Biography
I am an independent arbitrator and counsel, specializing in international arbitration and public international law. I divide my time between London and New York.
Before founding my independent practice, I practiced in leading international law firms including King & Spalding (London and New York), Baker McKenzie (Vienna), and Omnia Strategy under Cherie Blair QC (London).
I have a mixed civil/common law background. I graduated with honors from Harvard Law School. I am triple-qualified in New York, England & Wales, and Croatia.
Throughout my career, I represented clients in around 50 complex, high-stakes, commercial and investment arbitrations under all major arbitral rules, including ICC, LCIA, SCC, AAA, HKIAC, ICSID, UNCITRAL, OIC, ECT and SAS HGK.
I sat as arbitrator in ad hoc and institutional arbitrations. I am appointed to the ICSID Panel of Arbitrators and included on rosters/databases of institutions such as ICC, LCIA, SCC, VIAC, and BVIIAC. My arbitrator philosophy is described here: https://www.vidakarbitration.com/arbitrator-philosophy
I am committed to thought leadership in my professional field. I am an Adjunct Professor at McGill University, where I teach Advocacy & Strategy in Int'l Arbitration with Prof. A. Bjorklund. I frequently speak at arbitration conferences. Recently I spoke at Harvard Law School, Cambridge Arbitration Days, Paris Arbitration Week, Kiev Arbitration Days and Vienna Arbitration Days.
I published in leading journals such as ICSID Review and Oxford Journal of International Arbitration. For my article on arbitrator appointment (with M. McIlwrath and L. Greenwood), I was shortlisted for the GAR Best Innovation Award 2017.
I am passionate about equality and diversity. I am a founding co-chair of Mute Off Thursdays — a virtual forum for women in arbitration, which won the GAR ERA Pledge Award 2021.
I am recognized by WWL Arbitration as “𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙭𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙥 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙”, “𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙣𝙩, 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙡𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙮𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨”. G. Born commented in a GAR interview: “𝙀𝙢𝙖 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧, 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙗𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙥 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙚𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙥𝙧𝙖𝙜𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙢 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙪𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣.”
WWL Arbitration 2022 describes me as “𝙖 𝙧𝙤𝙡𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙙𝙚𝙡 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙖𝙧𝙗𝙞𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝.”
Find out more:
https://www.vidakarbitration.com/
Download my CV:
https://www.vidakarbitration.com/s/20230309-Arbitrator-Bio-Ema-Vidak-Friedman.pdf