- Arbitration, mediation and negotiation
- Construction and engineering
- Oil, gas and energy projects
- England and Wales (1971)
- Hong Kong (1983)
- Member of Arbitration Chambers (2016 – present)
- Partner of Pinsent Masons LLP (1972 – 2014)
- Head of Construction & Engineering Department
- Managing Partner
- Chairman of the Board
- Senior Partner
- Executive Board Member
- Senior Partner (Asia Pacific)
- Head of Beijing Office
John’s practice has had an international focus since the late 1970s. He has been involved with disputes and projects in many parts of the world, including Africa, South America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Russia, The Middle East, The Gulf, Asia Pacific and China. In 2003, he moved to Hong Kong. For four years, John also practiced from Dubai. In 2007, he moved to Beijing from where he specialized in disputes involving Chinese SOEs and other Chinese organisations.
Arbitration Experience
John has a lifetime experience of arbitration acting as Arbitrator, Advocate (Counsel) and Solicitor in, he estimates, more than two hundred and fifty arbitrations under various domestic and international arbitration rules including ICC, LCIA, SCC, CIETAC, HKIAC, SIAC, AFSA, DIFC, SHIAC, ADCCAC and UNCITRAL. John was Chairman of the Joint Consultative Committee of the LCIA.
ADR and Dispute Board Experience
John has been involved in ADR since the early stages of ADR in the UK and was Dean of the Faculty of Mediation and ADR. He has been recognized in the main directories for his expertise in the world of Mediation both as Mediator and Party Representative. He has been involved in more than 60 mediations.
His first experience of Dispute Boards was as the lead English Lawyer for the contractors building the Channel Tunnel in the early 1990s. He has been involved in more than 30 DABs both as Party Representative and DB member. He is a member of the Dispute Resolution Board Foundation.
John regularly gives lectures and seminars and has lectured at Universities such as Tsinghua University, Peking University, Renmin University, National ChengChi University, Taipei and the University of Western Sydney, Kings’ College London. Other Bodies for whom John has lectured include Lighthouse Clubs, Hong Kong and Malaysia; Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Hong Kong, Birmingham and East Anglia, Society of Construction Law, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia; HKIAC; CIETAC; BAC; IBEC; WTO.
Appointments currently held include:
- Panel member of CIETAC, BIAC, SIAC, SHIAC, AFSA, LCIA
- Founding Fellow of the International Academy of Construction Lawyers (an association of 60 of the world’s leading construction lawyers)
- Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Building
- Chartered Construction Manager
- Honorary Grade A Accredited Professional of IBEC
- Honorary Fellow of the Faculty of Building
- Committee member of the Society of Construction Arbitrators
- Member of the Hong Kong ICC Committee
- Member of the Dispute Resolution Board Foundation
- Consultant with the Singapore International Mediation Centre
- Member of the Editorial Board of the Construction Law Journal
- Board member of the International Construction Lawyers Association
- Member ICCA
- Member of the International Court of the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa
Past appointments include Chairman and later President of the Technology and Construction Solicitors Association, Vice Chairman of the Academy of Experts, Dean of the Faculty of Mediation & ADR, Board member of the Civil Mediation Council, member of the Severn Committee on the development of ADR, member of the CBI committee to promote London as a centre for dispute resolution, Chairman of the LCIA consultative committee, member of the TCC subcommittee for the promotion of ADR.
British