Ambassadors
David Anderson
Patricia Barclay
Jonathan Blythe
Pauline Booth
Prof. Peter Cameron
Samantha Cumming
Kate Corby
Justin D’Agostino
Michael Davison
Laura Devine
Lisa Henderson KC
James Hope
Rachael Kelsey
Alison Macdonald KC
Andrew Mackenzie
Rona Amigues-Macrae
Rory McAlpine
Alan McMillan
Nesreen Osman
Neil Oxford
Naomi Pryde
Brian Reeves
Lindsay Scott
Robert Stephen
Susanne Tanner KC
Craig Tevendale
Sheila Webster
Rob Wilson
David Anderson
David is a partner at Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP and has specialised in construction and energy disputes for over 25 years. He has represented parties in arbitrations undertaken under the LCIA and ICC rules and has advised clients in relation to disputes in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He has been a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators since 2015 and has sat as arbitrator in a number of complex construction disputes. He is also a member of the Arbitration Court Users Group in Scotland.
Patricia Barclay
Patricia Barclay is the General Counsel of the Global Centre for Health Convergence having previously run Bonaccord, a multi award winning law firm specialising in the commercialisation of scientific innovation. Prior to this she lived and worked around the world within the pharmaceutical industry. She served as General Counsel of Vernalis PLC, the Ferring Group and Solvay Pharmaceuticals and as Senior Corporate Counsel for Pfizer Inc.
She is also a mediator and her experience of working within industry ensures a pragmatic and business focussed approach to dispute resolution while extensive international experience ensures cultural sensitivity. She is a past Chair of the International Bar Association Mediation Techniques Committee for whom she also co-wrote and edited a book for use in training new mediators. She is a quality assessor for certification of training courses and mediator advocates with the IMI.
As an ambassador for the Scottish Arbitration Centre she has promoted the benefits of alternative dispute resolution internationally in particular in relation to complex intellectual property disputes. Such cases often need creative solutions and a level of confidentiality that may be difficult to accomplish within traditional court processes.
Jonathan Blythe
Jonathan is dual qualified in Scotland and England and Wales, but has 30 years of experience living and working as a lawyer in Istanbul. Initially, he set up and ran the Istanbul office of UK law firm Ledingham Chalmers, but in 2004, via an MBO, Senguler & Partners was established.
Jonathan oversees the work of the firm, which provides day-to-day business law support to multinationals operating in Turkey. His introduction to the world of arbitration was in 2015 when he sat as a sole arbitrator under ICC rules, since then he has sat regularly as an arbitrator under ICC and ISTAC rules, in both Turkish and English and in disputes under both Turkish and English law. The dispute subject areas are various including, contractual disputes involving oil products, infrastructure tender disputes, industrial fabrication disputes, mining and energy issues.
The firm is currently co-counsel in an ICSID investment arbitration and a multi-million ICC arbitration involving an aviation sector dispute. Jonathan leads the arbitration team in Senguler. He is married to Juay, with two married kids and three wonderful grandchildren.
Pauline Booth
Pauline Booth is a Managing Director in the Expert Services practice of Kroll. With over 25 years of experience, she has given evidence as a quantum expert in intellectual property infringement and misappropriation, licensing, joint venture, collaboration and commercial disputes in various dispute fora, including the High Court of England & Wales, Federal Courts of the USA and Canada as well as various international arbitration proceedings seated in the USA, Europe and Asia.
In addition to contentious matters, Pauline assists clients with normal course of business intellectual property issues. She has valued IP for bankruptcy, transaction and licensing purposes and has assisted with transaction negotiations and strategy. She has also assessed parties’ compliance with various types of revenue, cost and profit-sharing contracts.
Pauline is a frequent instructor and speaker on intellectual property, licensing and contract compliance issues at industry associations, law firms and academic institutes in the USA, U.K., Europe and Asia.
She is a fellow of the Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants, a member of the Chartered Governance Institute, the Licensing Executives Society and the Association of University Technology Managers.
Prof Peter Cameron
Peter Cameron is one of the world’s leading authorities in the specialist field of energy law. He sits as arbitrator in complex, high-value, cross border disputes at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and the International Court of the International Chambers of Commerce (ICC). He also takes instructions as an expert witness and has provided oral and/or written testimony in more than 30 cases including disputes before the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), the ICC, the Singapore International Arbitration Court (SIAC), the Stockholm Court of International Arbitration (SCC), the Commercial Court and the Milan Central Criminal Court.
