Leonardo D’Urso is the CEO and co-founder of ADR Center in Italy. Leonardo has 20 years of full-time work in the field of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), he manges 31 Resolution Centers in Italy and created the ODR Center, an innovative cloud platform developed to manage the mediation process.

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Leonardo has been designated by the Council of Europe as the Scientific Expert of the Working Group on Mediation within CEPEJ (The European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice).

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He has managed complex capacity-building projects funded by international donors in Africa, Europe and Central America (Serbia, Turkey, Nigeria, Barbados and all Eu Member States and North African countries). He is the author of several books, publications and video on mediation and ADR and an experienced trainer of mediators and trainer-of-trainers.

Georges is a lawyer and ADR professional practicing at the Georges Feghali Conflict Management & Resolution Office. He further serves as a Regional Mediator at the UN and the World Bank for the Middle East and North Africa region and France.

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He is the President of the Mediation and Conflict Prevention Commission at the International Association of Lawyers, Union International des Avocats UIA. He teaches Mediation at the Beirut Bar Association Institute, a course he established at the Institute in 2012. He also teaches Mediation Law at CPM Saint Joseph University in Lebanon and is a Board member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators CIArb, Lebanon branch.George drafted a mediation bill for the Lebanese parliament. He promotes mediation and ADR in Lebanon and other Arab and Gulf countries.

Gary Birnberg is a mediator and arbitrator specialized in complex commercial and cross border cases. He is associated with both JAMS and Gulf Mediation, and on the rosters of some twenty other institutions worldwide, including the Hague Court of Arbitration for Aviation, of which he was part of the founding team and is the Chair of its Advisory Board, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Lausanne), CAM-CCBC (Brazil), and CMAP (France), as he also works frequently with the ICC and ICDR. A Fellow of the Chartered institute of Arbitrators, a Distinguished Fellow of the International Academy of Mediators, and a Certified IMI Mediator, he is a former Chair of the Florida Chapter of CIArb, the IBA Mediation Committee, and the French-American Chamber of Commerce of Florida, and is the current Chair of the Arbitration and Mediation Committee of the International Law Section of the Florida Bar. Also a trainer in both arbitration and mediation, he writes frequently on ADR topics and is Co-Editor and chapter author of the upcoming, inaugural, GAR Guide to Aviation and Aerospace Disputes. He works in French and Portuguese, in addition to English.

Dr Aseel Zimmo is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and served as an arbitrator in many proceedings both institutional and ad hoc proceedings and issued awards in Arabic and in English. She also an experienced commercial mediator.

She has conducted professional training for lawyers and practitioners in arbitration and mediation. She also sat on many panels at various arbitration events.

Dr Zimmo is experienced in both Civil and Common law jurisdictions as she graduated with a PhD from the LSE in international commercial arbitration and with an LLM from Kings College, London. She is also a qualified lawyer in New York and Jordan. She also practiced law in London, New York and Amman, through which appeared before arbitration tribunal and worked as tribunal secretary.

She taught civil and commercial law at the London School of Economics, University of Bahrain, the Royal University for Women and American University of Bahrain. She also conducted many workshops and training for judges and lawyers.

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Zouhdi Yakan is a seasoned Partner at LAW HOUSE- Shaikha Almehrzi Advocates & Legal Consultants, based in Abu Dhabi and overseeing the firm’s Dubai office as well, with over two decades of legal expertise, including significant tenure in the UAE. Specializing in corporate and commercial law, banking and finance, and dispute resolution, Zouhdi offers comprehensive advice on a wide range of business transactions, including setups, corporate structuring and restructuring, M&As, joint ventures, and the crafting and analysis of complex contracts. His legal expertise extends to a variety of sectors, including construction, architecture, commercial finance, banking (conventional and Islamic), insurance and brokerage, real estate, IT, employment, commercial agencies and more.

Zouhdi counsels and represents domestic and international clients in relation to UAE laws and regulations, compliance and corporate governance matters. At Law House, he leads the arbitration division, overseeing all aspects from initiation to the enforcement or annulment of awards, and provides guidance on alternative dispute resolutions and settlements.

He has worked in the field of international arbitration in disputes involving international sales, banking, B.O.T. and construction (FIDIC) and engaged in arbitration hearings, including pleadings, examination, and cross-examination of witnesses across Lebanon, UAE, Paris, Geneva, and Lausanne.

He is also a skilled mediator, having mediated disputes at Santa Monica Small Claims Court and co-mediated at Van Nuys Superior Court as a volunteer mediator with the California Academy for Mediation Professionals (CAMP) across various substantive areas and worked with the leaders of JAMS, the American Institute of Mediation, and has co-trained a 40-Hour Mediation Training organized by the American Bar Association (ABA) and Pepperdine University in Jordan.

He has authored several articles, including a comparative study on the adoption of the UNCITRAL Model Law by Egypt and Tunisia. He also significantly contributed to the third Arabic edition of Dr. El Ahdab’s Encyclopedia of Arbitration (3volumes). Furthermore, Zouhdi is a speaker at international conferences, where he shares his expertise in dispute resolution and other areas of law.

Zouhdi is a mediator on the Roster of Mediators of the Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration (SCCA) and an arbitrator on the Roster of Arbitrators of the Lebanese Arbitration and Mediation Center (LAMC). He is an accredited mediator from CEDR and holds membership with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (MCIArb).

Zouhdi holds an LL.M. in Dispute Resolution from Pepperdine University, California, USA, a B.A. in Political Science from the Lebanese American University, and an LL.B. from the Lebanese University. He is a practicing attorney and a member of the Beirut Bar Association.

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