Funding & Managing Dispute Resolution Conference

Event Review

Exporta’s Funding & Managing Dispute Resolution Conference, in partnership with Omni Bridgeway, attracted high level delegates from in-house legal counsels, private practices, insurers, finance directors and independent legal advisors to discuss key industry topics and share their experiences in dispute resolution.

As an established event, the conference attracted a prominent European presence with attendees from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Switzerland, Portugal, Spain, Austria, Belgium and Sweden as well as delegates from many other parts of the world, including the United States, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Russia to name but a few.

The agenda focused on the various challenges and opportunities for specialist operators in dispute resolution to minimise costs through forum shopping, utilising favourable jurisdictions and exploring funding options, whilst also maximising results by calculating damages, overcoming practical hurdles to boost recoveries and formulating interest.

As with all Exporta events, networking was a prominent part of the day. Delegates were able to share their experiences and converse with their peers in the venue’s grand surroundings and scenic views across Amsterdam.
 

Description

Exporta once again teams up with Omni Bridgeway, the claims recovery specialist, to host the annual Funding & Managing Dispute Resolution Conference in the picturesque city of Amsterdam. Following the success of previous years’ events, this conference will add clarity to the increasingly complex issues surrounding third party funding and the legal challenges in national and cross-border trade, claims and dispute resolution.

As an established and thriving specialist event, the day’s agenda will include leading industry experts who will share their expertise on an array of key issues including current developments in litigation funding, limiting costs and risks, settlement options, commercial arbitration, damages, maximising recoverability, legal challenges involving political risk jurisdictions as well as many other market-defining topics.

Delegates will be able to participate in debates following panel discussions, gain insightful perspectives through corporate case studies and individual presentations as well as being able to network with the many high level decision makers in attendance during the many networking breaks.

Among the topics to be discussed over the course of the day:
• Current developments in litigation funding: Threats or opportunities?
• How to forum shop to reduce costs and risks
• How to minimise, share and recuperate costs
• What are your funding options?
• How to overcome the practical hurdles of relationships between funders and lawyers
• How to calculate single and multi-party damages, currency loss and post-award interest
• How to overcome legal and practical hurdles to maximise results
• Case studies: Successes and failures

Who should attend?
• In-house legal counsel
• Partners and associates in private practice
• Insurance underwriters and brokers
• Reinsurance providers
• CFOs, finance directors and treasurers
• Trade, export and commodity finance heads and directors
• Deal brokers and financiers
• Independent consultants and legal advisors
• Export credit agencies and multilaterals
 

Event Photos

Brochure

Programme

08.00 Registration and refreshments

09.00 Chairman’s opening remarks
Wieger Wielinga, Managing Partner, Omni Bridgeway

09.10 Developments in litigation funding
David Herlihy, Counsel, Litigation and International Arbitration, Skadden
• The socio-economic history of litigation funding
• Current EU developments: Do funders need to be afraid?
• Tracking other developments in litigation funding

09.30 Panel discussion: How to forum shop to reduce costs
Moderator: Jean-Claude Najar, General Counsel France & Senior Counsel Europe, GE
Thabiso van den Bosch, Partner, Conway & Partners
Adam Johnson, Partner, Dispute Resolution, Herbert Smith
Louis Flannery, Partner, Head of Arbitration, Stephenson Harwood
• How different legal systems (civil and common law; arbitral fora) can affect the financial and time costs of resolving disputes
• Drafting contracts to best position your company or client
• Arranging your affairs once the dispute has started to take advantage of more favourable jurisdictions

10.30 Networking break

11.00 Panel discussion: How to minimise, share and recuperate your costs
Moderator: Laurent Geelhand de Merxem, General Counsel Europe, Michelin
Ben Hawkins, Managing Director, Commercial Litigation Funding
Liz Snodgrass, Senior Associate, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Selvyn Seidel, Chairman, Fulbrook Management
• Exploring trends in cost sharing
• Examining the merits of each funding option
• Examining your options, such as cooperating through a funding arrangement, assignment or group claim

12.15 Challenges in cooperation between funders and lawyers
Kate Stevens, Partner, Stevens & Bolton
• Outlining fundamental challenges to the relationship
• How to overcome the practical hurdles of cooperation between funders and lawyers
• Future trends and relationship development

12.35 Lunch

13.50 Panel discussion: Calculating damages
Moderator: Christopher M. Paparella, Partner, Hughes Hubbard
Carlos Lapuerta, Principal, The Brattle Group
Lisa Richman, Associate, K&L Gates
Maarten Pieter Schinkel, Professor of Competition Economics & Regulation, University of Amsterdam
• Latest legal developments in calculating damages
• Allocating costs
• Calculating interest (including post-award interest), currency loss, windfall taxes on damages and punitive damages
• Calculating damages in cartel and securities cases
• Recuperating the costs of litigation funding

14.50 Networking break

15.20 How to overcome legal and practical hurdles to maximise recoveries
Moderator: Walter Remmerswaal, Partner, Omni Bridgeway
George J. Pollack, Partner, Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg
Uwe Hornung, Partner, Clifford Chance
Winfried van den Muijsenbergh, Partner, Loyens & Loeff
• How to limit legal hurdles to recoverability, such as immunity
• How to overcome practical hurdles to recoverability, such as incorrect counterparties or insufficient assets
• Case studies: Successes and failures

16.35 Limits to legal solutions
Moderator: Wieger Wielinga, Managing Partner, Omni Bridgeway
Hans Humes, President & CIO, Greylock Capital
• How effective is ICSID arbitration as a recovery tool?
• Lessons from arbitrating against Argentina
• What to do when enforcement is not an option
• Case studies from Argentina, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Sudan

17.00 Conference wrap-up
Selvyn Seidel, Chairman, Fulbrook Management

17.25 Chairman’s closing remarks followed by evening networking reception

Venue

Accommodation

Delegates are responsible for the arrangement and payment of their own travel and accommodation. 

Upon registering to attend this event, Exporta will inform you of how to book accommodation at the venue.

Sponsors

Sponsorship opportunities including exhibition stands are available for this event.

To become a sponsor, please contact Tom Whitehead, Head of Sponsorship Sales at twhitehead@exportagroup.com.

Exporta's events have a global reputation, renowned for superb networking opportunities and educational presentations by high-profile speakers.

Time after time our events attract the leading companies in our market as sponsors.

See below for a full list of our Event Sponsors, Institutional Partners and Media Partners and click on the logo to visit their web site. 

Delegate Packs