Peter is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, is on the List of Practitioners in International Arbitration at the Vienna International Arbitration Centre (VIAC) and has an Arbitrator Profile at Kluwer Arbitration. He is a member of ICCA, the LCIA and the International Bar Association. Prior to serving as an arbitrator, Peter acquired extensive knowledge of international commerce through his near-two decades of experience as consultant to The World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, The Asian Development Bank and private investment banks. His leading publication on governance in the oil, gas and mining industries has been downloaded from The World Bank website almost 82,000 times since 2017.
As a leading academic with an international reputation, Peter is Director of the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy at the University of Dundee, and Professor of International Energy Law. He is also Professorial Fellow at the Europa Institute of the University of Edinburgh. He is editor-in-chief of the journal, ‘Global Energy Law and Sustainability’ (Edinburgh University Press). Formerly, he was a professor at the European University Institute at Florence, Italy. Peter is the author of many publications, including ‘International Energy Investment Law: The Pursuit of Stability’ (Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, 2021) and ‘Stabilization Clauses: Do They Have a Future?’ in the Bahrain Chamber for Dispute Resolution’s International Arbitration Review (2020).
Peter is often asked to deliver presentations at seminars and conference events. In 2022 he was the keynote speaker at the 10th Joint ITA/IEL/ICC conference on International Energy Arbitration in Houston, Texas; keynote speaker at the Budapest Arbitration Seminar; speaker at the biennial ICCA conference in Edinburgh; and chair of a showcase panel at the annual International Bar Association conference in Miami, Florida.
Peter is also a member of the Energy Charter Treaty Legal Sub-Committee and has been awarded a Fellowship at the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and Special Member status at the International Association of Energy Negotiators
Samantha Cumming
Samantha Cumming focuses her practice on Government litigation, white collar defense, and investigations. Samantha advises corporations in relation to matters which are often business critical, involving financial and reputational risk, and which relate to allegations of financial misconduct, corruption, fraud, and bribery. Samantha’s extensive litigation experience includes acting on complex and multijurisdictional commercial litigation and judicial review in the High Court and the Court of Appeal, and arbitral proceedings conducted under ICC, LCIA, and UNCITRAL arbitration rules, with seats in London and Singapore. Samantha is recommended in both the Financial Services – Contentious, and the Regulatory Investigations and Corporate Crime (advice to corporates) categories of Legal 500 UK 2025, where clients note that “Samantha is exceptional,” “an up-and-comer, with a bright future ahead” and that she “works around the clock to protect clients.”
Justin D’Agostino MH
Justin D’Agostino MH is the global CEO of world-leading international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills, overseeing its client, people, practices, and growth strategies.
Based in Hong Kong, he chairs the firm’s Global Executive Committee. He works closely with the firm’s largest clients, both in his personal practice role and as a regional and global business leader, and leads the firm’s 6,000 talented people.
A thought leader and skilled practitioner in international arbitration and dispute resolution, Justin has appeared before arbitral tribunals around the world and sits as arbitrator. He was awarded the Hong Kong Medal of Honour in 2021 for his contribution to the development and promotion of arbitration and dispute resolution.
Justin is a member of the Executive Board of the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris, and is a Visiting Professor of Tsinghua University in Beijing.
The founder of Herbert Smith Freehills’ first LGBT+ network in 2007, Justin is also a strong advocate and active supporter of diversity and inclusion in the firm, the legal profession and the wider community.
He is a native of Edinburgh, and is admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong and as a solicitor advocate in England & Wales.
Michael Davison
Michael Davison is Deputy CEO of Hogan Lovells. For close to 30 years, he has been helping clients avoid disputes and from 2014 to 2020 he was the sole head of the firm’s global Litigation, Arbitration and Employment practice, comprising 200 partners and 800 lawyers across 45+ offices. Michael also sits as an arbitrator, acts as a mediator, and lectures on arbitration topics. A keen advocate for diversity and inclusion at Hogan Lovells, Michael is the executive sponsor the firm’s Race and Ethnicity at Hogan Lovells (REAHL) Network. Michael is also dedicated to Hogan Lovells’ pro bono programme and has been involved in partnerships with the Royal British Legion to provide legal advice, representation and emotional support to veterans and bereaved Service families to pursue their cases. He is also currently assisting the Justice for Jasmine families whose relatives died when residents in care homes in South Wales. Michael also holds a strong interest in the use of technology including AI to support the firm’s clients and is leading a number of projects in this area leading the firm’s data strategy and developing alternative service delivery models. Michael is a council member of The Heart of the City. He is also the Chair of the Arbitration Committee of the City of London Lawyers Society.
