Adrian Higgins

I was trained as an Arbitrator at the Sutherland School of Law, University College Dublin, receiving the Post-Graduate Diploma in Arbitration in 2010.

The focus of the Diploma in Arbitration is on arbitration from UK and Irish based clients. The course was designed to equip the practitioner with the level of competence in Arbitration law and procedure and I was required to conduct and participate in arbitrations between UK based and Irish parties.

The subjects covered by the programme provided valuable background knowledge to the law, practice and procedure from the commencement of an arbitration to its conclusion.

Areas in which I retain an interest and where UCD cites that “arbitration has proved especially effective include - building and civil engineering contracts; shipping; imports, exports and international trade; foreign investment agreements; commodities trading; partnership disputes; insurance contracts; intellectual property agreements; and rent review in commercial leases”.

The principal advantages of arbitration, we learned, over other forms of dispute resolution (litigation included) “are privacy; flexibility of procedure; the ability to use arbitrators who are expert in the field of dispute; cost effectiveness; and enforceability of the award both domestically and internationally”.

In 2017 I was appointed first reserve to the Motor Insurers Bureau panel of Arbitrators (Un-insured Drivers Scheme).

I have been a barrister in independent practice since 1999. My primary areas of practice are in criminal, civil and commercial law.

In 2013 I was appointed Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Turks & Caicos Islands.