Alec Emmerson is an international arbitrator. He first practised as an English solicitor in London & Guildford, from 1984 to 1996 as a Hong Kong solicitor and the regional managing partner of an international law firm, and for 18 years as a legal consultant in Dubai, UAE until December 2017. In January 2018 he established ADR Management Consultancies in order to practice full-time as an international arbitrator. He is a founding member of arbitra.

In his career as a lawyer Alec acted as party counsel in hundreds of arbitrations around the globe including disputes in international trade, shipping, ship building, insurance and reinsurance, energy, commercial contracts, JVs, property, telecomms and infrastructure.

Since 2008 (when he became a consultant of the law firm where he practised for 40 years) Alec has been appointed as co-arbitrator, chair or sole arbitrator in more than 270 arbitrations seated in a wide range of jurisdictions under the rules of ADCCAC, ArbitrateAD, DIAC, DIFC-LCIA, EMAC, GCCAC, ICC, LCIA, SCCA and SIAC and in ad hoc (including on LMAA terms) and UNCITRAL arbitrations with a wide variety of governing laws.

Alec is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, a CEDR accredited mediator and a member of many institutional panels, including AAA-ICDR, ADCCAC, ArbitrateAD, ADGM, AIAC (and certified adjudicator), ARIAS (Asia), BCDR, DIAC, EMAC, HKIAC, KCAB, SIAC (including emergency panel), SCCA, SICAC (Takheem) and SZAC.

He was a trustee and chief executive of DIFC Arbitration Institute from November 2015 to 20 September 2021 and a member of the LCIA Court from 2015-2020. In 2017 he became vice chairman of the ICC – UAE Commission on Arbitration and ADR Steering Committee which he served on from 2016 to 2023. He was appointed as a member of the Rules Advisory Committee of the Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration in November 2019 (now its Global Advisory Committee) and as a member of SCCA Court from November 2022.

Alec speaks and writes widely on arbitration. He is the author of the Lexis Nexis Users’ Notes for the ADCCAC Rules 2014 and for the DIFC-LCIA Rules 2016 & 2021.

He has been listed as a leading individual in arbitration by GAR since 2009, and as an Elite Arbitration Thought Leader. He is platinum listed by Newton Arbitration, as well as appearing in many other legal and arbitration directories.