Laura Devine
Laura an English solicitor and New York attorney is the managing partner of Laura Devine Immigration, an award-winning immigration boutique firm, with offices in London and New York with 70 staff, providing UK and US immigration advice. Together the offices have been described as a “transatlantic powerhouse.” The firm and Laura are rated in all legal directories in the top tier for immigration. Laura advises on UK and US immigration. Her client base encompasses businesses from fashion to finance. As well as advising corporations Laura has SMEs, start-ups, families and individuals as clients.
Laura is the immigration correspondent for the Law Society Gazette. She speaks regularly on immigration law, law firm management and women in business. She is a member of many organisations including the Society of Scottish Lawyers in London.
Lisa Henderson KC
Lisa called to the Scottish Bar in 1995. She was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2016. She called to the Bar in England and Wales in 2019. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. Lisa specialises in clinical negligence and personal injury litigation and has considerable experience in claims involving cerebral palsy, amputation and complex brain and spinal injury. She has acted in numerous multi million pound settlements. Lisa also has experience in Public Inquiries. She is ranked Band 1 in the Chambers and Partners UK Bar guide and as a Leading Silk in the Legal 500, for both clinical negligence and personal injury.
Rachael Kelsey
Rachael is a family lawyer and one of the founding Partners of SKO. She won ‘Private Client Lawyer of the Year’ at the inaugural Legal 500 Scottish Law Awards in 2023, is the only ‘Star Individual’ in the current Edition of Chambers and Partners, the only Scottish lawyer in band one of the UK-wide, Chambers High Net Worth Guide (2024) and was the first Scottish lawyer in the Spears 500 Family Lawyers Guide.
Rachael was one of the six-strong group who created the bespoke arbitration scheme for Scottish family law cases, which lead to the formation of FLAGS (Family Law Arbitration Group Scotland) in 2010. Rachael is a FLAGS Arbitrator and one of the two trainers for FLAGS. She has trained on arbitration and the creation of alternative dispute resolution schemes internationally- in South Africa, Hong Kong and New Zealand. She is the only Scottish Arbitrator on the IFLAS (International Family Law Arbitration Scheme) panel.
In 2022 Rachael was re-appointed by the Lord President to the Family Law Committee of the Scottish Civil Justice Council for a third term of office. She participated in the Hague Conference in Private International Law Parentage and Surrogacy Project Experts’ Group for 3 years and is now participating in the follow-up Working Group.
Rachael was elected President of the International Academy of Family Lawyers (IAFL) in 2023- the first Scot and the only woman from the UK in the thirty-seven year history of the Academy.
Alison Macdonald KC
Alison Macdonald KC is a barrister at Essex Court Chambers, London, specialising in international arbitration, public international law and human rights law. After growing up and going to school in Scotland, she studied law at Cambridge and Oxford, was elected a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford in 1999, called to the Bar in 2000, and appointed Queen’s Counsel (now King’s Counsel) in 2017.
In the field of arbitration, she has two decades of experience advising and representing States, individuals and corporations, in particular in investment arbitrations and related matters. She has a particular interest in environmental and climate change issues as they relate to arbitration. In the field of public international law, she regularly appears before the major international courts and tribunals, including the International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.
Andrew Mackenzie
Andrew leads the Tier 1 ranked dispute resolution practice for DLA Piper across the Middle East, consisting of 8 Partners and 52 disputes associates. He is ranked in Chambers Global, Legal 500 and is listed in Who’s Who Legal as one of the world’s leading dispute lawyers. Andrew works extensively across the Middle East, Europe, Africa and Asia, acting for governments and international corporations, advising on complex commercial disputes under a variety of civil and common law systems. He has been based in Dubai since 2009, is a qualified Scottish Solicitor, English Barrister & Solicitor-Advocate and arbitration law specialist.
As well as advising on complex commercial disputes, Andrew also specialises in construction, engineering and energy disputes. He has tried cases in all of the major arbitration forums including ICSID, ICC, LCIA, SIAC, ADCCAC, UNCITRAL and DIAC. He also holds full rights of audience before the DIFC & ADGM Courts, sits as an arbitrator and has written and presented at numerous international conferences on arbitration and dispute resolution.
Andrew’s client centric and commercial approach is endorsed by client feedback, including, he has “relentless tenacity and absolute client focus” (Chambers Global), “exceptional knowledge” and “a strong commitment to his clients.” (Who’s Who Legal).
