ArbFest 2025
*** Scottish Arbitration Centre event ***
The Scottish Arbitration Centre are organising the next Edinburgh International Arbitration Festival (ArbFest2025) which will take place on the 4 and 5 September 2025.
ArbFest2025 will be supported by ICCA. Ampersand’s Brandon Malone and Lise Bosman return as Co-Creative Directors of the Main Festival.
Themes for ArbFest2025:
- Space Arbitration (“Space Arbitration: Charting a Course for Dispute Resolution in the Final Frontier”)
- Arbitration Ethics (“Between Norms and Nations: Arbitration Ethics at a Crossroads”)
Visit Scottish Arbitration Centre’s website for more details.
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Arbitration for the Scottish Energy Sector
*** Scottish Arbitration Centre event ***
The Scottish Arbitration Centre is organising an event on Arbitration for the Scottish Energy Sector in Aberdeen on 19 June. The event is sponsored and hosted by Burness Paull at their Aberdeen offices located at 2, Marischal Square, Broad St, Aberdeen AB10 1DQ, and supported by the CIArb Northern Branch and Aberdeen Bar Association.
This free event will focus on dispute resolution, including arbitration, in the energy sector in Scotland and provide perspectives from in-house counsel in the oil and gas and renewables sectors, as well as local counsel and arbitrators. Gillian Carmichael Lemaire (Chair of the Centre) will moderate a panel involving Ampersand’s Brandon Malone (Arbitrator and Advocate and a Director of the Centre), Alice Leggat (Legal Manager at SSE and a Director of the Centre), Neil Smith (Partner at Burness Paull), Grant Walker (General Counsel and Company Secretary at Dana Petroleum).
Visit Scottish Arbitration Centre’s website for more details.
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Sean White
Sean White called to the Bar in 2024, having enjoyed a varied civil litigation practice as a solicitor.
He practices mainly in commercial litigation, with particular interest in construction and property disputes, commercial contracts and professional and clinical negligence.
Sean came to the Bar with already impressive representative experience, having appeared in various courts and tribunals in Scotland, where he has conducted proofs, debates and other contentious and non-contentious hearings for pursuers and defenders. He has represented businesses and individuals in a range of complex and high-value cases.
Before calling to the Bar, Sean worked as a Senior Solicitor in the commercial disputes team of a well-known Scottish firm, where he focussed principally on construction and energy sector disputes. During this time, he worked on many Court of Session litigations and gained experience in different forms of alternative dispute resolution, including mediation, arbitration and adjudication.
He previously trained and worked with an Edinburgh-based litigation firm, during which time he represented clients in a range of cases, covering commercial contracts, professional and clinical negligence, personal injury, interdict and judicial review, amongst other things.
During devilling, Sean gained further experience in construction, property, professional and clinical negligence, commercial contract, company and insolvency litigation.
Selected cases:
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Kirsty Shaw
Kirsty Shaw called to the Bar in 2024, having previously worked as a solicitor at a leading commercial law firm.
Kirsty practices principally in the field of commercial disputes and has particular experience of construction project litigation. She also has considerable experience in professional liability, insolvency and property litigation. In addition, Kirsty has an interest in public and planning law and clinical negligence.
She has represented a broad range of clients in a number of complex disputes of substantial value in court and at arbitration, adjudication and mediation.
Kirsty is currently a tutor in Contract law and Unjustified Enrichment, Commercial law and Evidence at the University of Edinburgh.
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Brandon Malone joins Dubai arbitration panel
Ampersand’s Brandon Malone has been admitted to the panel of Arbitrators of the Dubai International Arbitration Centre, the MENA region’s largest alternative dispute resolution centre.
Brandon has a strong interest in Dubai and has rights of audience before the DIFC Courts, where Lord Glennie, his successor as chairman of the Scottish Arbitration Centre is a judge.
In addition to the DIAC, he is a member of the arbitrator rosters of other arbitral institutions in the region, including the SCCA in Riyadh, the BCDR, Bahrain, and ADGM, Abu Dhabi.
For a number of years, he has worked on MENA cases with fellow Aberdonian and former head of legal at John Wood Group PLC, Hugh Fraser, of Hugh Fraser International, who has been based the Middle East for 16 years.
He said: “There is a great deal of opportunity for Scottish lawyers in the Middle East. As well as developments in the energy sector, some of the largest construction and infrastructure projects in the world are being built there right now.”
Brandon will be speaking on artificial intelligence in arbitration at a Jus Mundi event during Riyadh International Disputes Week in March.
Brandon Malone joins Dubai arbitration panel | Scottish Legal News
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Ampersand Advocates Recognised in The Best Lawyers in the United Kingdom 2024 Edition
Ampersand Advocates is thrilled to announce seven members have been included in the esteemed group of legal professionals recognised in the 2024 edition of The Best Lawyers in the United Kingdom. The accolades were officially published on 8 June 2023 on bestlawyers.com.
The inclusion in Best Lawyers is a result of a rigorous peer-review survey. The founding principle of Best Lawyers, unchanged since 1981, forms the basis of their transparent methodology: the best lawyers know who the best lawyers are.
The advocates from Ampersand Advocates who have been recognised in the 2024 edition of The Best Lawyers in the United Kingdom are:
Ampersand Advocates congratulates all for their well-deserved recognition and extends its appreciation to the legal community for their continued support and trust.
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