The new members are from diverse professional and geographical backgrounds and include Sanaa Babaa (Director at EY in London), Krystle Baptista (Independent arbitrator in Madrid), Manini Brar (Independent arbitrator in New Delhi), Dilber Devitre (Associate at Homburger in Zurich), Olga Sendetska (Associate at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Frankfurt), and Jae Hee Suh (Senior associate at Allen & Overy in Singapore).
They will join ArbitralWomen Vice President Louise Woods (YAWP Chair and partner at Vinson & Elkins in London) and ArbitralWomen Board members Elizabeth Chan (YAWP Co-Director), Patricia Nacimiento (YAWP Co-Director and partner at Herbert Smith Freehills in Frankfurt) and Cherine Foty (YAWP Steering Committee Liaison and senior associate at Covington & Burling LLP in Washington, D.C.) in leading YAWP’s initiatives. The new Steering Committee has been appointed for a 2-year term, from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2023.
“I am pleased to welcome the 2022 ArbitralWomen YAWP Steering Committee and wish to thank ArbitralWomen Vice President Louise Woods as Chair of YAWP and the outgoing Steering Committee members for all their hard work,” commented ArbitralWomen President Dana MacGrath.
YAWP Chair and ArbitralWomen Vice-President, Louise Woods, says “I am delighted to welcome the incoming 2022 Steering Committee members. YAWP’s activities and profile have grown significantly in the last two years, thanks in large part to our outgoing Steering Committee members’ hard work, enthusiasm and dedication to the organisation’s purpose of promoting young female practitioners. Our diverse and highly-experienced new Steering Committee members are a testament to the quality of women practising in international arbitration today. I am very excited to see what the future holds for YAWP, and our younger members, under their leadership.”
YAWP Co-Director, Elizabeth Chan, says, “I’m excited about the energy and creativity that the new YAWP Steering Committee members will bring to our mission of making international arbitration a more inclusive space for young female practitioners – and indeed, for everyone. We want to help young women practitioners to raise their profiles, to access opportunities, and to participate in skills-building training that will help them succeed in their careers.”
YAWP, the first young networking group established solely for female practitioners, was launched in 2016 by Gabrielle Nater-Bass, former Vice President of ArbitralWomen and partner at Homburger in Zurich. It provides a platform for female practitioners under 40 across the globe to network, develop their careers in arbitration and ADR, and address challenges that typically arise in the early stages of practice.
Recent YAWP initiatives include the YAWP Speaker Panel, which seeks to expand opportunities for YAWP members to participate as speakers or in other relevant roles in arbitration and ADR events; the ArbitralWomen-YAWP Parental Mentorship Programme, which provides a forum for members to share their concerns, experiences and tips on managing professional and parental commitments; and the YAWP Training Workshop Series on Expert Topics, which provides interactive workshops in a small-group setting on topics such as business valuation, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on damages quantification, fraud in financial reporting, and third-party funding. Further information on YAWP and its activities can be found here.
All ArbitralWomen members under the age of 40 automatically become members of YAWP. Those interested in joining are invited to join ArbitralWomen here.
ArbitralWomen also thanks the outgoing YAWP Steering Committee members for their invaluable service and contributions: Aanchal Basur (Partner at AB Law in New Delhi), Katie Hyman (Partner at Rimon Law in Washington D.C.), Montserrat Manzano (Partner at Von Wobeser y Sierra in Mexico City) and Annabelle Möckesch (In-House Counsel at Implenia in Zurich).
Please join us in congratulating the 2022 YAWP Steering Committee Members.
ArbitralWomen is an international non-governmental organisation for the promotion of women and diversity in international dispute resolution. Over the past 29 years, ArbitralWomen has developed many programmes and opportunities to support and promote women in international dispute resolution as well serving as a leader in the efforts to overcome gender bias in the legal profession.