ArbitralWomen is delighted to announce news about its members’ promotions and professional developments. Members are invited to provide information they wish to be shared in ArbitralWomen News alerts and on this webpage.
Four Women, Including Two ArbitralWomen Board Members, Promoted at Hogan Lovells
Four women have been promoted at Hogan Lovells offices across the globe, effective 1 January 2023. Melissa Ordonez was promoted to Partner in the Paris office, ArbitralWomen Board member Nata Ghibradze was promoted to Counsel in the Munich office, ArbitralWomen Board member Catherine Bratic was promoted to Counsel in the Houston office, ArbitralWomen member Janice Cheng was promoted to Counsel in the Hong Kong office.Melissa Ordonez specialises in commercial and investment treaty arbitration, with a particular focus on the energy, technology, and luxury sectors. As a French-Colombian who has lived in Colombia, Sweden, the Netherlands, the UK and France, she is fluent in English, French and Spanish, and represents clients from across the globe in complex arbitrations. Melissa is also an active member of the firm’s Latin American practice. She recently co-founded a Latin American desk in the Paris office. Melissa is admitted to the Paris Bar.Nata Ghibradze focuses on arbitrations in the energy, infrastructure and engineering sectors. She has handled cases before numerous arbitral institutions and various construction Disputes Boards, and also acts as a tribunal secretary. Nata has a particular focus on disputes in the Caucasus, Eastern Europe and CIS region. Originally from Georgia and educated in Georgia and Germany, Nata is fluent in English, German, Russian and Georgian. Nata is a Director of ArbitralWomen, and is an Arbitration Council Member at Georgian International Arbitration Centre and Member of the Board at the Georgian Association of Arbitrations.American by birth, Italian by marriage, and dually-admitted to the Texas and Paris bars, Catherine Bratic represents clients in cross-border commercial and investment arbitration proceedings in the energy, construction, and technology sectors. A former federal law clerk to Judge Lee R. Rosenthal in the Southern District of Texas, she also represents clients in federal court disputes relating to arbitration and international trade. Catherine is a Director of ArbitralWomen and serves as Chair of Young ITA, the young arbitration practitioners’ branch of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration.Janice Cheng is an active member of Hogan Lovells’ Construction and Engineering team, and has extensive experience in a range of construction, infrastructure and commercial matters, including cases relating to contract, tort, joint-venture disputes, defects, delay, extension of time, and payment.
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Policy on Funding Moot Competition Teams
Each year ArbitralWomen provides support to a number of Teams who participate in dispute resolution competitions, such as the Vis or Vis East International Arbitration Moot by covering their registration fee.
Following are the conditions for the funding:
Any qualified team requesting financial assistance must complete an application form providing details of the teams, resources, and the reason for the requested assistance. The application form is available on the website, and may be amended from time to time as the Board deems appropriate.
The Board, through its Moot Bursary Committee, shall consider all applications received and decide which team(s) shall be supported through payment of its(their) registration fee to compete. In general, teams selected will be from different countries. Applications filed after the deadline will be disregarded.
Criteria of selection:
The team must reflect ArbitralWomen's mission of promoting the participation of women in dispute resolution, i.e. at least half of the members of a team must be women.
The team must demonstrate the need for financial assistance.
Priority will be given to teams:
who have not previously participated, and whose school has not previously participated;
who have no support from their universities or no coach;
who come from developing countries or jurisdictions which, in the sole discretion of the Board, are in the greatest need of support for the advancement of women in dispute resolution;
of smaller number of students composing the team (for example 4 students as opposed to 8).
An all-female team may be awarded the ArbitralWomen President’s Bursary if the other requirements are met.
Nothing in this Policy prevents a team, which has already received funding in one year, from applying in future years. The Board shall treat each application on its merits and in relation to other applications received for that particular year.
The Board shall effect payment to the final payee rather than directly to the team. In the event the team for any reason cannot participate, the Board at its sole option may request a refund from the organising authority, may request the organising authority to apply the funds to assist another team in that year, or may request that the funds be used to pay for another team in the following year.
Funding will, in the first instance, be sought from external sponsors, who shall be identified and introduced to the sponsored team(s). Further funding by ArbitralWomen itself in any given year will be contingent upon the existence and maintenance of sufficient funds in the account of ArbitralWomen. Each year, the Board will decide the number of awards to be given in that year. Nothing in this Policy obliges the Board to provide funding in any given year.
Although the ArbitralWomen Moot Bursaries are limited to payment of the registration fee, as mentioned above, there is nothing to prevent the chosen sponsors from providing additional assistance to the teams assigned as their "fundee", but any such arrangement will be made directly between the sponsor and the applicable team.
