History
The Club was originally formed in 2001 as the Oil & Gas Branch of the Arbitration Club. The founder President of the Arbitration Club was Professor D. Mark Cato. The first President of the Oil & Gas Branch was Huw Dundas, who later served as President of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
The Branch inaugural meeting was held on 5 September 2001. The Club became an independent entity after the demise of the Arbitration Club Mother Branch in June 2019. The Branch was renamed the Oil & Gas Arbitration Club and a new Constitution replaced the previous Arbitration Club Rules in governing the management and activities of the new Club. At the 2020 AGM, a vote was held to rename the Club to the “Energy Arbitration Club” was unanimously approved.
The Club has previously had some eminent members and speakers; Rt Hon Lord Fraser of Carmyllie PC QC (previously Solicitor General, Lord Advocate, Minister of State); Rt Hon Lord Mustill (Lord of Appeal in Ordinary), Rt Hon Lord Woolf of Barnes (Lord Chief Justice), Rt Hon Sir Brian Neill (Lord Justice of Appeal). High court Judges, LCIA Directors, CIArb Presidents, many QCs.
The normal format of the bi-monthly Club meetings was set at the beginning. A lunch hosted by a law firm, two speakers giving presentations on matters of interest, lively discussions and Q&A. The records of these meetings with some very interesting subject presentations are available via the club online library.
With Covid-19 restrictions behind us, or bimonthly meetings are now hybrid. There will normally be a physical lunch and meeting in London with a Zoom or Teams remote link.
Currently
The Club has over 220 members (January 2023). Among the membership are lawyers (both law firm and corporate), arbitrators, mediators, expert witnesses, 3rd party funders and others all active in energy industry disputes. To become a member, you must be professionally involved in energy dispute resolution, whether that is ADR or litigation.
The general Club meetings are still held every two months, usually but not always on the second Wednesday in the month starting at 13:00 UK time. The first meeting of the year is in January, the last meeting which is also the AGM is in November. Topics are varied and are a good resource, given the expertise of the presenters.
The Committee is actively looking at ways to improve what the Club offers to members, such as evening talks by eminent guest speakers and increasing the diversity of the membership, particularly with ladies (currently 30% of the membership); also younger people who have started a career involving energy related dispute resolution. We have a Young Energy Arbitrators Club within the club to help those early in their careers, with a sub-committee who arranges their own events. You can select this as an option when you join, or let the Secretary know that you want to be added to the YEAC.
The agenda for each meeting has a list of attendees, with a photo and brief bio of each. This helps the members recognise who is who and be able to put faces to names after the meeting.
Joining the Club
First please go to Documents - Reference Documents and review the Constitution and Privacy Policy. If you are OK with these and are professionally involved in Energy industry dispute resolution, you are welcome to join. Annual fee 2023; £30. Once a paid up member, you will be invited to come to the meetings and other events. You can apply to join from the Home page.
Corporate memberships are available for up to 6 named members for £100 annual fee. If you need more than 6, you can take out another corporate membership.