A pledge that aims to increase the number of women in international arbitration has gained the support of hundreds of people and organizations worldwide, but the response from attorneys in South Florida and Latin America has been less enthusiastic.
The Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge launched in London in May, but some attorneys in South Florida and into Latin America have declined to sign on, saying the pledge does not address the real problem. The issue isn’t with the institutions or those who appoint arbitrators, they say. Rather, the clients that they represent want to select the most well-known, experienced arbitrators, and many are not women. They are interested in winning their case—not changing the world.
