NEWS
Chartered Institute’s progress against 5-year
strategic plan
Editor: In the last
issue my editorial focused on the Chartered Institute’s strategic review of
September 2000 and resultant 5-year programme of change I invited Headquarters to give us their view
of progress. The response from John
Campbell QC, Chairman of the Executive Board, is printed below:
Dear Mr. Clarke,
As Chairman of the
Executive Board, I am delighted to be able to respond.
We are now 2 years into a
5 year programme of change, approved by Council in September 2000. A great deal
has been achieved; but as the Director General would stress, there is still
considerable work to be done if we are to reach our full potential for the
Institute and its members.
Let me highlight achievements
to date:
* A new headquarters;
high quality hearing rooms; a growing library and the beginnings of an on-line
information & resource centre; a dedicated member of staff to develop
future educational programmes
* Substantial
improvements to the website, including a discrete members' section (to date,
you might note that less than 30% of the South East Branch have registered to
use it; can we encourage greater use?). You might like to know that the monthly
'hits' on the open web now number more than 10,000 - a threefold increase in
the last 18 months, helping us to spread the word
(SE branch website has
hits of about 2,500 per month- Ed)
* You cast doubt on
membership targets. While 10% was intentionally bold, this year - to date - our
net growth shows 5.8%. The net target globally is 7% for 2003; one might ask
how the Branch can help in this goal?
* New Branch Model Rules;
new Regulations; revised Codes of Ethics for arbitrators, members and
alternative dispute resolvers, with a bespoke code for mediators under
consideration; new terms of reference for the arbitration practice
sub-committee. Work under way on a full scale constitutional review and a full
review of our disciplinary processes
* Introduction of Lay
Representatives to the PCC, vital to ensure transparency in the disciplinary
process
* Revised Entry Courses
for Arbitration, Adjudication and Mediation, to be launched in January 2003. Of
note, the Institute opened its doors to civil and commercial mediators, as a
professional home, in the autumn of 2001
* New Part 2 Workbooks
now complete, to include provision for distance learning; continuing expansion
of reciprocal arrangements with universities to improve access for members to
achieve our educational packages. Part 3 Workbooks will be launched in January
2003
* Work continues to
expand our alternative dispute resolution standards and training, towards
comparability with arbitration
* A revised mentoring
scheme [see below]
* A raft of new schemes
in both business-to-business and business-to-consumer fields, increasing
opportunity for members; a rise in ad hoc appointments for arbitrators; and a
very positive development in nominations for mediators, both in ad hoc cases
and in rosters established at the London County Court and elsewhere in England
& Wales.
I hope you will agree
that these are substantial achievements in these first two years. Under the
Director General's leadership, and with the full support of a fantastic staff,
the remainder of the subject matter in the strategic review is being addressed
to a planned timetable, monitored at regular intervals by the Executive
Board.
With kind regards,
John Campbell QC, Chairman, Executive Board
Editor: On
the revised mentoring scheme the Director General’s office have given me
further information (to be published in the Institute’s February Newsletter) as
follows:
Institute Announces the Re-Launch of the Mentor Scheme
The new scheme offers inexperienced Chartered Arbitrators the opportunity to
undertake six live "documents-only" arbitration cases under the
guidance of senior Panel arbitrators acting as mentors.
A new element of the
scheme, which will be of particular interest to members, is the feedback
generated by the mentor. This feedback will greatly assist the mentoree to achieve
listing on the Institute's scheme panels, and will effectively act as a
reference based upon actual performance.
For further details
please contact Alison Rodriguez. Alison's contact details are: email:
arodriguez@arbitrators.org; direct Line: 020 7421 7432; or write to Alison at
Bloomsbury Square.’?
News
from HQ: the Resource Centre
It is hard to believe
that it is almost two years since that exciting day in February 2001 when we
moved into 12 Bloomsbury Square. We are all now well established in our new
home which has all the extra space we need for holding courses, seminars and
arbitrations in the very pleasant suite of offices.
Most importantly, from my
point of view, is the fact that we have a lovely bright and spacious resource
centre. During the past two years we have made much progress in developing the
centre, but there is still lots to do. Our first priority was to provide a
Membership List on our discrete website. This, as you know, provides a really
useful network for members worldwide to communicate with each other and also
for helping us communicate more easily with individual members and the
branches. However, we need more of you to sign up! So far we have about one
third of the membership on the discrete website, and I feel you would all
benefit from participating more fully in this project. To add your details to
the list, see our home page www.arbitrators.org.
Our second priority was
to get Arbitration on-line, which I am pleased to say we achieved
over a year ago. Did you know that you can now access Arbitration
from our home page? I find this very useful as a search tool. I would
really like to receive your feedback.
Our third priority is the
Resource Centre itself. Most of you
will know that we have a small collection of standard textbooks on arbitration,
mediation and adjudication; yearbooks; directories; and law reports. This is
helpful for those members who can easily visit Bloomsbury Square; but what we
are also trying to do is to build up our on-line resources, to make our website
a relevant source of information for all of us. Therefore, can I reiterate Tony
Canham’s request in the recent Newsletter and ask you, not only to consider
donating a book or other materials, but also letting me know some of your
favourite websites and other on-line resources. Hopefully, we will then be able
to make this information available to you all in the near future. I would also like to express my grateful
thanks to those of you who have donated various materials to the library and
for the interest you have shown. I look forward to hearing from more of you in
the New Year; and, of course, I hope you will visit us all at HQ.
Anne
Kenny
One of the benefits of
being part of the European Union is that we in Britain belong to a community
with an incredibly rich and varied culture and history and containing
incredibly interesting and beautiful places to visit. Unfortunately, for
understandable reasons of demography, the Chartered Institute has had to set up
a European Branch that excludes Britain. So we have to look across the Channel
with envy at the meeting places available to our European colleagues.
The Institute’s European
Branch’s autumn 2002 meeting took place in Venice, in a villa set in gardens on
the island of Giudecca. Subjects discussed included arbitration and finance,
and dispute resolution for capital investment projects, with particular
emphasis on Eastern Europe.
Earlier in the year a
Branch meeting in Brussels enabled the Branch to strengthen its links with the
European institutions, links that they have subsequently exploited on our
behalf by submitting comments to the European Commission on their consultative
Green Paper on Alternative Dispute Resolution in Civil and Commercial Law. (The
Chartered Institute’s central response to this Green Paper can be read on the
Institute’s website www.arbitrators.org.)
For the future there is
talk of European Branch meetings in Greece and Portugal, Malta and Germany. This
year the European Branch are collaborating with the Chartered Institute in
organising the Institute’s first Annual Conference to be held in mainland
Europe, in Amsterdam (Netherlands). The dates are 16-17 May; and the subjects
to be addressed will be the development of on-line dispute resolution; introduction
of cross-border dispute resolution initiatives; and other topical issues in
international arbitration and dispute resolution. Here is an event in a nearby
part of the European mainland open equally to Institute members in Britain and
elsewhere. What an opportunity to
broaden both our contacts and our horizons!
Roger Clarke