the report possible, Task Force Chair and Equity Project Champion Carolyn Lamm states: “I applaud the outstanding work of the Task Force including the leading arbitral institutions worldwide, the Pledge, ArbitralWomen, Three Crowns, White & Case, Freshfields, ICCA and so many others who collaborated to prepare what is a first comprehensive Report of its kind on the progress of women in international arbitration- and which shares a vision for how we move forward. I am tremendously grateful for everyone’s efforts and am confident the Report will make a difference on this issue of importance.”
The Cross-Institutional Task Force includes representatives of the following organizations:
- ArbitralWomen
- The American Bar Association (ABA)
- Burford Capital
- The Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge (ERA)
- Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP
- The German Arbitration Institute (DIS)
- The Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC)
- The International Bar Association (IBA)
- The International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)
- The International Chamber of Commerce International Court of Arbitration (ICC)
- The International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA)
- The International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR)
- The London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA
- The Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC)
- Three Crowns LLP
- The University of Sydney
- The Vienna International Arbitral Centre (VIAC)
- White & Case LLP
To access the Report on Kluwer Arbitration, please click here.
To access the Report on the ICCA website, please click here.
