White & Case partners, Ellis Baker and Michael Turrini, held a discussion alongside HKA partner, Franco Mastrandrea, on the recent case of A Company v (1) X (2) Y (3) Z [2020] EWHC 809 (TCC) where a consulting firm was blocked from providing expert witness services in an ICC arbitration over a petrochemical plant because an affiliate of the firm had been instructed by the opposing side in another ICC case related to the same project.
The podcast explores the judgment of the High Court of England and Wales (Justice O’Farrell) and comments on the commercial implications of this judgment and the key issue of whether an expert owes a fiduciary duty to its clients.
Download or listen to the podcast below.
SPEAKERS
Franco Mastrandrea is a Chartered Quantity Surveyor and Chartered Arbitrator with over 40 years of experience in the construction industry. He has acted as expert on more than 50 international project management, delay and quantum-related disputes.
From London to Australia and Canada to Antarctica, Franco has extensive and diverse dispute resolution expertise. With an established record in drafting, interpreting and applying commercial terms in contracts, he successfully combines both knowledge and experience under traditional cross-examination and hot-tubbing.
Franco holds a doctorate that addresses the law, practice and quantification of construction claims. He is a CEDR-accredited mediator, on the RICS register of Dispute Board Members and the FIDIC President’s list of adjudicators, a Chartered Arbitrator, and on arbitrator lists maintained by RICS and international arbitration centres in Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore. Franco has written extensively on the evaluation of construction claims and is listed in the 2016 Who’s Who Legal as a “distinguished expert” who is “an unflappable witness that stands up well to cross-examination”.
Head of White & Case Construction Practice, Ellis Baker is a leading authority on construction law.
Ellis advises clients on all aspects of the delivery of construction and engineering projects, from procurement and the drafting and negotiation of contracts, to contract administration and the avoidance and resolution of disputes. Originally a barrister, Ellis acts as lead advocate in the cases on which he is instructed.
Ellis has advised developers, contractors, consultants and lenders on projects in 31 countries across five continents, including power stations, oil and gas installations, metals and mining facilities, process plants, transport infrastructure and commercial developments.
Ellis is one of the few individuals ranked Band 1 for Construction: Purchaser by Chambers UK and is also ranked as a Leading Individual for Construction by Legal 500.
Ellis has been recognised by independent legal directories as a leading lawyer for construction law since 2005, and, in 2017, was described as being “singled out by market sources for his work on international disputes” by Chambers UK.
Ellis is lead author of “FIDIC Contracts: Law and Practice”, published by Informa, the principal construction text covering the whole suite of major FIDIC forms of contract.
Michael Turrini is a partner at White & Case. He advises clients on all aspects of construction and engineering projects, from procurement and the drafting and negotiation of contracts through to dispute resolution. He has particular knowledge and experience of projects in the Middle East.
Michael has a substantial track record of advising on bespoke and standard-form construction contracts, including EPC, EPCM, design/build and traditional lump sum, and construct-only contracts.
In dispute resolution, Michael advises on international arbitrations under all forums and rules, litigation, dispute board proceedings and alternative dispute resolution.
Michael’s experience includes advising in relation to projects concerning power, airports, oil and gas, water, large scale infrastructure, transport, waste disposal, cooling plants, commercial developments and large-scale hotel developments.
Certainly I think it is an object lesson for experts to be very clear about their current appointments so that they can at least reduce the prospect of them being criticised and potentially getting themselves into these sorts of difficulties.”
