International Arbitration
In recent years there has been a significant increase in the use of arbitration as a means of resolving high-value, international disputes. Different arbitration bodies have their own procedural rules. Still, as with court proceedings, the need to persuade a decision maker remains.
Representing clients effectively in arbitration is a skill which can be learned and practised. Winning in arbitration requires even more refined techniques.
CPD's specialist advocacy program for Arbitration professionals is very much in demand.
On this course, delegates learn specialist questioning skills such as direct and re-direct examination and cross-examination. They are also taught to present a complex case simply and persuasively. The course also examines the role of the expert witness in arbitration.
Peter Lyons is the lead trainer on the Arbitration courses. Other trainers assisting with the courses are Dame Elish Angiolini DBE QC, Fiona Donnelly, Frances Kirkham CBE and Her Honour Judge Nancy Vaidik.
Course Leader
Peter Lyons has been a specialist advocacy and dispute resolution trainer since 1995. He is a barrister and solicitor who was admitted to the Bar in Australia in 1987. In 1995, he was appointed Course Leader of Nottingham Law School's Master's Degree in Advanced Litigation.
In 1998, the College of Law asked him to assist in founding the Institute of Advocacy and Dispute Management. He was appointed an Associate Professor in 2000 and was made Professor of Professional Development and Head of Programmes in 2002. He founded CPD Training (UK) in 2005 and he is currently the Assistant Course Leader for the LLM in Advocacy at the University of Strathclyde.
He has written and delivered major programmes for the Bar Council of England & Wales, the UK Financial Services Authority and the Hong Kong and Singapore Law Societies.
He has written and delivered major programmes for the Bar Council of England & Wales, the UK Financial Services Authority and the Hong Kong and Singapore Law Societies. He designed the Public Access course for the UK Bar Council and the very successful Higher Rights programme and Diploma in Advocacy for the College of Law. He has also designed and delivered their Advocacy and Communications course.
Training Expertise
The overwhelming majority of the courses set out below were written by Peter Lyons at the request of the clients and in accordance with their training needs.
International Arbitration Advocacy Training
London: O’Melveny and Myers 2008, Baker Botts and Freshfields 2009, Skadden Arps 2010, Freshfields 2010, Cleary Gottlieb 2013, Eversheds 2013
Paris: Linklaters 2007, 2008, 2009
Barcelona: Linklaters 2007
Zurich: Bär & Karrer 2012
Prague: Linklaters 2006
Vienna: Linklaters 2008, CMS Academy 2009, 2012
Amsterdam: Clifford Chance 2002
Milan: Clifford Chance 2007
International Trial Advocacy Training
Indianapolis: 2006-2011
Colorado Nationals: 2007
Boston: 2005-2008
Hobart: 2012
Hong Kong: 1999-2002
Singapore: 2000
Belfast: 2008-2013
What the clients say
"CMS is a regular user of Peter Lyons and his team for advocacy and other contentious training. Peter is able to bring out the best in our delegates no matter what their level of experience. His teaching techniques are tried and tested and have proven to make a difference."
Partner, Solicitor Advocate, CMS
"Peter Lyons taught me Higher Rights of Audience for 6 days. I have been practising for many years but I still learned new things about advocacy.
He kept it fresh, interesting and I relished the opportunity to develop and hone my advocacy techniques. He stresses the importance of Case Analysis and I agree wholeheartedly.
I then hired CPD Training to teach arbitration advocacy to my team at O'Melveny and Myers. The course was excellent.
When I moved to Skadden Arps to head up Arbitration and Litigation in Europe, I called on Peter Lyons again. He delivered an intensive and valuable skills course to a team of highly-talented arbitration lawyers which culminated in a mock arbitration hearing before a former High Court judge.
My team were very happy with what they learned and found that the course stretched them, improved them and made them think. We intend to get CPD Training and Peter Lyons back again very soon."
Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (UK) LLP
"We have repeatedly worked with CPD Training and we will do so again in the future."
"I can strongly recommend them as they provide really top class training on the full range of advocacy skills, required by arbitration lawyers."
Head of Arbitration for CMS Hasche Sigle
"I very much enjoyed the CPD Training organised by Peter Lyons and his team; educational, challenging, professional and entertaining. I can only warmly recommend it, especially to continental law firms practising international arbitration."
