Allen Blair began his legal career as a law clerk to Hon. Paul A. Magnuson of the Federal District Court for the District of Minnesota. Following his clerkship, Professor Blair practiced commercial litigation at Greene Espel, P.L.L.P., representing clients in complex contract disputes, accounting malpractice actions, and environmental insurance coverage disputes. While working at Greene Espel, he was recognized for three consecutive years by Minnesota Law & Politics as a Rising Star in the Minnesota legal community.
Professor Blair remains actively engaged in the legal community both locally and nationally, representing clients in Minnesota and elsewhere on a pro bono basis. In particular, he regularly works with the Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights to represent foreign nationals seeking asylum in the United States. Additionally, Professor Blair serves as Of Counsel for Greene Espel, P.L.L.P. on commercial litigation matters.
Professor Blair teaches and writes primarily in the areas of contract law and theory, international commercial law, and public international law. Additionally, he serves as a faculty advisor for the Admiralty Law, Jessup International Law and Space Law moot court teams.
Thomas Carbonneau is the Samuel L. Orlando Distinguished Professor of Law at the Pennsylvania State University, Dickinson School of Law. He is generally regarded as one of the world's leading experts on international commercial arbitration and as an acknowledged expert on domestic arbitration. He is the faculty director of Penn State's Institute for Arbitration Law and Practice and the director of the law school's McGill Faculty of Law Summer Program in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Professor Carbonneau is the editor-in-chief of the World Arbitration and Mediation Report and executive editor of the Journal of American Arbitration, two widely read and well-regarded professional publications published by the Institute. He has served as a member of the Editorial Board of La Revue de L'Arbitrage and is the author of more than a dozen highly acclaimed books and 75 scholarly articles. Professor Carbonneau, who is also the former Moise S. Steeg Jr. Professor of International Law at Tulane University School of Law, is recognized by his students as an outstanding teacher. Professor Carbonneau is a former Rhodes Scholar and has B.A. degrees from Bowdoin College and Oxford University. He also holds M.A. and J.D. degrees from the University of Virginia and LL.M. and S.J.D. degrees from Columbia University.
Ania Farren represents clients on a wide area of dispute resolution matters, with particular emphasis in international arbitration and litigation. She has advised clients in arbitrations conducted under the auspices of various institutions, including the London Court of International Arbitration, International Chamber of Commerce, International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes and American Arbitration Association.
Ms. Farren previously practiced in London, Frankfurt and Paris. She speaks French and Polish.
Norah Gallagher is a specialist in the areas of international arbitration and public international law. She has acted in arbitrations under ICC, ICSID, LCIA as well as ad hoc arbitrations. She regularly advises on issues concerning arbitration agreements including defective or pathological clauses, bifurcated clauses and multiparty arrangements as well as all procedural aspects of international arbitration and enforcement of awards. Before joining Herbert Smith she was a Research Fellow of the Lauterpacht Research Centre for International Law, University of Cambridge for several years working exclusively on international dispute resolution. She has advised States and corporations in relation to a wide variety of public international law issues, including land and maritime boundary disputes, investment disputes involving expropriation claims arising under bilateral investment treaties and the Energy Charter Treaty. She has also been involved with cases before the International Court of Justice. Norah is also a part-time lecturer on the International Trade and Investment Dispute Settlement course at Queen Mary, University of London.
Dr. Loukas Mistelis is the Clive M. Schmitthoff Professor of Transnational Commercial Law and Arbitration at the Center for Commercial Law Studies (CCLS), Queen Mary, University of London, where he is Director of Studies of the School of International Arbitration. He is also Adjunct Professor of Law at Pace University, School of Law. He teaches at the University of London LL.M. program and is the coordinator of the courses in International and Comparative Commercial Arbitration, International Trade and Investment Dispute Settlement, and International Trade Law. He also teaches International Commercial Litigation. Professor Mistelis also directs the Diploma in International Arbitration by Distance Learning and the Diploma in International Arbitration, which is offered by CCLS in association with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. Professor Mistelis is Secretary of the CISG-AC (Advisory Council of the Convention on Contract for the International Sale of Goods ) and coordinator of the Queen Mary Case Translation Program, part of the CISG Database (IALL Website Award 2002). He studied law at Athens (LLB) Strasbourg (Certificate in International & Comparative Human Rights); Hanover (Magister Legum Europae and Dr. iuris) and Keio (Certificate in Japanese International Trade Law). He is a Member of the Athens Bar (since 1993). Besides English he is fluent in German and Greek, has good knowledge of French, and basic knowledge of Polish, Spanish and Russian. He maintains a selective arbitration and consulting practice in respect of international commercial and investment disputes, secured transactions and complex contractual matters, including e-commerce and technology matters. Professor Mistelis also has participated in a number of experts groups, including for the UK Department of Trade and Industry, the International Chamber of Commerce, UNCITRAL, and UNCTAD. His most recent publications include COMMERCIAL LAW: PERSPECTIVES AND PRACTICE, (Co-editor with J. Lowry), (LexisNexis Butterworths UK 2005, co-edited by J. Lowry) and COMPARATIVE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION (Kluwer Law International 2002, co-authored with Kröll and Lew).