The Bermuda International Mediation and Arbitration Centre (BIMAC) has partnered with Toronto-based Arbitration Place to provide digital hearing services ahead of a planned November opening.
The agreement will give users of Bermuda’s first dedicated dispute resolution hearing centre access to electronic evidence presentation, real-time transcription, remote witness examination and managed hybrid and virtual hearings.
Former Carey Olsen partner Sam Stevens, BIMAC’s chief executive officer and registrar, is leading the venture, which will provide just under 10,000 square feet of hearing and breakout rooms in Hamilton.
Stevens said: “Partnering with Arbitration Place allows BIMAC to launch with one of the most comprehensive digital hearing service offerings available in the international disputes market from day one.
“As domestic and cross-border disputes continue to grow in complexity, clients increasingly expect a sophisticated, seamless and technology-enabled experience. Whether a client needs a same-day transcript, technical support for hybrid hearings, or a fully integrated electronic hearing platform, BIMAC can deliver those services to the highest international standards.
“This partnership, combined with Bermuda’s world-class legal framework, pro-arbitration judiciary and strategic location between the Americas and Europe, marks an important step in our mission to strengthen further Bermuda’s position as a sophisticated, accessible and globally connected hub for international dispute resolution.”
The services will use PROCEED, Arbitration Place’s cloud-based platform, combining secure document management, electronic hearing bundles, real-time evidence presentation and annotation, and live transcript access. The offering also includes simultaneous foreign-language interpretation and access to Arbitration Place’s international roster of arbitrators and mediators.
Hearing managers and technical specialists will support proceedings, combining BIMAC’s physical facilities with Arbitration Place’s technology, case support and operational services.
Arbitration Place CEO Jeffrey Mandell said: “We are delighted to partner with BIMAC as it launches an exciting new chapter for dispute resolution in Bermuda. The purpose-built facilities and modern institutional infrastructure in the heart of Hamilton offer a significant opportunity to serve domestic, regional and international users.
“Through PROCEED and our wider specialist hearing technology services, we will provide the professional support needed to meet the demands of increasingly complex domestic and cross-border proceedings.”
The centre will serve a market handling insurance and reinsurance disputes, including pandemic coverage, opioid and ‘forever chemicals’ claims. Global law firms active in that market include Kennedys, Clyde & Co, Freshfields, K&L Gates, Covington & Burling and Jones Day, alongside locally resident firms including Appleby, Conyers, Harneys and Ogier.
The venture has also secured support from Bermuda’s judiciary and government, with Chief Justice Larry Mussenden and Attorney-General Kim Wilkerson welcoming the initiative. Mussenden highlighted the potential to reduce costs and court workloads.
BIMAC’s advisory committee includes international arbitrator and Bermuda Court of Appeal judge Dame Elizabeth Gloster of One Essex Court, David Scorey KC of Essex Court Chambers and Reed Smith insurance partner John Ellison, among others.
Harneys’ Bermuda managing partner Henry Tucker said: “The opening of BIMAC is a genuine milestone for Bermuda. For the first time, the island has a dedicated dispute resolution institution and hearing centre of its own, which gives parties a compelling reason to choose Bermuda not just as their governing law but also as their seat and venue. We warmly welcome it.”
Alex Potts KC of 4 Pump Court, who knows Bermuda well, called the development “very welcome news, not just for the legal profession, but also for Bermuda’s insurers and reinsurers and their international policyholders, and for international business more generally”.
He added: “The partnership between BIMAC and Arbitration Place should give confidence to arbitrating parties, and to lawyers and arbitrators, that BIMAC will be able to provide IT, transcription and support services to the very highest of international standards.”
The project follows a separate government proposal announced in 2018 for an arbitration centre at Hamilton’s former police station. That scheme failed to progress after efforts to establish a viable public-private partnership failed.
BIMAC will administer cases under its own arbitration rules, offer arbitrator and mediator appointment services and provide training and education initiatives, while also accommodating proceedings administered by other institutions, business meetings and events, and opening access to LCIA, ICC and ad hoc-administered cases.
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC), which normally sits at the UK Supreme Court in London, will hold its first-ever sitting on Bermudian soil in April 2027, as arranged by its future president, Lord Briggs. The JCPC is Bermuda’s final court of appeal, as well as that of other Commonwealth nations.
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