| United Kingdom
Dr Robert Gaitskell QC practises from Keating Chambers, specialising
in technology, engineering and construction disputes, often of an
international nature. He was called to the Bar in 1978, appointed
Queen’s Counsel in 1994 and sat as a Recorder (part-time judge) from
2000-2010. Robert Gaitskell predominately acts as an arbitrator,
adjudicator, dispute board member and mediator. He is both a lawyer and a
professional engineer. He is the editor of ‘Keating
Construction Dispute Resolution Handbook’ (3rd edition 2016); and a
former Vice President of the IEE/ IET (Europe’s biggest professional
engineering institution). He is a member of the Singapore National
Electricity Market Dispute Resolution & Compensation Panel. Dr
Gaitskell is the chairman of a dispute board for a Euro 20 billion
nuclear energy project. He writes extensively and lectures throughout
the world on legal/engineering subjects, including at CERN in Geneva
and Xerox PARC in Silicon valley.
Current Activities
Dr Gaitskell is currently acting as chairman or member of various
ICC, LCIA, UNCITRAL, SIAC, KLRCA, EDF, DIAC, ICDR/AAA, Dubai RTA and
other arbitral tribunals, dealing with matters such as oil and gas
installations and pipelines, power stations, oil and gas plants,
petro-chemical works, and other complex engineering and process
projects. As examples, he is dispute board member in respect of
high-technology international power project, Chairman of an
Uncitral arbitral panel dealing with a Russian oil/gas processing
facility dispute; a tribunal member for a Dubai construction dispute,
and for a Korean infrastructure arbitration, and for a Qatari
utilities dispute. He was the expert determinator for an Omani power
station. He has recently mediated a Singaporean hi-tech dispute and
chaired a tribunal dealing with energy pricing in S.E. Asia. He has
also advised on a dispute concerning a Russian floating nuclear power
facility. He was recently a co-arbitrator on an ICC panel dealing with a
dispute concerning a sub-sea gas pipeline bringing energy supplies from
Russia to Europe. He is also conducting an African mining arbitration,
and chairing a dispute panel dealing with defence projects in the UK. He
has recently advised the Corporation of London on a major structural
project and represented the Isle of Man Government in the Privy Council
in an infrastructure project.
In addition to his practice at the Bar, Robert Gaitskell is a
Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and
Technology and is a former Senator of the Engineering Council. He is
also a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and a Fellow of
the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. Robert Gaitskell’s wide
experience as an engineer, both in the UK and abroad, has included power
generation, transmission, distribution and application, motor control
and oil rig design.
Robert Gaitskell has lectured on The University of London (King’s
College and Queen Mary’s) LLMs in International Arbitration, dealing
with Infrastructure arbitrations. Chambers & Partners’ directory
consistently recommends him as a leading international arbitrator.
He also regularly carries out expert determinations involving complex
engineering disputes. He is Chairman of the IET/IMechE Joint Committee
on Model Forms, which produces the MF/1-4 suite of contracts used for
major electro-mechanical projects worldwide. His doctorate from King’s
College London concerned standard form engineering contracts. He is a
Bencher of Gray’s Inn and a former member of the Council of the Inns of
Court (COIC) Tribunals Appointment Body.