ACCRALAW Partner Aylward M. Consulta and Senior Associate Shiela Vae Hoylar-Gascon participated in this year’s International Chamber of Commerce – FIDIC Conference on International Construction Contracts and Dispute Resolution held on 17-18 October 2024 at JW Marriott Hotel, Seoul, South Korea. The ICC FIDIC Conference was attended by 160 participants from 33 countries, including lawyers, witness experts, arbitrators, contractors, and consulting engineers, among others.
The two (2)-day conference focused on key legal and operational issues in the construction industry, with an emphasis on dispute resolution, claims management, and evolving industry trends in South Korea. The conference opened with a keynote by Professor Hong-Sik Chung, Deputy Minister for International Legal Affairs of South Korea’s Ministry of Justice, and featured sessions led by FIDIC and ICC representatives.
Highlights of the conference included a roundtable on challenges facing Korean contractors in construction disputes and arbitration, a session on variation and claims procedures in FIDIC Contracts, and expert discussions on best practices in project execution and ICC arbitration.
Ahead of the main conference, Mr. Consulta and Ms. Hoylar-Gascon also participated in an in-person workshop on Claims under FIDIC Contracts held on 16 October 2024. This workshop, led by FIDIC-certified trainer Nina Tsaturova, offered hands-on training in managing claims under FIDIC contracts, with discussions focusing on claims processes, documentation best practices, and clarifying the roles of the Employer, Engineer, and Contractor. The training concluded with a mock FIDIC consultation based on a real-life case study. In this exercise, Mr. Consulta served as a member of the Dispute Avoidance and Adjudication Board, while Ms. Hoylar-Gascon represented the Employer.
