With the firm since 2006, Michael Collins, Q.C., has been a barrister at the English Bar since 1971. He practiced in commercial law in London at Essex Court Chambers for 30 years before moving to the United States in 2002, where he joined the arbitration practice of Fulbright & Jaworski LLP in Washington DC. In 2006, he joined the firm in order to focus specifically on his practice as an international arbitrator and mediator. He also continues to be active at Essex Court Chambers.
Mr. Collins has over 20 years’ experience of sitting as an arbitrator, and regularly acts in ICC, LCIA, UNCITRAL, LMAA, SIAC, ARIAS and other institutional and ad hoc cases in jurisdictions such as London, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bermuda, Switzerland, Canada, and the United States. Cases in which he has served have involved shipping, oil rig, aviation, construction, intellectual property, information technology, insurance, reinsurance, corporate, joint venture, and many other technical and commercial disputes. He has also acted as a mediator in a variety of insurance, reinsurance, and technical disputes in London, Sydney, Bermuda, New York, and Washington D.C.
Mr. Collins received an LL.B. (Honours) 1st Class from the University of Exeter in 1970. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1988, and served as a Recorder of the Crown Court between 1994 and 2001. His principal areas of specialization at the English Bar included arbitration, insurance and reinsurance, shipping, and a wide variety of other contractual and tortious disputes of a technical or commercial nature. In addition to his frequent appearances in the English trial and appellate Courts, he has appeared as an advocate in the Courts of Hong Kong, Singapore, and Bermuda. He has authored several articles and frequently lectures at various international seminars and programmes.
Mr. Collins is a Fellow of both the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators. He is a member of the American Arbitration Association ICDR International Panel of Arbitrators, and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration. He is also a CEDR-accredited mediator.