DELOS ARRIVES IN LONDON (#LONDAP) | Delos Dispute Resolution

Delos marks two new milestones: President goes full time as Delos prepares to set up a new hearing centre in London

Delos Dispute Resolution is proud to share that its President and co-founder, Hafez Virjee, is now working full time at the institution. Hafez was an international arbitration senior associate at Dechert (Paris) LLP (see bio here and LinkedIn here).

Hafez has further relocated from Paris to London to spearhead Delos's operations in London with Iain McKenny, another Delos founder who is also Director and co-founder of third-party funder Profile Investment. Having been based out of Paris for the past five years, this London initiative will allow Delos to expand its international footprint; Delos will retain its registered address in Paris.

Delos is further proud to announce that it is in the process of establishing a new, modern and reasonably-priced, hearing centre in London. Indeed, according to the GAR-CIArb Seat Index for London (2018), “London would benefit from even more capacity” for hearing facilities and is falling short “in the face of competition from newer centres that offer … state-of-the-art hearing facilities.”

As part of Delos’s goal to improve efficiency in arbitration, the hearing centre will include an access programme for smaller disputes and more modest users. Indeed, access to justice is not solely about providing an efficient arbitration system for the resolution of disputes; it also requires access to well-equipped and affordable facilities.

This initiative, led by Hafez and Iain, is known as 'LONDAP', namely 'London - Delos ADR Place'. The name reflects the fact that, in addition to hearing facilities, LONDAP will also include a conference centre for use by the international arbitration community, and offices for Delos. LONDAP will be run by a well-known operator and the plan is to open the space in the first half of 2020.

LONDAP is being set up so as to allow the international arbitration community to own a significant share in it, on the example of other hearing centres. Where LONDAP differs, however, is in seeking to bring together the global community rather than just that in London, and in making the opportunity available to younger practitioners as well. This is part of Delos's broader philosophy of serving the community across all arbitration hubs, both large and the lesser-known ones, and to bring together the different generations of the community.

Further information

The above was reported on by the Global Arbitration Review (GAR) in its 3 May 2019 article "Delos founder moves to London", by the Global Legal Post in its 7 May 2019 article "London to get new disputes hearing centre" and by Law360 in its 8 May 2019 article "Delos Prez Leaves Dechert To Focus On London Efforts".

For enquiries about LONDAP, please write to londap@delosdr.org.