from Dennis
James, Founder Editor – edited issues 1 to 16 (1986 - 1991)
IN THE BEGINNINGS
When the
Branch was founded in 1982 two things were obvious. The first was that the
discipline of arbitration was rapidly growing, as would be the Branch
Membership, and the second was that there was a necessity that a means of
communication was forged between the Branch Members and the Committee. A
newsletter was a necessity.
In 1978 I had been
through such a learning curve with the setting up of a Branch of the
Institution of Civil Engineers in the South East of England and, as such, was
the first editor of the ICE Newsletter. This was printed in the deep blue of
the ICE.
Having been elected (i.e.
being the only candidate) as Editor of the CIArb South East Branch Newsletter,
I followed exactly the same format as the ICE, but chose the deep CIArb green
for the communication.
The first edition of
the CIArb Newsletter was in September 1986. Initially I had great difficulty in
obtaining copy for publication. My first solution was to endeavour to write the
most provocative editorial that I could. Indeed at times this possibly verged
upon being libellous. My intention was to stimulate replies and comments.
Unfortunately the CIArb
members were very gentlemanly and did not respond, despite my having repeated
tilts at the various professions (mainly the lawyers!). I also desecrated
Headquarters and Council, but unfortunately the response was rather limited. As
an alternative approach I wrote to each of the officers prior to every issue
and asked them for their reports. This blackmail appeared to have more success,
and in time we were able to build up a flow of news and information.
Technical articles were
more difficult to obtain, but a few of the Branch stalwarts were most helpful
in that direction. Perhaps I should point out that at that time the production
of the Journal was a solo effort on my part. I typed the copy, took it to the
printers, and even put the copy in envelopes and stamped them. As a matter of
interest I learnt from the printers that, had they sent out the documents, then
I would have had to have paid VAT on the postage, which could have been a
financial burden as we were not at that time VAT registered.
I handed over the
editorship with Issue 17 in January 1992 to Francis Miller who, not only quite
correctly changed the title to Arbitration News and Views, but
was able to attract a wider circle of contributors.
Thinking back over the
years, I believe that the effort of the Newsletter was very worthwhile and the
publicity we obtained with other Branches and Headquarters certainly put our
Branch on the map as a National Branch Leader. The quality and standard of the
Journal improved issue by issue up to its present high standards.
from
Francis Miller – edited issues 17-22 (1992 - 1993)
With the publication of
the fiftieth issue this is a good time for looking back to the beginning and
retracing the events which have led us to this point, but there is a better
case for looking at the future - the next fifty issues.
Who cares now about all
the struggles, the upsets and faltering as we lurched progressively forward
from those first early steps? All is now overtaken by the fact that the
Newsletter was created, it survived and it is still going from strength to
strength. The enduring evidence is set in the publication of the bound and
indexed volume of all the issues from 1986 to 2000. There one will find all the
history, and the readers of that publication can guess with fair accuracy the
background scenes which brought it all about.
Since that bound volume
of those first 43 issues, there have been another 6 issues published; and this,
the fiftieth, will be the seventh. Time moves relentlessly on and with it also
moves the ever increasing contribution that Arbitration News and Views
is making. The Newsletter, has a developing mass all of its own; and with the
continuing support of both contributors and readers, the contents will fully
justify its title.
In looking forward, I
am hoping that we shall not have to wait until the next millennium before we
get a further bound volume with an index. I am hoping that there will be a
forward plan to bind and index this important contribution to the
ever-developing field of dispute resolution which Arbitration News and
Views provides.
from Peter
Horne – edited issues 30 to 35 (1996 - 1998) and co edited issues
46 to 50 (2001 - 2003)
As evidence that some
people do actually read News & Views, I responded to an
advert in issue 28, asking for another pair of hands to help with various
tasks. Two issues later I was saddled
with the responsibility of collating the entire document and ensuring that all
copy was received on time and events properly reported – all summed up by the
title of Editor.
Fortunately, my
predecessor was Paul Darrington (editor issues 23 to 29), now sadly no longer
with us, who passed over a superb system, retaining an interest on the
editorial board in liaison with other branches and arranging the printing.
Derek Jerram had been assisting Paul throughout his period as editor, and
continued until issue 43 in producing a ‘legal comment’ column. Both were
invaluable in producing News & Views during my period as
editor.
