REPORT ON THE DIVERSITY ROUNDTABLE AT VIENNA ARBITRATION DAYS 2018

Abstract

On the occasion of Vienna Arbitration Days 2018, which took place on 19-20 January 2018, I was invited to be a Roundtable moderator for the second day, organized as a World Café of several tables with trendy topics that are much debated and considered nowadays actual and of interest for the arbitration community. I proposed that my Roundtable's topic to be about diversity in arbitration, as the international arbitration community has to adapt to serve users in new fields of arbitration and is facing an increasing influence of new technologies. These developments have made it even more decisive for arbitral tribunals to be diverse, as this will allow them to dare into these new fields and take advantage of the new tools and technologies, increase productivity, and ensure high-quality decisions.

This paper presents the report of the discussions made by the participants in the Roundtable in the three sessions allocated and tries to summarize the current perception of diversity to be able to propose better solutions to respond to the call for diversity in arbitration. We all have a responsibility to prioritize diversity, and we all have something to gain from increasing diversity in international arbitration.