Partner , Bär & Karrer AG
"I am very impressed with Peter Lyons' ability to teach a subject matter such as cross-examination, which is difficult at the best of times. Peter made it easy, enjoyable and interesting for everyone in our team. Even after 20 years of practising advocacy, Peter has proved to me that there is always something new to learn."
Head of Litigation & Arbitration, Linklaters LLP, Paris
David Foster, an experienced arbitration advocate and a partner at the London offices of international law firm O'Melveny and Myers has no doubt about the effectiveness of the advocacy training.
"I was impressed by Peter Lyons' genuine enthusiasm for the subject, as well as the content of the courses he has arranged and taught. Everyone in our team, no matter how experienced, learnt a lot from them. The courses were very productive as a team building exercise, and everyone commented that they found them well suited to arbitration advocacy, as well as being very enjoyable."
Partner, O'Melveny and Myers LLP
"Continental lawyers involved in international arbitration need to be thoroughly familiar with all aspects of cross examining a witness or an expert, otherwise they might lose the case only because they are just not familiar with it. The intensive programme of Peter Lyons and his team really made us realise how effective a good cross examination can be. His practical exercises are fun and realistic."
Partner, CMS Derks Star Busmann
The CMS Arbitration Academy met in Vienna in April 2009 where it launched a superb publication, The CMS Guide to Arbitration. The book, edited by Torsten Lörcher and Zannis Mavrogordato, is a comprehensive and accessible guide to arbitration in Europe for business leaders.
At the same time, CPD Training (UK) presented an intensive two-day training course on arbitration skills. Here is the reaction of some of the delegates who took the course.
"I attended a cross-examination training of CPD. Peter Lyons and his team enabled me to develop my thoughts and skills into a field which was previously rather nebulous to me, being a trained civil lawyer: the art of witness (cross-) examination. The best possible examination of witnesses is key in many international arbitration procedures. Consequently, I am convinced that the training results in a direct benefit for our clients and our success in arbitral practice. Excellent!"
Attorney at Law, CMS von Erlach Henrici AG, Zürich
"I am amazed with CPD Training group. Peter Lyons teaching proficiency kept the attention of all the lawyers from the beginning to the end of the course, providing confidence to all the participants to improve their skills with direct participation. It is really incredible how training could be found so amusing and useful by lawyers from more than 8 countries around the world."
CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre Mercosur, Buenos Aires
"I have done Examination Skills in International Arbitration training by CPD. I was particularly impressed by the level of teachers combining the insights of their professional careers with brilliant teaching skills. The diversity of both national and professional backgrounds (coaches were both from the private sector and the judiciary as well as from different parts of the globe) helped see the examination of a witness not from only the attorney's perspective, but also with the eyes of the arbitration panel. Experience and credentials of the trainers were amazing; however, their performances even exceeded my expectations. Definitely a thing to do for anyone who considers himself as an international arbitration professional firmly committed to constant professional development."
CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz, Ukraine
The Training Team
Dame Elish Angiolini DBE QC
Dame Elish Angiolini DBE QC is an accomplished teacher who was Scotland's first female Lord Advocate from 2006 to 2011. Dame Elish was the first solicitor to hold the post which is the highest law office in Scotland. She was also the first woman in modern times to become Solicitor General, a position she held from 2001 to 2006.
In 2006, First Minister Jack McConnell praised her work as Solicitor General saying the decision to appoint her was one of the best he had ever made.
Dame Elish served as Lord Advocate under the Labour administration before being re-appointed by Alex Salmond when the Nationals came to power in 2007. She was instrumental in reforming the justice system making it more responsive to the victims of crime.
Dame Elish was awarded the DBE by the Queen for services to the administration of justice.
She is a visiting professor at Strathclyde University and is currently preparing the first LLm in Advocacy which will commence in October 2012. She has been appointed as the principal of St Hugh's College, Oxford.
Dame Elish has delivered advocacy training programmes in the U.S. and Northern ireland and was a member of CPD's training team at an arbitration advocacy training seminar in Zurich for Bär and Karrer.
Fiona Donnelly
Fiona Donnelly, the Associate Director of the Institute of Professional Legal Studies at Queen's University, Belfast, has been a legal practitioner since 1985.
