Personal bio
Sophie Tkemaladze is an independent practitioner, mediator, arbitrator as well as an international consultant advising international organizations (UNDP, USAID, GIZ, ADB, GCF) as well as public and private companies on dispute resolution system and policy. Sophie drafted major amendments to the Law of Georgia on Arbitration in 2015, helped draft the first Code of Ethics of Arbitrators in 2014 and designed the first court-annexed mediation Pilot in the country in 2012. She served as an expert in drafting the Law of Georgia on Mediation and was part of the Government of Georgia delegation to the Singapore Convention Signing Ceremony in 2019. As a Chairperson of the Georgian Association of Arbitrators (2017 - 2021) Sophie designed accreditation system for arbitrators and lead the drafting of the GAA’s Ad Hoc arbitration rules. In 2019 - 2022 she served as the Governing Board member of the Mediators’ Association of Georgia. Since September 2022 Sophie is a member of the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR. She is also member of the International Bar Association Committees on Arbitration and Mediation. Sophie has served as an arbitrator in several international commercial disputes under the GIAC (Georgian International Arbitration Center), ICC (International Chamber of Commerce) Court of International Arbitration, DRC (Dispute Resolution Center), as well as a party representative in a number of international arbitrations including under the LCIA Rules. She has been mediating commercial and workplace disputes in the US and in Georgia since 2016. She also mediated community disputes as a consultant to the Asian Development Bank’s Office of the Special Project Facilitator. Sophie is Assistant Professor at New Vision University where she teaches International Commercial Arbitration, Mediation Skills and International Sales Law. She has trained generations of students for Willem C. Vis Arbitration, ICC Commercial Mediation, IBA-VIAC CDRC competition and Sports Arbitration Moots. She is CIArb's approved faculty on arbitration and mediation. As a trainer she has worked with hundreds of judges, lawyers, mediators, arbitrators, public servants and corporate decision-makers in Georgia, Ukraine, Sri-Lanka, Uzbekistan, Armenia and Iraq. Sophie holds Master in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School of Government, LL.M. in International Business Law from Central European University and a Diploma in Law from Tbilisi State University.