Honorary & Visiting Staff | School of Law | The University of Aberdeen

Honorary & Visiting Staff

Professor David Brynmor-Thomas QC

David Brynmor Thomas QC is a globally recognised specialist in the conduct of complex, high-value, international commercial litigation and arbitration. He has extensive experience in handling disputes arising from long-term commercial relationships and construction projects across a range of industries, including energy and natural resources, transport and other infrastructure, manufacturing, ship-building and aviation. He has been counsel on cases involving projects and other assets in the United Kingdom, India, Asia, Australia, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas. David is an Honorary Professor in the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London, where he teaches International Construction Contracts and Arbitration. He has been appointed as an arbitrator in institutional and ad hoc arbitrations on more than 50 occasions.

David Brynmor Thomas

Professor David R Parratt, QC

David is Queen's Counsel in Scotland. He was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1999 and took silk in 2017. He is a member of Arnot Manderson Advocates, Edinburgh. In 2009, he completed pupillage in a commercial chancery set and qualified as a Barrister-at-Law (Lincoln's Inn) in England and Wales. He is a practising barrister at 3 Paper Buildings, Temple, London. In 2016, he was admitted to the Bar of Northern Ireland. He works primarily in private practice and has experience in construction and civil engineering disputes, and in the utility, oil and gas and general infrastructure fields. A main plank of his practice is international commercial disputes. He has acted as arbitration counsel in LCIA, SIAC, DIAC, DIFC, ICC and English and Scottish ad hoc arbitral proceedings. He has also been appointed as an arbitrator in arbitrations seated in Edinburgh, London and Dubai.

David R Parratt

Rachael Bicknell

Rachael Bicknell is an experienced negotiator, mediator and lawyer. Before founding Squaring Circles, winner of the National Mediation Awards Newcomer of the Year 2020, she spent 12 years practising as a dispute resolution solicitor in two of the UK's most successful premium law firms, representing negotiating parties in mediations and solicitor to solicitor negotiations of civil and commercial disputes ranging in value from tens of thousands to multimillion pound claims. Rachael combines her legal expertise with specialist knowledge of advanced negotiation to provide negotiation, mediation and legal consultancy services across a broad range of practice areas. She is a CEDR Accredited Negotiator, an alumnus of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, a registered civil and commercial mediator and a Level 3 Accredited Mediator with the Singapore International Mediation Institute (SIMI).

Rachael Bicknell

Mr Rahul Donde

A “Rising Star” and “Future Leader” (Who's Who Legal, Legal500, 2020) in international arbitration, Rahul Donde is Counsel at Lévy Kaufmann-Kohler, specializing in international commercial and investment arbitration. He has acted as arbitrator, counsel and secretary of the arbitral tribunal in over 30 international arbitration proceedings under both ad hoc and institutional arbitration rules. Having worked in Switzerland and India for several years, Rahul has expertise in high-value, complex commercial disputes in both common law and civil law systems. Rahul holds managerial positions in international arbitration associations, speaks at conferences and publishes regularly.

Rahul Donde

Mr Elliott Geisinger

Elliott Geisinger has been with Schellenberg Wittmer since 1996 and now heads the firm's International Arbitration Group. He has acted as counsel and arbitrator in nearly 200 commercial and investor-state arbitrations. He also regularly represents parties in arbitration-related proceedings before the Swiss Supreme Court. Elliott is now Honorary President of the Swiss Arbitration Association ("ASA"), and was President from 2014 to 2019. He also often teaches in Switzerland and abroad. Elliott obtained a Master of Laws in 1990 at the University of Geneva, where he was also assistant for Professor Pierre Lalive. He qualified as a Swiss lawyer in 1994.

Elliott Geisinger

Gillian Lemaire

Gillian Carmichael Lemaire FCIArb is principal of Carmichael Lemaire Limited and acts as counsel, arbitrator and mediator. She focuses on international commercial and investor-State arbitration and mediation in the construction, infrastructure, utilities, energy, environmental, manufacturing, and general corporate and commercial sectors. Gillian is a member of the Paris Bar, a solicitor admitted in Scotland and an accredited mediator. She is a Committee Member of the London Branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, an Ambassador for the Scottish Arbitration Centre and serves on the Advisory Council of ArbitralWomen. Gillian enjoys opportunities to resolve disputes through walking.