I recall having an
enjoyable time as editor – even when having to report on meetings when I could
not find a volunteer (willing or blackmailed). Unfortunately, my health was
deteriorating steadily, and I was hospitalised in early 1998 and unable to work
for the remainder of the year. Luckily,
Paul Darrington was available and stepped into the void and, with the help of
Francis Miller, produced issue 36 which (I think) was on a par with all others
and continued with issues 37 and 38 when relieved by David Bailey.
After resolving my
health problems, I returned to assist on the new board commencing with issue
46. This board had strength in its
varied background and experience but is now looking for an additional member
with particular responsibility for finding meeting reporters.
The success of News
& Views must be self-evident in its longevity. Our job currently is
made all the easier by the sound foundations placed by our predecessors.
from
David Bailey – edited issues 38 to 45 (1999 - 2002)
I had the privilege of
acting as editor for 8 editions of News & Views. I took over
from Paul Darrington, whose death was a great loss to News & Views
and of course to the Branch and Institute.
Paul was a difficult
act to follow; but in my last year I had the advantage of being chairman and
editor for the Branch, which meant that as chairman I could exert considerable
influence on the editor without the slightest fear of any reprisal.
Editing News
& Views was a most enjoyable experience; but I cannot describe the
amount of work involved, and my best wishes go out to the present editors in
their ongoing endeavours. I hope to be
able to write a further piece for the 100th anniversary of News
& Views.
from
Charles Stimpson – co edited issues 46 to 48 (2001 - 2002)
Having just passed the
necessary entry exam in late 2000, I found our Chairman quickly engaged my
services onto the editorial subcommittee of News & Views, and
thankfully into the more experienced company of Roger and Peter. The journal is
a simple but carefully crafted booklet, and I enjoyed contributing pieces as
scribe / note taker at several of the Branch meetings, whose speakers are
varied and entertaining, providing a great insight into other types of
professional work, besides my own. Branch meetings are also friendly, and as a
newcomer I felt welcomed.
The 50th
number is a noble tribute to the predecessor editors and contributors of the
journal, and I hope my own and future contributions will be adequate to ensure
the 100th edition in due course.
From
the publisher of Interarb
The history
(and prehistory) of civilisation is the coming together of people. Either
permanent groupings (tribes, towns, cities) or exchanges between groups
(exploration, trade). It is a truism that where two or more people are gathered
together there will, eventually, be a dispute. Disputes are part of society.
They can, though, be a most corrosive (if not worse) part of it. So ‘for the
good of the whole’ it is better that disputes are settled with finality.
So much are truisms
familiar to us all. A wise man would not, though, wish to live in a society
without disputes. Such a society would be some totalitarian bastardisation of
what civilisation can be. A good society will strive not so much to prevent
disputes (though it will do that, to a degree) as to ensure that disputes are
settled in a way that ‘sticks’. Which is all a pompous introduction to some
statements about the real value of
News & Views.
An unassuming little A5
booklet, only some (typically) 24 black and white pages, and only appearing
every few months. It has though a print run into the four figures, thus
rivalling the ‘international glossies’: breaking the ‘eight hundred barrier’
for an arbitration journal is something that few achieve (at least for circulation,
though readerships may obviously be higher).
But its key feature,
over some fifty issues, has been the diversity, the provocativeness of the
contributions it has contained. In that it has done much to ensure that
disputes have been better resolved. Not only disputes in the large, but also
‘our’ disputes, disputes about arbitral practice and procedure. It may be
hyperbolic (but birthday greetings are not the time for feint praise) to say
that the present luxuriance of arbitration (especially international
arbitration) in England owes much, if not more, to News & Views:
whilst too many of us had chins metaphorically glued to breast bones whilst
innocently whistling – like a bunch of schoolboys caught next to an empty
washing line that had contained matron's smalls – it was News & Views that
carried a thriving debate, touching issues that some almost certainly thought
should not receive the oxygen of publicity.
Those ‘disputes’ are behind us, but arbitration is the better for them,
better for the ways they were explored by our editors.
Indeed arbitration –
and arbitration far, far more widely than in the ‘South East’? – is the better
for what News & Views in its unassuming (but influential)
little ways has contributed. Bonne
continuation!
Michael Chapman
Publisher,
interarb,
France