Scholar

Cherrie Fisher

New York

Cherrie K. Fisher, PMP is a construction neutral with the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and a AAA 2021 Higginbotham Diversity Fellow. Ms. Fisher brings more than three decades of construction knowledge to her arbitration practice including her experience negotiating claims for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. While working at AT&T, Ms. Fisher oversaw Environmental Services for the corporation’s Western Region, where she was responsible for Disaster Recovery, Underground Storage Tank Remediation and managing a $20 million annual construction budget. Ms. Fisher is adept breaking down complex technical issues into clear, concise and coherent summaries.

Currently she provides construction claims analysis, litigation support and expert testimony to attorneys, insurance companies and public entities. Ms. Fisher is the 2021-2022 Programming Chair of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Women in Dispute Resolution Section and former Vice-President of the Society of Women Engineers – Dallas, TX. Ms. Fisher regularly speaks on the benefits of early mediation, Construction Partnering, Dispute Review Boards and diversity recruiting. Most recently, she served as a panelist at the 2020 Public Private Partnership Conference and the Construction Management of America Association’s 2020 Regional Conference. Ms. Fisher earned her B.S. in Civil Engineering from the Missouri University of Science and Technology and holds a Master’s Degree in Strategic Leadership. She lives in Dallas, TX with her family and enjoys mentoring young engineers and construction professionals.

Scholar

Peter D. Singh

New York

Peter D. Singh primarily helps startups, investors, and businesses at all stages of growth with financing, intellectual property protection and licensing, commercial transactions, sports and entertainment deals, organization and governance, and other corporate matters with Fourscore AAA-ICDR Foundation 2022 Business Law. Before Fourscore, Singh worked as an attorney with the Start-Ups practice group at a large regional law firm in Raleigh, which followed an in-house stint with a private equity company in Durham as a corporate counsel and M&A attorney. He started his career with a boutique corporate and entertainment law firm in New York. In his years there, Pete assisted with a wide range of matters including copyright and trademark cases, dispute resolution, contract drafting and negotiation. Outside of the office, Pete serves as an arbitrator, mediator, and professional musician. Whatever the endeavor, Singh strives to deliver on his clients’ needs with his own stamp of polish and precision on every project.

Scholar

Hannah Royball

Washington, D.C.

SCHOOL

University of Arizona

My name is Hannah Royball (she, her, hers). I grew up in Georgia and now reside in Washington. I’m pursuing my Master of Legal Studies with a concentration in ADR. I’m about halfway through the degree and hope to graduate sometime next fall. I hope to move into advocacy work after I graduate with an end goal in divorce mediation. I’ve worked in the nonprofit sector and higher education for the last six years.

Scholar

Steven Dunn

Arizona

SCHOOL

Arizona University

Steven Dunn earned his BBA from the University of Georgia, majoring in Risk Management and Insurance. He began his insurance career with the Hartford Insurance Company shortly thereafter, and over the next 20 plus years, he took on numerous underwriting roles with Amerisure and with Zurich American Insurance. As a senior underwriter and as a senior underwriting specialist, Steven handled complex and diverse accounts and drafted amendments to contracts. He also piloted a local program, as team leader, that greatly increased productivity and efficiency in their office. He has obtained his CPCU insurance designation, as well as earning certificates in paralegalism, employment law, and in supervisory management, as he managed a team of 4 technical assistants for three years.

Currently, Steven is pursuing a master's degree in legal studies at the University of Arizona, concentrating in Alternative Dispute Resolution. He feels passionate about helping his community out by volunteering his time and experience assisting local legal aid groups on several pro bono projects. He also assists with meal preparation for a local non-profit that delivers nutritional meals to those in need, as he believes that by giving back, you find your inner strength and peace. He hopes to graduate at the end of 2022 and pursue a career in mediation or in workplace dispute resolution.

