WOMEN WAY IN ARBITRATION: A SPACE DESIGNED FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN IN INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION

Veronica Sandler

Founder of Woman Way in Arbitration

By: Jazmín Escalante

Argentinian Lawyer

Interview with Verónica Sandler, Argentinian lawyer, international arbitrator, graduate and post-graduate professor at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), renowned in the field of International Arbitration and founder of Woman Way in Arbitration (WWA); who told us about the association and her professional career.

What is the Women Way in Arbitration?

It is an association created and designed to foster the development of women in the field of international arbitration, in particular, and in the field of law in general. It is based in Argentina, but with an international reach and focus on Iberoamerican women.

How did the idea of the WWA come up?

The idea came from the necessity to find a common forum for communication between women in the region, with common interests, views and understandings about the practice. Like any project, it starts with a small idea that soon begins to sum up tiny lights that give it strength and allow it to come to light.

The initial path is one of the most difficult moments for any enterprise, but we set up a working group of excellent professionals, who formed the Executive Committee – María Inés Corra (Argentina), Sandra González (Uruguay), Irma Rivera (Colombia) , Cecilia Azar (Mexico), Macarena Letelier (Chile), Noiana Marigo (USA) and María Inés Sola (Argentina). The WWA allowed us to materialize an aspiration that we all shared.

It was very important in the beginning to count on the support of our “padrinos” and “madrinas” who are now members of the Honorable Committee of WWA.

Day after day, together with professional women that I admire very much, we continue working to materialize the dreams we have built.

How did you start your career as an arbitrator?

To begin with, it is important to notice that nothing can be achieved overnight.

We live in a time in which a lot of people will make us think that everything is in the moment and now. I have been in the field for more than 15 years, and every experience I have lived over these years has allowed me to consolidate a solid career in arbitration. It was not easy, but I learned from great teachers, like Dr. Roque J. Caivano, and other great professionals who were very generous in sharing their knowledge and experience. My first nomination was in a national arbitration, under the rules of the Federal Council of Notaries, and from there I had the good fortune and opportunity to be appointed by different parties and institutions in national and international arbitrations.

What obstacles did you run into throughout your career in general? Was gender one of them?

The obstacles that one encounters are generally generated by oneself, in my case I had a hard time developing my own self-esteem or sense of security. Over the years, I learned about my weaknesses and also about my strengths, trying to anchor myself in them and learning from mistakes.

In my career I have never felt any kind of discrimination or direct obstacle in relation to being a woman, but young people and professional women are often viewed under certain unavoidable unconscious biases and this undermines equal opportunities.

How does WWA help women regarding these issues?

As I said, these unconscious biases exist, it is a reality. The idea is to be able to “update” them to the new parameters and cultural guidelines. For this, there is nothing better than transparency. If we women can show our capabilities and merits, these biases will disappear. For this, we need to make ourselves seen, and there is WWA, supporting women, zooming in on them, expanding their visibility and participation in the professional field of arbitration.

As a professor and coordinator of the course in arbitration at the Austral University (Argentina), what tools or resources do you consider essential to teach or transmit to students? And what advice would you give them to grow in the world of arbitration?

I consider it essential to transmit the values of effort, work and perseverance to students. As a teacher, in this particular time of COVID-19, I consider that one should not only limit oneself to transmitting theoretical content, but I believe that it is also important to think about the academic approach with a decrease in educational content.

The first advice I would give someone to enter the world of arbitration is to learn about it and get to know about the advantages it presents as a method of conflict resolution. For this, there are very prestigious and internationally recognized associations that promote the development of young professionals in arbitration, such as CAM-CCBC’s NewGen, the Group of Young Arbitrators of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC YAF), among others.

Is it possible for young people to learn about the practice of the profession through teaching?

Yes, it is possible to achieve an almost real approach. For many years, a teaching method characteristic of the common law – the Anglo-Saxon legal system – has been developing in the region, which is the “Moot Practice”. This educational method has long been used by universities around the world to provide students with combined theoretical and practical knowledge through an extracurricular activity. Today in almost all law schools it is an important part of the education of students who aspire to be lawyers. In the field of international arbitration, there are very prestigious Moots at regional and international level, such as the International Arbitration Competition organized by the University of Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and the University of Rosario (Bogotá, Colombia) and the Willem C Vis Commercial Arbitration Moot in Vienna. I am convinced that this teaching method allows students to see the arbitration practice very closely, allowing students to acquire solid knowledge and tools necessary for the development of the profession such as the preparation of memorials, planning or defense strategies, research, oral expression, among others.

How do you see the development of arbitration in the region? And the development of Latin America regarding the rest of the world?

Statistics show that year after year arbitration practice is growing in the region. Today we find a great advance in the arbitration “culture” in the region, although much work remains to be done. The modernization of the laws of the countries of the region regarding arbitration continues to promote growth, as is the case of Uruguay and Argentina, which recently in 2018 incorporated an international commercial arbitration law into their internal laws.

With regard to Latin America in the world, of course it is also a reality that we are an important market today in terms of arbitration. Each country in the region has its own brand and development in terms of domestic arbitration, as in the case of Peru or Brazil, but in general at the international level we find a large share of the Latin American market in international disputes.

How to join WWA and what benefits does it bring?

For more information, I recommend our website wwarb.org to learn more about the association, its benefits and endeavors.