ARBINBRIEF SEASON 1 EPISODE 4, ON 24 NOVEMBER 2021
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ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Krystle Baptista has a dual qualification in civil and common law, a brilliant academic record, experience in the best Iberian law firms and extensive experience handling complex international arbitrations, she represents a new generation of arbitrators, specialized in the field from the outset of their careers. Krystle is an independent arbitration practitioner, who currently sits as an arbitrator and works as a freelance tribunal secretary and consultant. She takes part in commercial and investment arbitration proceedings under the main international rules (ICC, ICSID, LCIA, CIAC-IACAC, UNCITRAL, etc.). Krystle has served as counsel, tribunal secretary or arbitrator in cases arising from construction projects, shareholder agreements, joint venture agreements, real estate projects, gas pricing, financial services agreements and other contractual disputes, as well as in investment arbitrations. Krystle constantly works on updating her legal knowledge and regularly speaks, writes and teaches on international arbitration. She works in English and Spanish and speaks French and Portuguese. And she is a dual national of Venezuela and Spain.
Dana MacGrath is an independent arbitrator with two decades of experience in international dispute resolution. Her unique mix of experience includes serving as an arbitrator, arbitration practitioner, and in-house counsel in arbitration finance. Most recently, Dana served as Legal Counsel and Investment Manager at Omni Bridgeway, a leading global litigation and arbitration finance company. In this role, she led arbitration investments out of the United States while also serving as an independent arbitrator. Prior to joining Omni Bridgeway, Dana was a partner in the international arbitration group at Sidley Austin LLP. Previously, she served as an international arbitration practitioner and arbitrator at Allen & Overy LLP and O’Melveny & Myers LLP. She started her legal career in the litigation department at Sullivan & Cromwell. Dana’s high-stakes international arbitration matters have involved a variety of businesses and industries, among them oil and gas, LNG, energy, construction, finance, telecommunications, intellectual property, construction, sale of goods, and international investments. She has also represented parties regarding the enforceability of arbitration agreements and arbitral awards under the New York Convention, disputes regarding forum selection and choice of law clauses, sovereign immunity, arbitral immunity, and discovery pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1782. Dana has been recognized as a leader in international arbitration in various directories including Chambers USA – Nationwide – International Arbitration and Who’s Who Legal: Arbitration. She has also been recognized in the field of arbitration finance in various directories including Leaders League – Arbitration Finance and LawDragon: Global 100 Leaders in Legal Finance. Dana is active within the international arbitration field across arbitral institutions and organizations. She is on the Council of the AAA-ICDR, co-chairs the AAA Large Complex Case Committee, and is a member of the AAA Nominating and Governance Committee. Dana is also an active member of the CPR Arbitration Committee. Previously she served as Chair of the Arbitration Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and as co-chair of the CPR Institute Arbitration Rules Revision Committee that revised CPR’s domestic and international arbitration rules. Additionally, Dana served on the ICC Commission on Arbitration Task Force on Reducing Time and Cost in Complex Arbitration and the ICC Commission on Arbitration Task Force on National Rules of Procedure for Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Awards Pursuant to the New York Convention of 1958. Dana is a committed leader in the diversity and inclusion space. She has been President of the Board of Directors of ArbitralWomen since 2018, having joined the Board in 2016. She is also on the Global Steering Committee of the Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge, and on the Global Steering Committee of Racial Equality for Arbitration Lawyers. She is also on the Advisory Board of the Rising Arbitrators Initiative and the North American Committee for the Campaign for Greener Arbitrations. Dana regularly speaks and writes on international arbitration issues. She co-authored a chapter on Covid-19 and Third-Party Funding published by Kluwer International in 2020, and several articles on recent case law regarding U.S. discovery pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1782 in aid of foreign arbitrations. She has long served as an adjunct professor of law at Brooklyn Law School teaching a seminar on international commercial arbitration and coaching the Brooklyn Vis Moot team. Dana received her J.D. from New York University School of Law and her B.A., cum laude, from Middlebury College. She is a member of the New York Bar. She is fluent in English and proficient in French, having majored in French at Middlebury and lived in Paris for a year.
Vanessa Zimmermann de Meireles works since August 2016 as a Foreign Associate at the independent dispute resolution boutique Borris Hennecke Kneisel in Cologne, Germany. Having been admitted to the Brazilian Bar in 2013, Vanessa started her professional career in Brazil, as a Contracts Attorney at the Legal Department of the multinational engineering and construction company Engevix Engenharia S.A. She studied Law and Business Administration in parallel at the Federal and State universities of Santa Catarina, Brazil, and in 2015 completed a specialization course in Business and Corporate Law. In 2016, she obtained an LL.M. at the Geneva LL.M. in International Dispute Settlement (MIDS), jointly offered by the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies and the University of Geneva. Vanessa is fluent in Portuguese (native language), English and Spanish; she also has a good knowledge of German and French.