The Institute is the primary training organisation for solicitors and barristers in Northern Ireland. Fiona designs, teaches and examines courses in litigation and advocacy. She is also the Head of Quality and is responsible for setting and maintaining standards of excellence in teaching and assessment.
In 2006, Fiona was appointed by the Lord Chancellor to be a Commissioner on the Northern Ireland Legal Services Commission. She chairs the Registration Working Group and the Civil Fees Working Group of the Legal Services Commission. She also chairs the Children Order Panel Accreditation Board of the Law Society of Northern Ireland. Fiona is a regular contributor to BBC news and documentary programmes.
As a key member of the Advocacy Working Party, she and Tony Caher created an advocacy training course which has gained statutory recognition as the basis of qualification for Solicitor Advocates in Northern Ireland. Fiona is now Chair of the Advocacy Working Party.
Fiona is regularly invited to teach in Boston on the National Institute for Trial Advocacy's New England Programme. She has taught arbitration advocacy in Vienna and was invited to be an Assistant Team Leader on NITA's National Session in Boulder, Colorado.
For several years, she has been a member of the faculty on the Republic of Ireland and Scottish Advocacy courses and has been responsible for the development of an inter-jurisdictional course, which takes place annually. Fiona has also trained public bodies including the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland.
She heads the Advocacy group of the Law Society of Northern ireland and each year conducts a week-long training course in Belfast which leads to Higher Rights of Audience.
Fiona has taught arbitration advocacy for Linklaters in Vienna and Bär and Karrer in Zurich.
Frances Kirkham CBE
Frances Kirkham is a recently retired commercial judge who was an arbitration practitioner for over 30 years. She is particularly familiar with techniques that are persuasive to arbitration panels.
For 10 years, she was the Presiding Judge in the Birmingham Technology & Construction Court (TCC).
In this role she case managed and tried cases in the High Court and County Courts but principally dealt with disputes in specialist jurisdictions such as the TCC, Mercantile, Chancery Division and Administrative Courts.
She worked for the Bank of England and Lloyd's Bank before becoming a solicitor. In practice, she represented for many clients in arbitration proceedings, mainly in construction and engineering disputes.
During the 1980s and early 1990s she was a partner at Edge and Ellison and D.L.A and was involved in numerous arbitrations, resolving mainly travel industry cases.
As a TCC judge, she was appointed arbitrator in cases with substantial sums in issue, concerning the design and construction of facilities.
She served as a Judicial Appointments Commissioner for 5 years and in that time took part in devising and delivering qualifying tests and training and role play courses for candidates applying for judicial appointment.
As a legal trainer, Ms Kirkham delivered courses in advocacy for the Society of Construction Law; practical mediation training at Nottingham Law School (where she was a member of the Advisory Board of the Centre of Advanced Litigation) and taught judges for the Judicial Studies Board.
Frances was a member of the CPD Training team in Vienna in March 2012 for CMS.
Her Honour Judge Nancy Vaidik
Judge Nancy Vaidik is an advocacy teacher of considerable experience and reputation. She has been a judge of the Indiana Court of Appeals since February 2000. Before her elevation to the appellate court, she served for 7 years as a trial court judge in Valparaiso, Indiana.
She began her legal career as a prosecutor before practising general civil law. While practising law, she tried nearly 100 jury trials.
Her Honour teaches regularly throughout the United States for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA). She also runs the Mid-Central Regional Trial Skills program. She is an adjunct professor of law at Indiana University School of Law, Bloomington.
Judge Vaidik is the former president of the Indiana Judges Association and former chairperson of the Indiana Judicial Education Committee.
She also has taught for the National Judicial College, the Hong Kong Institute for Trial Advocacy, the Irish Law Society and is currently a visiting professor of law at the College of Law of England and Wales. In 2006 Nancy Vaidik won the Robert E. Keeton Award for Outstanding Service as a NITA Faculty Member. She has taught arbitration advocacy for Linklaters in Prague and Barcelona for the College of Law, she has trained lawyers in arbitration advocacy for CPD Training in Vienna on two occasions and Zurich and in negotiation training in Brussels.
Course Contact Details
For more furthar information about the Arbitration courses please contact peter.lyons@cpdtraining.net
Courses
