Graeme joined chambers in 2001. He has a transatlantic practice based in London and Toronto. Called in England & Wales in 1982, he is also a member of the Ontario and British Columbia Bars and has been temporarily admitted in the United States Virgin Islands.
Graeme’s UK practice is devoted primarily to acting as mediator, arbitrator, as an advocate in sports and disciplinary matters and to advisory work in the areas of insurance, reinsurance and conflict of laws. He is a CEDR accredited mediator and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. His work as an intermediary has also taken him to the United States, Ireland, France, Switzerland, Namibia, Australia and Uruguay.
In Canada, Graeme serves as counsel to a leading specialist insurance law firm. He undertakes a broad range of advisory and advocacy work. He has appeared before most levels of trial and appellate courts in England, Ontario and British Columbia, including the Supreme Court of Canada, and before a variety of administrative and regulatory tribunals and boards.
He has extensive practical experience and training (as both counsel and neutral) in arbitration, mediation and other forms of non-court dispute resolution. He is a Judicial Officer for the International Rugby Board, a Specialist Member of the Football Association Judicial Panel, has served as a court appointed roster mediator for the Ontario Superior Court and is a member of several panels of arbitrators and mediators in Canada, the U.K and internationally, including the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), ARIAS-US and the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (American Arbitration Association).
Graeme is an active member of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, the Commercial Bar Association, the London Court of International Arbitration, the Advocates’ Society, the Canadian Bar Association, the Sports Lawyers Association, the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel and ARIAS-US. He served as President of the Commonwealth Lawyers' Association (2005-7). He is a Member of the Anti-Doping Advisory Committee of the International Rugby Board and served on the UK’s National Anti-Doping Panel from 2008-2011.
Graeme has sat as an arbitrator in a wide variety of matters both as a sole arbitrator and on arbitration panels. His commercial arbitration work as a neutral includes insurance and reinsurance disputes, professional partnership disputes, international commercial transactions, transportation and sports disputes. He is an ARIAS certified insurance and reinsurance arbitrator and has been a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators since 1994. His institutional appointments have included ICC and CAS panels.
Graeme has mediated over 400 cases. His mediation experience is broadly based ranging from complex multi-party commercial disputes to professional indemnity and sports matters. His experience includes drafting dispute resolution agreements.
Graeme is leading sports arbitrator and mediator both nationally and internationally. He has also acted as an adviser and an advocate in a variety of sports-related matters. His experience includes:
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Judicial Officer for the International Rugby Board.
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Appeal Officer for the 2003 and 2007 Rugby World Cup
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Specialist Member of the Football Association Judicial Panel
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Arbitrator, Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)
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Member of the CAS Ad Hoc Arbitration Panel at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi
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Arbitrator and Mediator, Sport Resolutions (formerly Sports Dispute Resolution Panel)
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Member, UK National Anti-Doping Panel, 2008-2011
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Adjudication of cases involving doping, harassment, eligibility, transfer disputes, disciplinary matters, suspensions and disqualifications in a wide variety of sports (track and field, swimming, biathlon, ice hockey, football, judo, water polo, amateur wrestling, boxing, triathlon, rugby, skiing, karate, cycling, lawn bowling, gridiron football).
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Adjudication of applications for reinstatement of athletes and coaches suspended for doping offences.
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Honorary legal adviser to Rugby Canada.
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Counsel for a national motorsport organisation in proceedings resulting from disqualification of a racing team.
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Advising a national sport organisation in relation to government funding issues.
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Advising on player contracts and commercial agreements relating to sports sponsorship, advertising and promotion.
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Representation of athletes or sports organisations in proceedings before the Association of Tennis Professionals, the International Rugby Board and the National Hockey League Players’ Association.
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Acting for players, clubs and sport facilities in defence of injury claims brought by participants in sport (football, rugby, skiing, golf, ice hockey, motorsport).