Scholar

Kabir Duggal

Cambridge

SCHOOL

Harvard Law School

Dr. Kabir Duggal is an SJD Candidate at Harvard Law School studying international arbitration. He is recognized as a “Chartered Arbitrator” (the highest ranking for arbitrators) by both the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the Asian Institute of Alternative Dispute Resolution. Dr. Duggal is also a Lecturer-in-Law at Columbia Law School, an adjunct Professor at Fordham Law School, and a Course Director and a Faculty Member for the Columbia Law School-Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Comprehensive Course on International Arbitration. He also acts as a Consultant for the United Nations Office of the High Representative for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS) on the creation of a novel "Investment Support Program."

Dr. Duggal works closely with the U.S. Department of Commerce's Commercial Law Development Program (CLDP) as an expert and has undertaken capacity-building workshops in Georgia, Kosovo, Bosnia & Herzegovina. He has also conducted training and capacity-building sessions for several Governments including Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Myanmar, India, Philippines among others on public international law and dispute resolution matters. He also serves on the Federal Republic of Somalia’s New York Convention Task Force as well as the WTO Negotiating Team (International Board). He has published over 60 articles and has spoken at over 300 arbitration events all over the world. He is also the Co-Founder of REAL (Racial Equality for Arbitration Lawyers), a non-profit seeking to create greater representation in international arbitration. He is a graduate of the University of Mumbai, University of Oxford (DHL-Times of India Scholar), NYU School of Law (Hauser Global Scholar), Leiden Law School (2019 CEPANI Academic Prize), and is currently pursuing an SJD Degree from Harvard Law School.

Scholar

David Molina

Geneva

SCHOOL

Geneva LL.M. in International Dispute Settlement

I am a qualified Ecuadorian attorney, having graduated first of my class at Universidad de Los Hemisferios. I have been passionate about dispute resolution and investment law since my academic studies and professional career. As a law student, I wrote a paper about the arbitration tribunal's decision in the Occidental v. Ecuador ICSID case, dealing with the proportionality criterion in international investment law, which helped me master my research skills. I kept publishing and thinking outside the box while dealing with dispute resolution. For example, my last co-authored paper dealt with the possibility that artificial intelligence would overcome professional experience in international arbitration.

Besides my academic activities during law school, I worked as a full-time legal assistant for the managing partner of a top-tier law firm for almost three years. During this time, I learned to organize and focus on any work effort to get efficient results. Given my creativity when solving legal problems, I was gradually involved in queries, redaction of contracts, meetings with clients, and building strategies for different disputes leading to negotiations, mediations, and trials. As an associate, I have experience representing clients in commercial and administrative trials, having earned senior responsibilities after demonstrating that I can successfully solve legal issues while working under pressure. Outside the office, and for the same reason, I was part of the team who redacted the amicus curia that the Ecuadorian Arbitration Institute filed in a case seeking to challenge a previous interpretation of a constitutional provision allegedly prohibiting the execution of BITs providing for international arbitration as dispute resolution mechanism, at the Constitutional Court of Ecuador.

Scholar

Mihika Gupta

Geneva

SCHOOL

Geneva LL.M. in International Dispute Settlement

I am a common-law trained and certified attorney from India, currently enrolled in the Geneva LL.M. in International Dispute Settlement (“MIDS”), specializing in international commercial and investment arbitration. To begin with, my interest in arbitration was fostered early while attending the National Law University Jodhpur, one of India’s premier law schools. My first brush with international arbitration was at the 2016 Vis Moot competition where my team received an Honourable mention. While on the editorial boards of Trade, Law and Development, and the Indian Journal of Arbitration Law, both journals of international repute, I routinely reviewed seminal written works from authors and senior working professionals across the world, which helped me keep abreast of global trade law and arbitration developments. Through this, I realized I had the aptitude for being an international arbitration practitioner.

Being selected as an intern at the renowned Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre was an affirmation of this career trajectory, I had envisioned for myself. I was also selected to attend the International Commercial Arbitration course at the Arbitration Academy in Paris. Before joining the MIDS, I worked for two and a half years as a dispute resolution associate at TRILEGAL, one of India’s tier one business law firms. In this role, I provided legal assistance to state-owned companies and large business clients with global operations in international and domestic arbitral proceedings, both ad-hoc and governed by various institutional rules (e.g., SIAC, LCIA, ICC). The mandates included, amongst others, energy disputes, mergers and acquisitions/shareholder disputes and cross-border disputes arising out of commercial and construction contracts. I conducted legal research, drafted the pleadings, assisted in the oral arguments as well as handled tasks such as filings, managing client relationships, and lastly briefing external senior counsel.

