Lecture "Ethical Perspectives on Arbitration Agreements"

Speaker: Honorary Professor Dominic Spenser Underhill

Topic: “Ethics in International Arbitration. Are arbitration agreements relational contracts? Some ethical perspectives”

The QM-UNIDROIT Institute for Transnational Commercial Law (ITCL), co-directed by Professor Anna Veneziano and Professor Rosa Lastra, is launching the QM-UNIDROIT Lecture Series coordinated by Dr Kamala Dawar. It will run from mid-October 2025 until December 2026. The aim of the lecture series is to share the wide expertise of the Advisory Board along with the indispensable role of UNIDROIT in the harmonisation of transnational commercial law. The in-person lectures will be followed by a networking opportunity at CCLS to allow for further discussions and interactions.

Dominic Spenser Underhill is a City-qualified solicitor and full-time international arbitrator with more than 35 years’ experience resolving high-value, complex disputes across a wide range of industries, with particular strength in international banking, finance, and project finance matters involving multiple jurisdictions. Having previously led international arbitration practices in London and Paris before founding Spenser Underhill Newmark LLP in 2007, he now sits as a panel arbitrator in institutional and ad hoc proceedings, including under the ICC, HKIAC, LCIA, UNCITRAL, and SIAC rules, and serves on specialist finance panels, notably at HKIAC. Alongside practice, he is an Honorary Professor at Queen Mary University of London and module leader of the LLM course Ethics in International Arbitration, a long-standing Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and a CEDR-accredited mediator. He was formerly a Visiting Professor at the University of Turin. He has also contributed extensively to the development of international arbitration through roles with bodies such as the ICC Arbitration and ADR Commission, the LCIA European User Council, and UNIDROIT, as well as through teaching, publications, and speaking engagements worldwide.