I remember well the first arbitration hearing in which I pled before a tribunal that was not comprised of three senior white men. As I commented to the one female arbitrator—finding myself alone with her in the ladies bathroom—international arbitration hearings must be the one place on the planet where the queues are always outside the gents.
Sylvia Noury
That hearing took place some ten years ago. A lot has changed since then. The last five years in particular have witnessed concrete progress in terms of gender diversity, as well as an awakening within the arbitration community to the importance of broader diversity in our practice. No longer is it considered acceptable for international arbitrations to be adjudicated by a small and homogenous pool of arbitrators.