Rona Amigues-Macrae
Rona has 10 years’ experience managing multi-jurisdictional commercial arbitrations, litigation, mediation and investor-state arbitrations in top tier private practice law firms in London, Edinburgh, Geneva, Frankfurt and Helsinki. Her main sectors of focus are IT, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, oil & gas, renewable energy, construction and mining. She has acted as counsel in numerous international arbitral proceedings under the rules of various institutions (ICC, LCIA, ICSID and UNCITRAL). She has advised on and negotiated a wide variety of commercial contracts as in-house legal counsel in a leading subsea engineering and construction company in Paris, worked for an independent arbitrator in Zurich and at the ICC Court of Arbitration in Paris. She holds certificates in advanced certificates in ‘IP Management’ and ‘IP and Transfer of Technology’ with the World Intellectual Property Organization and the University of Limpopo, South Africa, a Professional Legal Practice Diploma from the University of Edinburgh and an LLB in Law with European Legal Studies from the Universities of Aberdeen and Helsinki.
Rory McAlpine
Rory McAlpine is a recognized leader in the field of international arbitration and advocacy. He is Of Counsel at Skadden and the chair of the ICC Hong Kong Arbitration Committee. He has handled arbitrations in LCIA, ICC, HKIAC, SIAC, CIETAC, LMAA and UNCITRAL
Mr. McAlpine has three decades of experience in dispute resolution and is one of the most senior disputes lawyers in Asia. He holds rights of audience in England and in Hong Kong. He acts for corporates and financial institutions in complex and multijurisdictional disputes. As well as arbitration, he handles international litigation and alternative dispute resolution. He was one of the very first solicitors to appear in the High Court in England and has conducted dozens of hearings and trials in that jurisdiction and in Asia.
Alan McMillan
Alan has almost 30 years’ experience in disputes work in Scotland and beyond, both as an advocate in arbitrations and as an arbitrator. He is regularly listed as a leading individual in legal directories. His experience ranges across a wide spectrum of the property, energy, and commercial sectors and he has wide experience of acting in contentious planning and other commercial disputes. A solicitor advocate, he has also acted in many high-profile cases. He is an accredited mediator (CEDR), and also has a good awareness of the particular issues surrounding third sector and public sector clients and projects. He has a great deal of experience acting as an arbitrator in Scotland (commercial). He speaks conversational Spanish, and basic Dutch and Thai.
Nesreen Osman
Nesreen is a Partner at Pinsent Masons in Dubai with 15 years’ disputes experience specialising in construction and engineering disputes. Having trained and qualified in Edinburgh, Nesreen moved to Dubai in 2013 and has, for the last 10 years, represented employers, main contractors, subcontractors and consultants from various parts of the world including the GCC, Europe and Asia. She has extensive experience acting as counsel in complex, high value international arbitration in the infrastructure and energy sectors and has advised clients in arbitration under the rules of institutions such as ICC, DIAC, DIFC-LCIA, ADCCAC and QICCA in the Middle East and further afield. Nesreen sits as an arbitrator and is a member of the Board of ArbitralWomen.
Neil Oxford
Neil Oxford is the chair of Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP, an international law firm with offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. A partner in the firm’s Litigation department, he focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation and disputes and internal investigations.
Neil has practiced law in both the United Kingdom and the United States and represents U.S. and non-U.S. clients in a broad range of civil litigation and regulatory matters, including commercial disputes, international arbitrations, anti-corruption investigations and compliance matters. He has significant experience in complex cross-border litigation, including the representation of sovereigns in significant fraud cases.
Neil is the founder and vice president of the Scottish Bar Association of New York and a member of the Law Society of Scotland.
Prior to joining Hughes Hubbard in 2001, Neil qualified as a solicitor in Scotland and practiced commercial litigation at Maclay Murray & Spens LLP in Glasgow.
Neil received his LL.B. from the University of Aberdeen and his LL.M. from the University of Cambridge.
Naomi Pryde
Naomi Pryde specialises in complex commercial litigation and arbitration (both domestic and international). She acts for clients across a broad range of sectors including Consumer Goods, Food & Retail, Real Estate, Infrastructure, Construction and Transport, Media, Sport & Entertainment and Energy & Natural Resources. The majority of Naomi’s matters have an international element. Naomi is a qualified solicitor in all four of the UK and Ireland jurisdictions and a Solicitor Advocate in both Scotland and England & Wales which makes her “an attractive choice for cross-border mandates.”