Overall, I believe that my work experience has prepared me to confidently handle complex legal disputes with attention to detail and sharp interpersonal skills. The MIDS has greatly shaped my career as an international arbitration practitioner. Not only has it built on my experience but also given me an in-depth understanding of specialized theoretical concepts and principles. The practical approach adopted by the MIDS has helped me fine-tune my expertise thanks to the workshops and classes given by some of the foremost experts in the field. My objective is to graduate with an excellent academic record and equipped with the skills necessary to thrive in an international arbitration practice.

Scholar

Charlene Mwaura

Washington, D.C.

SCHOOL

American University Washington College of Law

My interest in International Arbitration and Business Law was sparked during my third year of law school, when I studied the Law of Business Associations and Labor Law. At the time (2015),the Companies Act in Kenya had just been repealed and a new one enacted, altering the formation and composition and regulation of companies. Prior to that came the establishment of the Employment and Labor Relations Court in 2011, established to hear matters pertaining to employment and given the status equivalent similar to the High Court.

After graduating in 2017, I was privileged enough to get my first full-time paid job at a leading Food and Beverage company in Kenya, with operations in three East African countries Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda). Java House allowed me to join them in the capacity of Legal Assistant, aiding in all three countries, to ensure the smooth operations of the company, as well as compliance. Here I harnessed my legal knowledge by applying theoretical applications of the law into practice and thereby securing and maintaining the company’s goodwill. I was also very hands on with the Human Resources department, ensuring compliance with labor and employment laws, across all three regions.

Over the course of my two years at Java House, I became conversant with specific aspects of the law and was even instrumental in the establishment of a comprehensive Company’s Dispute Resolution Process. It was at this stage that my interest in Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanisms was peaked. My past two previous employment experiences allowed me to apply the knowledge I had acquired into practice. Having worked as a Legal Assistant in one of East Africa’s biggest Food and Beverage companies (Java House), I learnt first-hand the importance of having policy that governs business relations. One of my most notable contributions to the company was drafting contracts to facilitate the procurement and supply chain process, as well as drafting part of the Supplier Business Code of Conduct, governing relations between suppliers and the business. Experience working for an international company (WYG Limited) equipped me with the skills and knowledge to draft international contracts and ancillary contractual documents.

My interests are a combination of both my educational background as well as my professional experience. In a world that is moving increasingly away from litigation and embracing Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms, it is important to possess dispute resolution skills that are no doubt useful in the diffusion of conflict in contracts and more specifically, investments. My previous experiences both at an academic and professional level, demonstrate that I have a passion for business law. I would gain from mentorship by harnessing my mind and skills into becoming an internationally accredited commercial lawyer, capable of making great contributions to the world of international business law and its practitioners, with the ultimate goal of becoming a member of the North American Branch of the Charted Institute of Arbitrators and a practitioner in the fields of investment arbitration, as well as international commercial arbitration.

Scholar

Anna Jeffries

New York

SCHOOL

I am excited to continue to build my education and skills through this training opportunity made possible by the AAA-ICDR Diversity Scholarship Fund. I strive to play a small part in the transformation of people’s lives, as they are positively impacted by mediation and conflict resolution. I hope to see a growth in mutual understanding and a willingness to have conversation and discourse between opposing sides, whether that is in politics, races, ethnicities, genders, or even two family members.

Scholar

John Paul Bongkiyi

Washington, D.C.

SCHOOL

American University Washington College of Law

John Paul Bongkiyi is a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the Faculty of Laws and Political Science, University of Buea and the award winner of mediate.com’s paper contest in 2021. He is specialized in Alternative Dispute Resolution and is currently advocating for the regulation of Online Dispute Resolution mechanisms in Cameroon. He hopes his research on dispute resolution will enable him to better contribute to the intersection of access to civil justice, litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution issues in Cameroon and the world at large.