Ciarb’s North America (NAB) and Brazil Branches, and the University of  Miami, School of Law, joined forces this year to offer the Capacity Sharing Program (CSP) in three Brazilian regions that are traditionally less exposed to alternative dispute resolution mechanisms – Manaus in the North of the country, Goiânia in the Middle-West and João Pessoa in the Northeast of Brazil. 

This is the second cross-cultural program launched by Ciarb NAB, the pilot project took place in Samoa in June 2019, and was spearheaded by Amb. (r) David Huebner C.Arb FCIArb, who is on the Ciarb Board of Trustees and Katherine Smith Dedrick, FCIArb JD MBA, Chair of Ciarb NAB.

The Brazil Arbitration CSP was a huge success, attracting over 1,300 people, 82% of whom were in Brazil, during the week of 10 to 14 October 2022. Mauricio Gomm FCIArb and Rose Rameau FCIArb acted as Ciarb / CSP Co-chairs and Carol Santoro ACIArb as Secretary Executive. Their outstanding work and contribution to all aspects of the program, from the topics covered to the format and delivery, determined the success of the event for which we give special thanks. 

The CSP offered world-class arbitration training to arbitrators, practitioners, and students across the country. It started in the city of João Pessoa in the northeast of Brazil. Local universities are ranked the best in arbitration moot practices, as they are found to create a positive impact for the promotion of ADR practitioners in the entire region. The team then travelled to Goiânia, a leading city in the Brazilian agribusiness and finally to Manaus, the main city in the Amazon rainforest.

The two-day bi-lingual educational program covered a range of topics relating to arbitration, including the advantages of arbitration, the scope of arbitration clauses, arbitral institutions, place of arbitration, applicable law, procedures, and timelines. The faculty comprised leading figures in the field of international and Brazilian arbitration. Katherine Smith Dedrick, FCIArb JD MBA, Chair of Ciarb North America Branch, Napoleão Casado Filho FCIArb, Chair of Ciarb Brazil Branch,  and Caroline Bradley, Associate Dean of University of Miami, School of Law gave opening  addresses. They were  followed by Professor Franco Ferrari from New York University, School of Law as keynote speaker in Goiânia, and by Professor Julian D. M. Lew from Queen Mary University, London as keynote speaker in Manaus. 

A fourth partner on the ground, the Curso Prático de Arbitragem (CPA), supported Ciarb’s NAB and Ciarb Brazil Branch‘s program, inviting registered delegates to answer questions on the key principles of arbitration in order to ascertain the general levels of knowledge prior to the program. Their answers will enable the CPA to inform future educational projects in the region, tailoring programmes even more effectively for students of arbitration.