Leading way on class actions

THE growth in international arbitration work is set to continue apace.

Karyl Nairn says Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom in London has hired three Australians in the past three months. Picture: David Geraghty

THE growth in international arbitration work is set to continue apace, fuelling strong demand for Australian lawyers and arbitrators overseas, says one of the world’s top dispute resolution experts.

Karyl Nairn QC, the head of international litigation and arbitration at global firm Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, said her team in London had hired three Australian lawyers in the past three months and was looking to further expand its disputes teams across Europe.

She said after all the negative talk, the large London firms had staged a strong recovery and were now doing better than ever.

“We feel very confident that the UK market and the disputes market in Europe generally will stay strong,” she said.

Ms Nairn, who grew up in Perth and is one of only three female solicitors in England to be made a QC, said the world was keenly watching Australia’s booming growth in class actions.

“I think the experience in Australia is more closely starting to model the US experience, it’s not something we’re seeing replicated in the same way in Europe,” she said.

“Australia is very much at the forefront of class action developments and other countries are watching to see the lessons learnt.”

Ms Nairn said Skadden’s international arbitration practice had grown consistently since it was launched in 2001 and she saw no end in sight for that growth.

In Asia, she said international arbitration activity was strong at the bottom end of the market, involving disputes of less than $10 million, and the sector was expanding.

Previously, Asian businesses negotiating with Euro­peans had little negotiating power to secure an arbitration seat in their own region, but now they had more credible options, she said. There were also increasing numbers of investment treaty claims being filed in the region and disputes related to investigations into large multi­nationals were also spilling across jurisdictions into Asia.

Ms Nairn, who addressed the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in Melbourne this week, said there was an unmet demand for Australian arbitrators, whether they were former judges, academics, retired partners or practising lawyers. “I think there is still a shortage of high-quality, independent professional arbitrators in Asia,” she said. “I feel very strongly that Australians have an opportunity to ­really make themselves known and also appreciated as decision makers for complex international disputes.”

She said Australian litigators were also increasingly being entrusted to deal with complex, strategically important cases.

For example, she was currently representing South Sudan in an arbitration against Sudan’s national oil company, and the lead counsel on both sides were Australian women and the three-member arbitration panel consisted of one Australian and two New Zealanders.

Ms Nairn said Skadden, which has a small Sydney office advising on the US aspects of cross-border transactions, had no intention of launching a litigation practice in Australia.