One Step Further after the Launch of the ERA Pledge: A Search Service for Female Arbitrators Appointments
The Equal Representation in Arbitration (ERA) Pledge (“Pledge”) launched on 18 May 2016 in London had the effect of a snowball that grew bigger and bigger since Sylvia Noury and her colleagues at Freshfields organised dinners around the world, to discuss the under-representation of women arbitrators and the need for a pledge as a potential solution to cure this situation. By now the readers probably know that the Pledge is a call to the international dispute resolution community to commit to increase the number of female arbitrators on an equal opportunity basis with the hope to achieve a fair representation of women. One of the key steps to achieving this, as indicated in the Pledge, is to ensure that wherever possible lists of potential arbitrators or tribunal chairs provided to or considered by the parties, counsel, in-house counsel or otherwise include a fair representation of female candidates.