Gillian Lemaire

Martha Leishman

Martha studied at St. Andrews University, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the Guildford School of Acting. Using role-play for learning and development she has designed interventions for solicitors and family lawyers and was invited by John Sturrock QC to coach presenting skills for 'Devils' at the Faculty of Advocates, which she has done for over 20 years. In addition she has played witnesses for judicial training over a similar period. She is a qualified and experienced corporate coach, a member of the Association for Coaching and a qualified teacher of English as a second language. She was delighted to make a return visit this year to the Faculty - albeit remotely - to teach professional arbitration communication skills.

Martha Leishman

Ken MacDonald

Ken MacDonald is one of Aberdeen's most respected business dispute lawyers with over 25 years' experience of advising both UK and international clients and representing their interests in commercial disputes. He leads Brodies' International Arbitration practice. He has a remarkable depth of expertise in dealing with real estate, commercial and contractual disputes with particular focus in both the Oil & Gas and the Property development sectors. Ken's approach is to seek effective ways to avoid or resolve conflicts efficiently. He is a keen proponent of mediation in addition to litigation and arbitration (both domestic and international). Ken is qualified in both English and Scottish law and holds a Diploma in International Dispute Resolution (Arbitration) from Queen Mary University of London.

Ken MacDonald

Linda Paterson

Linda Paterson began mediating in 1997, helping to establish the Aberdeen Community Mediation Service, where she mediated hundreds of disputes, including neighbour and community, victim/offender, family and workplace. She was involved in the Aberdeen Court Mediation pilot in 2008, and helped train other panel members. She also mediates for the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, and in Education disputes in Aberdeenshire and Highland. Linda is a Scottish Mediation Registered Mediator, and also a tutor on the University of Aberdeen Dip Legal Practice. She also co-designed and delivers the University's online courses in Mediation Theory & Practice and Advanced Mediation.

Linda Paterson

Dr Boris Prastalo

Boris Prastalo obtained his doctoral degree in international business law with summa cum laude from Central European University (CEU) in 2019. He currently teaches at the International University of Sarajevo (IUS) in the capacity of an Assistant Professor. Before joining the IUS, he was a Visiting Lecturer and a researcher at Budapest Business School (BGE). Prior to that, he was the Vis Moot coach of CEU's team, and has worked on the launch of the new CISG Pace Database. In 2017, he was a Visiting Researcher at Cornell Law School. His book titled Uniformity in the Application of the CISG: Analysis of the Problem and Recommendations for the Future has been published by Wolters Kluwer in April 2020.

Dr Boris Prastalo

Aileen Riddell

Following an MA in Psychology at Aberdeen University, training in counselling and mediation and experience as a Team Leader for a Community Mediation Service, Aileen set up The Mediation Partnership with Linda Paterson in 2005 to provide workplace mediation. Over the past 16 years, Aileen has served as a lay member for the Employment Tribunal Service, ran the Court Mediation Pilot in Aberdeen and works as a contract mediator for the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission. As an accredited mediator with Scottish Mediation, Aileen has worked on a multitude of diverse and complex disputes. She also delivers accredited mediator training for organisations and individuals and teaches courses on Mediation Theory & Practice and Advanced Mediation for Aberdeen University.

Aileen Riddell

Ian Whitehurst

Ian Whitehurst is a senior barrister at Exchange Chambers, Liverpool and an Associate Member of 33 Chambers in London, with over 30 years’ experience in complex domestic and international disputes. His practice encompasses civil and criminal fraud, asset recovery, regulatory enforcement, digital assets and cross-border proceedings, with particular expertise in cases involving parallel civil, criminal and regulatory jurisdictions. He regularly advises and acts in high-value matters involving offshore structures, international enforcement, cryptocurrency and the tracing and recovery of assets. Ian is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and is listed as an arbitrator with a number of international arbitral institutions. He also has extensive experience of international and offshore matters and is appointed to the List of Counsel at the International Criminal Court and the Kosovo Specialist Chambers. He is currently undertaking postgraduate study at the University of Cambridge, where his research examines organised crime, cyber-enabled offending, offshore financial structures and cross-border criminality. Ian is an Honorary Lecturer at the University of Aberdeen School of Law.