New judges appointed to the AIFC Court

Three judges have been appointed to the AIFC Court: The Rt. Hon. The Lord Mance, Mr. Alan Maclean QC (AIFC Small Claims Court) and Mr. Charles Banner QC (AIFC Small Claims Court).

Lord Mance was the Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. He is currently Chair of the International Law Association, Chair of the Conduct Committee of the House of Lords, and a member of the Judicial Integrity Group. He has many years of experience in commercial law, public and private international law and European law. He was a founder director of the Bar Mutual Indemnity Insurance Fund and he was the Chair of various Banking Appeals tribunals in London. He also has significant arbitrator experience. He was educated at the University of Oxford.

Mr. Alan Maclean QC is an experienced QC, practising from Blackstone Chambers in London. He was educated at the University of Oxford, where he took a double First in PPE, and Harvard University, where he was a Kennedy Memorial Scholar. He was called to the Bar, first in his year, in 1993 and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2009. He has a broad practice in the fields of commercial litigation and arbitration, public law, competition law, private international law and European law.

Mr. Charles Banner Q.C. is a barrister based at Landmark Chambers in London and Birmingham. He practises in England & Wales (where he was called to the Bar in 2004) and Northern Ireland (where he was called to the Bar in 2010), as well as internationally. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2019. He has a broad practice, principally focused on public and private law issues relating to development and infrastructure (particularly in the energy, transport, housing and tourism sectors), but also covering government & regulation and commercial dispute resolution more generally. He is recommended in a total of 8 practice areas by Chambers & Partners UK Bar and Legal 500 UK Bar, and has been the recipient of multiple legal industry awards. He was educated at Oxford University.

Reference:

AIFC. The AIFC was established on the initiative of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev. In December 2015 President Nazarbayev approved the Constitutional Statute “On the Astana International Financial Centre” (AIFC). The aim of the AIFC is to establish a leading international centre for financial services. The objectives of the AIFC are to attract investment into the economy through the establishment of an attractive environment for investment in financial services, develop local capital markets, ensuring their integration with the international capital markets. https://aifc.kz/

AIFC Court. The AIFC Court is an independent legal entity. It has its own procedural rules modelled on English common law procedures and leading international practice. The AIFC Court is separate and independent from the courts of the Republic of Kazakhstan. It consists of two tiers: a Court of First Instance, which includes a specialist division known as the Small Claims Court; and a Court of Appeal. It has exclusive jurisdiction over disputes arising out of the activities and operations of the AIFC and jurisdiction in the case of other disputes in which all parties agree in writing to give the AIFC Court jurisdiction. It does not have jurisdiction in relation to any disputes that are of a criminal or administrative nature. It applies the most up to date and efficient case management practices.

International Arbitration Centre (IAC). The International Arbitration Centre (IAC) is an independent legal entity. It has its own procedural rules modelled on best international practice. It has its own panel of leading international arbitrators and mediators having many years of arbitration and mediation experience in commercial law, including oil and gas, trade, construction, energy, financial services, banking, Islamic finance, insurance, and intellectual property. IAC arbitration awards are recognised and enforceable in Kazakhstan and internationally.