The Keynote Speaker for this seventh edition of PAW is renowned international arbitration practitioner, Dr. Yas Banifatemi, whose speech will focus on diversity in arbitration, as the co-presidents explain: "the promotion of diversity has been one of the PAW commitments and the focus of the PAW keynote speech delivered by renowed arbitration specialists for the last 3 editions. "It's partly a generational issue. The arbitration community is witnessing the rise of a particularly talented generation of women arbitrators and practitioners as well as young practitioners," notes Kaminsky.

Paralika points out that the PAW board reflects this diversity, being composed of seven women and two men. She adds that "more remains to be achieved in terms of ethnic and geographical diversity in the arbitration community, but we are seeing more and more initiatives and progress and this is encouraging for the future. The PAW intends to contribute to this change.»

This year’s event is garnering a high level of interest, with more than a hundred requests to take part in the last 48 hours alone. Raphaël Kaminsky is surprised and delighted by the level of enthusiasm for the Paris-based arbitration event.

Paris Arbitration Week 2023 in a few figures:

145 events – 28 of which are already fully-booked.

151 event partners – including 54 international partners, comprising law firms, companies, consultancies, universities, associations and arbitration courts.

14,000 event registrations.

These impressive numbers reflect the attractiveness of the conferences, speakers and host events, such as the Young Arbitration Cruise. PAW is an exceptional meeting place for professionals from all over the world, who come to discuss key themes, strengthen relationships and have fun. For the youngest, it is also an opportunity to rub shoulders with eminent arbitration practitioners.

Growing demand for arbitration
From Dubai to Sydney, from Singapore to Paris, there is a growing demand for legal solutions that avoid the courts on matters such as: post-covid issues, the war in Ukraine, gas supply, mining law, compliance with supply and raw material contracts and soaring prices.

PAW conferences reflect this diversity of subjects. To determine the programme, PAW has chosen to give the floor to partners, law firms, experts, consultants, associations and organizations. They are free to choose the topic that interests them most, with a limit of two lectures, each not exceeding two hours. The PAW organising committee gives them free rein to organize their own events.

There will be plenty of cutting-edge topics discussed during the 2023 edition: space disputes and their impact on arbitration, sports law, blockchain and bitcoin, and of course ESG concerns, such as the environment, sustainable development, new technologies and artificial intelligence. International treaties will be the subject of several of the PAW conferences as they are an evolving arbitration issue with major political and economic ramifications.