Young ICCA Co-chair Candidates Announced
As Gardar Gunnarsson steps down from his role as Young ICCA Co-chair, the search for a replacement has begun. We have two excellent candidates, Ms Camilla Gambarini and Ms Hinda Rabkin, who stand ready to take over from Gardar. We invite our Young ICCA Members to select the next Young ICCA Co-chair.
Candidates
The two candidates to fill Gardar's shoes are both talented and well-equipped to fill the role of a Young ICCA Co-chair. The candidate who receives the most votes in the elections will replace Gardar and serve a two-year term as one of the three Young ICCA co-chairs. To aid our Young ICCA Members in selecting the next Young ICCA Co-chair, we include a profile for each of the candidates below.
Voting process
All current Young ICCA Members will receive an email invitation to vote during the course of today. This invitation will include a unique voting link, which can only be used once. You will be able to cast your vote from today (17 May 2018) until midnight (CEST) on 31 May 2018. If you do not receive an invitation to vote, we kindly ask you to check that the invitation email has not gone to your junk mail. If you are still unable to locate your invitation to vote, please contact the Young ICCA Coordinator (lvoges@pca-cpa.org).
Please note: Only current Young ICCA Members are eligible to vote (i.e. you will not be eligible to vote if you have a Pending Young ICCA Membership application and you will not receive an invitation to vote unless you are a current Young ICCA Member) and each member may only vote once.
We ask that you consider your vote carefully and wish both candidates the best of luck.
C
amilla Gambarini
Age: 33
Hometown: Brescia, Italy
Current City: London, United Kingdom
Current Employer: Withers LLP
Education: LL.M., Columbia Law School, New York City (2014); Master in International Law, The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva (2011); Laurea Magistrale in Giurisprudenza, Catholic University of Milan, Milan (2009)
How did you get involved in international arbitration? I took my first international arbitration course with Professor Luca Radicati di Brozolo at the Catholic University of Milan in 2008. I soon understood that this was the kind of law that I wanted to practise because it combines many of my interests: foreign languages, international relations, politics, economics, public international law, comparative law, and the opportunity to meet people from different regions and backgrounds. You never get bored of international arbitration.
What is your favourite virtue? Humility
What are your favourite qualities in another person? Humility, honesty, open mindedness and sense of humour
What is your chief characteristic? Determination
What is your main fault? Impatience, but I am learning to take a deep breath.
What is your favourite occupation? Arbitration aside, having done ballet for twelve years, I love watching musicals and ballets. I appreciate the qualities needed to take a successful show to stage: creativity, dedication, commitment, passion, and teamwork.
What is your idea of happiness? A summer day spent with my loved ones at the seaside: blue sky and shining sun, breeze through olive trees and palms, perfume of gardenias, good food…
What is your idea of misery? Life in isolation. I could not be happy without my family and friends.
If not yourself, who would you be? I would probably be an investigative journalist, bringing the truth to the public.
Where would you like to live? London with Mediterranean climate.
Who is your favourite prose author? Francis Scott Fitzgerald.
Who is your favourite hero/heroine in fiction? The real star of Harry Potter: Hermione Granger.
Who is your hero in real life? Nelson Mandela, for having committed himself to obtain equality for everyone in his country.
What historical person do you most dislike? Benito Mussolini is probably at the top of my list.
What is your favourite name? Alexander for boys and Caroline for girls.
What do you hate the most? It may be a cliché, but I hate bad-tasting espresso.
What is your natural talent? I think I am good at listening to people and bringing out the best in them.
What is your favourite arbitration-related decision? Saipem v Bangladesh (ICSID Case No ARB/05/07), still an important case on domestic courts’ abuse of rights.
Who is your favourite arbitrator? One of the fathers of international arbitration, Pierre Lalive.
Who is your mentor? I am lucky to have studied and worked with brilliant arbitration lawyers who have had a strong impact on me. Over the last years, Viren Mascarenhas – one of my professors of international commercial arbitration at Columbia Law School – has been, and still is, a great source of inspiration and guidance.
What is your motto? A simple, yet powerful one: “to lead people, walk behind them” (Lao Tzu).
What do you hope to contribute to Young ICCA? I have a long story with Young ICCA, from having attended several Skills Training Workshops, participated in the mentoring programme as a mentee, to become an events coordinator and Global Events Director.
Young ICCA has given a lot to me, and it is the sense of being part of Young ICCA’s community that motivates me to "give back". I would like to engage with my colleagues at Young ICCA to bring the association to the next level, increasing our impact on young practitioners around the world. For example, I hope to develop the following projects with the team:
1) Bearing in mind the importance of oral advocacy, we introduced the “mock case” format last year. I would like to introduce a new mock case on cross examination of quantum experts and a specific workshop on damages.
2) I would like to organise a Young ICCA online competition on drafting witness statements. Participants will send questions to the factual witness in advance of the interview which will be available online.
3) It is difficult for young practitioners coming from emerging markets to travel to major arbitration hubs to attend arbitration courses. I hope to be able to organise cost-free Young ICCA training weekends / longer courses across Africa, Asia and the Americas.
4) Finally, I hope to increase the number of scholarships to attend a master’s degree in international arbitration in top schools.
Hinda Rabkin
Age: 32
Hometown: Montreal, Canada
Current City: New York City, USA
Current Employer: Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Education: I have a double degree in common law and civil law from McGill University and an LLM from Cambridge where I focused on international law.
