ACICA elects Georgia Quick as new executive

A senior partner in the dispute resolution group at global law firm Ashurst and joint head of Ashurst Australia’s international arbitration practice, Georgia is an experienced and accomplished dual qualified (Australian and the UK) counsel with significant expertise in complex arbitrations under various institutional rules as well as ad hoc proceedings. Georgia has a long-standing involvement with ACICA, having joined the Board in 2010 and sat on the Executive committee, as a Vice President, since 2015. She has also chaired the ACICA Appointment Committee since its inception in 2011 and is a former counsellor of CIArb Australia and a former executive member of AMPLA, the Energy & Resources Lawyers Association.
 
Georgia will be supported by a diverse and highly experienced leadership team drawn from various sectors of the arbitration community. The team comprises three Vice Presidents; Judith Levine (Independent Arbitrator, Levine Arbitration), Jonathon Redwood SC (Banco Chambers / List A Barristers) and Gitanjali Bajaj (Partner, DLA Piper) and Treasurer Martin Cairns (Sapere Forensic), all of which were also elected to office bearer roles at the institution’s AGM on 31 May 2021, and additional Executive directors Brenda Horrigan (Independent Arbitrator), Ian Govey AM (former Government Solicitor), Joshua Paffey (Partner, Corrs Chambers Westgarth) and Nick Longley (Partner, HFW) appointed by the Board on the same date. Andrea Martignoni, a member of the Executive for many years, stepped down from this role, remaining on the ACICA Board.

Georgia said: “I'd like to thank the ACICA outgoing President, Brenda Horrigan, for her outstanding contribution as President over the last two initiative-packed and tumultuous years. In this time, Brenda and the Executive have overseen a broad and productive agenda including, amongst others, the review and release of the ACICA Rules 2021, integration of the Perth Centre for Energy & Resources Arbitration (PCERA), establishment of state committees, production and release of the first Australian Arbitration Report, development of a series of practical resources in the Practice & Procedures toolkit and through the ACICA webinar series and running the first ACICA Judicial Liaison Committee Dispute Resolution Forum.
 
We are pleased to welcome two new members to the Executive, Joshua Paffey and Nick Longley who will lend their expertise to an impressive leadership group. I look forward to continuing ACICA’s work and delivering on my own promise to promote ACICA’s key objective, being to ensure Australia continues to provide a vibrant arbitration seat, with users who are confident to utilise the ACICA Rules and to appoint Australian arbitrators and counsel in Australia and in the region and beyond.”

Partner Jeremy Chenoweth, Practice Group Head AsiaPac, Dispute Resolution, comments: "On behalf of the partnership, I would like to congratulate Georgia on her appointment. ACICA plays a pivotal role in Australia and regionally in the resolution of international commercial disputes. Georgia's appointment is a recognition of her significant contribution to ACICA over a number of years and the confidence that her fellow board members have in her.   Clients of the firm value Georgia's strategic leadership and energy, and she will no doubt bring those qualities into the role of ACICA president."