Webinar “Women in Arbitration”

Prishtina, October 14, 2015 – Alternative Dispute Resolution Center of AmCham Kosovo, held a Webinar yesterday, under the topic “Women in Arbitration”. The Webinar was part of the activities of Arbitration Week 2015. The guest speaker of the event was Ms. Beata Gessel-Kalinowska vel Kalisz, Managing Partner and founder of GESSEL Attorney at Law, Expert in and commercial law, attorney law and arbitrator. Gessel, who is also one of the pioneers in promoting women in arbitration, discussed the reasons behind the under-representation of women in international arbitration, starting from the historical perspective, and following with a discussion of the most recent statistics that shed light into the percentage of women arbitrator appointments, either by arbitral institutions or party appointment. Furthermore, she highlighted the need for the arbitral institutions to proactively deal with this issue, and suggested several activities for a potential action plan in addressing women under-representation in arbitration. The audience provided excellent feedback on the content of the Webinar, and expressed their interest to further discuss this topic among a larger audience of women that practice in the area of commercial law.