How did you get involved in international arbitration? During my law studies (in the early 2000s), I had never heard of arbitration. It was only offered as a summer course and it wasn’t nearly as developed a field of study as it is now. Then, during my last year of law studies, McGill Professor Fabien Gélinas (former ICC general counsel) advertised an internship position at the ICC in Paris. I was not sure what the ICC was but spending a summer in Paris seemed very appealing. So I applied. As they say, the rest is history. I was enthralled with this field of practice from my first week at the ICC. The diversity of cases, languages and law was right up my alley. And spending a summer in Paris ended up being great too.
What is your favourite virtue? Honesty
What are your favourite qualities in another person? Intelligence and a sense of humour.
What is your chief characteristic? I am fast (fast talker, fast walker, fast reader).
What is your main fault? This may sound like a canned response, but sometimes, I can be too optimistic.
What is your favourite occupation? I love reading and going to the theatre. A perfect evening is catching a Broadway show and grabbing a glass of red wine after.
What is your idea of happiness? These days it’s taking the time to walk through Central Park to the office. It adds time to my commute but it’s a great way to start the day. I am so grateful to have this wonderful sprawling park in the middle of one of the busiest cities. To answer the question in more abstract terms, happiness is having a sense of purpose or a goal to work towards and surrounding yourself with good people.
What is your idea of misery? Sorry all my answers are so New York focused! These days it’s taking the subway in New York on a hot day at rush hour. And then the subway stalls between stops for 10 minutes and all you hear is crackling from the conductor and you’re not really sure what’s going on or when you’re going to move. Again, to answer in more abstract terms, it’s not having any goals to work towards (whether personal or professional), and then just feeling completely stuck. That can feel miserable.
If not yourself, who would you be? I would like to think a suffragist in 1900s London, lobbying for women’s right to vote.
Where would you like to live? In the perfect middle spot between where my family lives in Canada and where my partner’s family lives in Germany – so, I guess that means Iceland? But living in New York is pretty amazing too. I love the mix of cultures and languages here.
Who is your favourite prose author? George Saunders has been a favourite for a long time. He has such an excellent ear for dialogue and a curiosity about people from all walks of life. I also admire that he didn’t become well known until his 40s but he kept writing, because it was his passion. Sometimes you think your path is set but you have no idea what the future holds and what you can still achieve.
Who is your favourite hero/heroine in fiction? As any good Canadian, I was a big fan of Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables when I was growing up. She was funny and made the best of what was a very difficult situation. I loved her active imagination and the way she felt things so intensely. I could really relate to that as a kid.
Who is your hero in real life? The people behind the scenes who have the patience to broker peace agreements.
What historical person do you most dislike? To avoid the obvious answers, I think Henry VIII was terrible to his wives and to his country.
What is your favourite name? I love the name Nala.
What do you hate the most? Inflated egos.
What is your natural talent? I can speed read.
What is your favourite arbitration-related decision? I find Burlington v Ecuador very interesting in today’s context. Ecuador wanted to bring environmental counterclaims. Usually you see claimants fighting counterclaims on jurisdictional grounds. However in that case, Burlington waived its right to bring jurisdictional objections in exchange for Ecuador’s agreement that it would not raise these claims in any other forum. This ensured judicial economy and consistency. You had one eminent tribunal hearing the entire dispute and bringing final resolution. This may not work in other situations but it shows that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to disputes. And that’s what I like about this job. The creative, strategic aspects of it.
Who is your favourite arbitrator? I have come across so many excellent arbitrators while I was at the ICC, the PCA and in private practice. On a personal level, Professor Hans van Houtte was chair in an arbitration where I was appearing before a tribunal for the first time. It was just a direct examination of a witness but then as it turned out, I also had the chance to make an objection. He could probably tell that I was a bit nervous but he was patient and fair and it all worked out fine.
Who is your mentor? I don’t have just one. There are several people that I admire and who have helped me along the way with excellent advice. I very much admire the current Freshfields partners with whom I am working; they are teaching me a lot about excellent advocacy. I am also very grateful to the partner who took me aside in my first year as an associate and showed me how she keeps track of her to do lists in a paper agenda (diary) so that nothing falls through the cracks. Something as simple as that has been so helpful in my career. I am also grateful to White & Case partner Michael Polkinghorne who put me in front of clients as a first year associate and who is someone I can call if I need advice.
What is your motto? “Try as hard as you can and leave the rest to chance”.
What do you hope to contribute to Young ICCA as co-chair? I am very much looking forward to the opportunity to build on Young ICCA’s excellent programs. I would not have gotten to where I am today without the hard work of others to open doors and increase diversity in arbitration. I plan to use my base in New York to bring more Young ICCA programs to the Americas. For example, I am planning on working with Freshfields’ network of local law firms to organize conferences and workshops in jurisdictions that get less attention. In addition, I would like to give students and young practitioners more speaking and publishing opportunities on Young ICCA’s platform. For example, I would like to launch an online guide on arbitration law in various jurisdictions which would be written by members of Young ICCA’s community. Finally, I want to use my experience working at arbitral institutions and at the UN to bring in the voices and experience of people working in dispute resolution there. These are just some of my ideas. Throughout the next two years, I will reach out to the Young ICCA community for its input so that we can work together to grow Young ICCA even further.