London International Disputes Week (LIDW) has announced leadership changes following the successful conclusion of this year’s event, which saw the highest number of delegates yet registered for the annual week-long series of legal, social and networking events.

Loukas Mistelis, a senior international arbitration partner at Clyde & Co and a professor at Queen Mary University of London (QMU), and Jonathan Cary, a partner at RPC, will co-chair LIDW alongside mediator Henrietta Jackson-Stops.

Mistelis and Cary will be taking over from Luke Harrison, name partner at Keiden Harrison, and Pinsent Masons’ Michael Fletcher, who will be stepping down from their co-chair roles.

Both men have evolved the organisational template set by its founding chair, Richard Bamforth of CMS, with developments to the governance, membership, management and marketing behind the event, of which Global Legal Post is a media partner.

Mistelis is well known for his work at QMU, having authored influential research reports on international arbitration and leading the teaching at the highly regarded arbitration faculty there.

An ICSID Panel of Arbitrators member, he has been involved in arbitrations as counsel and arbitrator under all the major arbitral institutions, including commercial and investor-state arbitrations.

He joined Clyde & Co as a senior equity partner in 2022 as a registered foreign lawyer, having been called to the Athens Bar in 1993. He has practised law in Germany, Greece and the United Kingdom and acted as a consultant in countries across the world, as well as for various UK government agencies, the United Nations and the EBRD.

Mistelis, one of the prime movers in Clyde & Co’s decision to co-host International Arbitration Day this year, also helped organise an Arbitral Institutions Congress during LIDW, which brought together key leaders from arbitral institutions in London.

“It is a huge responsibility and a positive challenge to step into the co-chair role after the most successful LIDW ever,” said Mistelis, on appointment.

“It is equally exciting to see what we can achieve working with my co-chairs, the LIDW strategy group and LIDW members to collaboratively curate LIDW25 as the global go-to annual international disputes event,” he added. 

Cary, a partner at RPC in London since 2017, previously spent a successful three-year stint in the firm’s Hong Kong office, where he led the firm’s banking litigation practice from 2014.

Since returning to London, he has further developed his banking and financial services practice, specialising in significant Commercial Court cases and arbitrations. He is also a member of RPC’s competition litigation team, with a particular focus on follow-on damages claims.

Cary also advises on and conducts investigations on potential enforcement actions across Asia and elsewhere, including anti-bribery and corruption issues.

Cary, who qualified at legacy Herbert Smith, spent more than a decade at Exchange House before moving for a short spell at Shearman & Sterling and joining RPC in 2013. He has chaired LIDW’s sponsorship committee and, like Mistelis, played an active role on LIDW’s strategy committee.

Cary said: “Luke and Michael have done a tremendous job in their roles, and given the resounding success of LIDW24, they leave large shoes to fill as we look towards LIDW25.”

He concluded: “I am honoured and excited to be appointed as a co-chair. I look forward to working alongside Hetti and Loukas and the broader strategy group and LIDW membership to ensure that London is a welcoming host and supporter of the global business disputes community.”