The United Kingdom has appointed Dr Jan Kleinheisterkamp to the ICSID Panel of Conciliators for the settlement of disputes between states and foreign investors. The International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) of the World Bank Group, created and regulated by the Washington Convention of 1965, offers support with the resolution of investment disputes through arbitration and conciliation. Similar to mediation, conciliation is a cooperative non-adversarial dispute resolution process with the goal to clarify the issues in dispute between the parties and to endeavour to bring about a settlement on mutually acceptable terms.
Dr Kleinheisterkamp’s research and teaching at LSE focuses on international transactions and arbitration as well as investment law. Building on a rich experience as an international arbitrator in commercial matters, also involving state entities, he is since 2019 a qualified mediator (CEDR) and is further developing his interest in mediation and conciliation. Dr Kleinheisterkamp works also in German, French, Spanish and Portuguese. He has previously served as a member of the Governing Body for Dispute Resolution Services of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the ICC Task Force on Emergency Arbitrator Proceedings, and the Advisory Group for International Arbitration of the UK Government.
This was the first open competition for UK appointment to the ICSID Panels of Arbitrators and Conciliators, which the Department for International Trade (DTI) qualified as “highly competitive”. Among the other UK appointees is, on the Panel of Arbitrators, Sir Christopher Greenwood, a professor for international law at LSE until he became a judge at the International Court of Justice, following the steps of Dame Roselyn Higgins, who was also his predecessor at the LSE Law Department.
Click here to read the UK DTI announcement