18 LAWYER MONTHLY ADR AWARDS 2024 International Arbitration Lawyer of the Year USA complex cases was the destruction of Equipment ordered by the United Nations for its operations in the then Zaire at the port of Matadi during an insurrection. The equipment was to be delivered by a Japanese firm and the UN sought to recover against the Insurance coverage but this was not possible because of assessed force majeure. Mediation was conducted with the Company representatives without success. But the claim was eventually settled by the Company amicably through negotiations between the head of the company and the head of the UN Agency involved. In yet another case that ended tragically, I initiated negotiations to settle a claim by a contractor engaged to provide catering for the UN peacekeeping Mission in Somalia. Agreement was already reached but by the administration intervened insisting on arbitration. The UN lost the arbitration; however, by the end of the arbitration, the contractor was killed by his workers for failure to pay their wages. You have played a key role in high-profile investigations such as in Kosovo and Lebanon. How have these experiences shaped your approach to international legal consulting? My main takeaway from the high-profile investigations involving Governments is that diplomacy is key to resolving international claims. But diplomatic skill can also play a role in handling private disputes. Most recently, I was engaged by a UN Permanent Mission to handle a property dispute between the Permanent Representative of the Mission and a neighbour concerning an alleged encroachment over the boundary line dividing the Mission property occupied by the Permanent Representative and the neighbour. The neighbour sued in State Court, but the dispute was transferred at my request to Federal Court. There were at least two efforts at mediation at the District Court level and one on Appeal, but on each occasion, the mediation failed because counsel for the neighbour insisted the Mission to renounce its privileges and immunities, a stand he was able to get the lower court and Court of Appeal to accept. This led to a default judgment rather than submit to litigation of the dispute, with the consequence of exposing the Mission to disclosure motions in violation of its immunities, in particular, the inviolability of the Mission official communication its premises and possible attachment of its property. I have, however, succeeded to resolve a dispute between another Mission with squatters on their property, through various approaches including threatened court action. My eventual experience is that while diplomacy, mediation and if needed arbitration, such as under ICSID, operates most successfully, on the international level, it is more difficult in private disputes, particularly when faced with opposing counselt more familiar with litigation. As the former General Counsel of the African Development Bank, how do you view the role of ADR in development finance institutions? ADR in Development Financial Institutions There are two levels of dispute resolution in Development Financial Institutions. One level involves disputes between the Institution and its staff and the other involves disputes arising from the Institutions’ operational activities. At the African Development Bank, I was instrumental in establishing the AfDB Administrative Tribunal, which is now in its 27th year of operation. What is unique to this Administrative Tribunal is that Judges are selected from the most senior judicial officers and jurists from the Bank’s Member States. A former Chief Justice of Nigeria presided over the inaugural sessions, assisted by the Head of the Constitutional Court of Benin and a Senior Jurist from Egypt. The second tier of disputes, arising from the Bank’s operations, generally concern the Bank’s private sector operations, whereby the Bank extends loans to co-finance major development “My main takeaway from the high-profile investigations involving Governments is that diplomacy is key to resolving international claims.” Q Q
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