She has won a number of awards and has featured in several UK-wide talent lists alongside eminent household names. She was named Scotland’s “Lawyer of the Year” in 2021 and was featured in Law.com’s list of “the UK’s top female lawyers under 40.”
Naomi is ranked in the Legal 500 as a “next generation partner” for both commercial and real estate litigation and is featured in Chambers & Partners as an “Up & Coming” Partner for both commercial and real estate litigation.
Brian Reeves
An eminent Arbitrator and Chartered Surveyor, founder of Brian Reeves & Co, formerly a Head of Colliers in Scotland, and active in the Scottish Property market.
Currently sitting on the RICS Scotland Board, appointed January 2023 as Special Adviser to the Scottish Chair, formerly Non-Exec Adviser / Hon Sec, Brian has been heavily involved in numerous RICS Boards over the years, being a former member of RICS Governing Council and Knowledge Board, and Past Chair of various Dispute Resolution Boards including Vice-Chair of the RICS UK Worldwide Professional Group Board.
For the RICS he provided sole evidence at the early/Bill stage of the Arbitration ( Scotland ) Act 2010, and regarded as a leading authority in the field of rent reviews as a member of the RICS Chairman’s Panel of Arbitrators & Independent Experts, contributing also as an author of a number RICS Guidance Notes over the years north and south of the border.
Brian has issued many Awards and Expert Determinations throughout Scotland on major cases in the commercial, industrial, residential and Telecoms sectors, relating to valuation / option, rent review and a wide range of other disputes via appointment by agreement or via professional bodies notably the RICS. He chairs RICS Panels relating to Arbitrators & Independent Experts and currently chairing the Panel interviewing Candidates for the President’s Panel in England & Wales in respect of the new RICS ADR scheme for CPO disputes. Also joint founder of the Scottish CPA.
As a long standing member and strong supporter of the Scottish Arbitration Centre he was appointed an Ambassador in 2019.
Lindsay scott
Lindsay Scott is the CEO of 39 Essex Chambers in London. She previously practiced as a solicitor at Clyde & Co and then Hill Dickinson Davies Campbell before going in-house and working with Informa plc.
She was the CEO of Matrix Chambers for 12 years before joining 39 Essex Chambers as CEO at the end of 2017.
She is very interested in all things related to legal management and is a non-executive director of Investors in People (IIP). She regularly writes and speaks on management issues and has specific interests in developing and retaining legal talent.
Robert Stephen
Described as “very composed”, and a “highly respected figurehead and operator”, Robert Stephen is an internationally recognised arbitration expert, and partner and chief operating officer of leading Abu Dhabi arbitration boutique, Ghaffari Partners.
He is the former Registrar of the DIFC-LCIA Arbitration Centre and Dubai Financial Services Authority’s Financial Markets Tribunal. Prior to that, he practiced with Herbert Smith Freehills in London, Paris, Moscow, and Dubai for more than a decade. He has been based in the United Arab Emirates since 2011.
Robert has acted as counsel in international disputes across a wide range of industries and sectors. He has represented clients from Asia, the Middle East, North America and Western and Eastern Europe in international arbitrations under all the major institutional rules, as well as in ad-hoc proceedings, seated in various jurisdictions and subject to civil and common laws. He also sits as an arbitrator.
In 2020, he was credited in GAR’s Guide to Regional Arbitration with building one of the world’s fastest growing arbitral institutions and the leading arbitral institution with operations in the Middle East and Africa. In the same year, the DIFC-LCIA was awarded the GAR Award for Regional Arbitration Institution that Impressed. He was said to have recruited a “real team” of experienced arbitration practitioners and earned the trust of parties, legal representatives, and arbitrators, which commentators credited to five consecutive years of growth in terms of the caseload of the DIFC-LCIA.
Robert has been recognised in the 2021, 2022 and 2023 editions of Who’s Who Legal Arbitration and described as a “Future Leader”. Peers say he is “professional, thorough and meticulous” and “extremely good at explaining complex issues to people who do not have the detailed knowledge he possesses”. He is said to be “excellent to deal with”, possessing a “real depth of knowledge” and he is further described as a “leading figure” that is said to have “raised the standards of arbitration in the [MENA] region”. He has also been featured in Legal 500’s inaugural Middle East International Arbitration Powerlist 2022.
Robert is a member of the Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge Middle East Sub-Committee, a member of the British Business Group–Dubai and Northern Emirates, the former Chair of the UAE Branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Young Member’s Group, and a former member of the Global Steering Committee of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Young Member’s Group.
He is qualified in England and Wales and read law at the University of Aberdeen and Nottingham Law School.
Susanne Tanner KC
Susanne is an experienced King’s Counsel, Tribunal judge (Chair), barrister (England & Wales) and arbitrator. She became a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in 2019 and is a qualified mediator. In domestic arbitration, she is appointed via various panels (both Scotland and England), including: CCODR Covid-19 related commercial rent disputes; Hunt ADR ABTA travel disputes; Motor Insurers’ Bureau untraced and uninsured drivers’ claims; CIArb Dispute Appointment Scheme for commercial disputes and Faculty of Advocates Dispute Resolution Service. She also receives ad hoc domestic arbitral appointments. In the field of international arbitration she has been appointed as tribunal President in ICC commercial contract disputes.
In her private practice, she has expertise in public law, public inquiries, independent inquiries and reviews; personal injury, clinical negligence, commercial, property and land, landlord and tenant, health and safety, and regulatory matters. She has dealt with many high value and complex disputes. She is currently the Assistant Principal Crown Counsel in Scotland.
As well as being a global international ambassador for the Scottish Arbitration Centre, she was nominated as Scottish representative on the ICC Global Commission of Arbitration, she is an active member of the Scottish Institute of Arbitrators Scottish Branch, participates in the Dublin Forum on International Arbitration and regularly presents at conferences and events on legal and arbitral.
Craig Tevendale
Craig leads Herbert Smith Freehills’ International Arbitration group in London. His practice comprises multi-jurisdictional work subject to a wide range of governing laws. Craig has acted in arbitrations as counsel, advocate and arbitrator in ad hoc proceedings and before all of the major arbitral institutions.
His broader contribution to the arbitral community includes appointments to the ICC UK National Committee for Arbitration, to the ICC Commission upon the nomination of the ICC UK National Committee, to the Advisory Committee of the Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (CRCICA), and as Deputy Chairman at the Advisory Committee to the Oman Arbitration Centre (OAC).
Craig is regularly published on issues relating to private international law, arbitration and energy disputes, and lectures on energy law at the University of London. Fluent in Arabic and French, Craig is frequently instructed in disputes arising from investments, projects and transactions in Africa and the Middle East
Sheila Webster
Sheila graduated from the University of Aberdeen in 1988, and completed her Diploma in Legal Practice there in 1989.
Sheila trained with Brodies, joining the former firm of Menzies Dougal and Milligan on qualification and then working with Dundas & Wilson from 1992 to 2002. After a short break on the birth of her twin daughters, she joined Bell & Scott as a partner and Head of Property Litigation in 2003, joining her present firm in 2009.
Sheila is Head of Davidson Chalmers Stewart’s Dispute Resolution team, representing clients in a wide range of property and commercial disputes across all levels of courts and tribunals. She is a strong proponent of Effective Dispute Resolution, using other processes such as arbitration and mediation to handle many issues outside the confines of the courtroom.
Sheila is FCIArb qualified and regularly sits as an arbitrator on a variety of disputes, both property and business related. She is an Ambassador for the Scottish Arbitration Centre, and speaks regularly at conferences and seminars on handling property and other disputes, and using a wide range of dispute procedures to achieve best outcomes for her clients. She also chairs the WS Society Annual Commercial Dispute Resolution Conference.
As well as her legal practice, Sheila sits on the Council, and Board, of the Law Society of Scotland, representing members in Edinburgh, and is President Elect for 2023-24. She is also a member of the Scottish committee of the Property Litigation Association.
Rob Wilson
Rob Wilson is a partner and Solicitor Advocate at CMS in the firm’s ICE Disputes Group (Infrastructure, Construction and Energy). He is dual qualified (Scotland and England & Wales). Much of Rob’s work is of an international nature and he is often asked to advise on construction/engineering issues. In particular, he has worked with the energy sector since 1998. His practice covers litigation (both in England and Scotland), adjudication, international arbitration (in particular, ICC, LCIA, UNCITRAL and LMAA) and mediation (acting both as mediator (he is CEDR Accredited) and in representing clients). He has advised clients around the world including the UK, Central and Eastern Europe, CIS Countries, the Middle East, Africa, South America and Asia.
With regards to arbitration, Rob co-wrote the Scotland chapter of the CMS Arbitration Guide. He is also a member of the Arbitration Court Users Group in Scotland and was appointed an Ambassador of the Scottish Arbitration Centre in May 2019.