Paulino Fajardo, Herbert Smith Freehills' Head of Disputes for the EMEA region, has been awarded the prestigious Barakah Award (Europe category) 2023 for outstanding contribution to the field of mediation.
A partner in our Madrid office, Paulino is dual qualified in England and Spain and is a leading practitioner in international litigation and arbitration, particularly in the insurance sector. The award recognises his commitment to promoting mediation of commercial disputes.
Since training as a mediator with CEDR in 2007, he has become a pioneer in commercial mediation in Spain. His experience and knowledge of alternative methods of conflict management led him to take a leading role in the field, collaborating with the General Council of the Judiciary (the highest judicial body in Spain) as an advisor and training Spanish judges in mediation. He is also a member of the European Association of Judges for Mediation (GEMME).
As a commercial mediator, Paulino is one of the first choices for cross-border disputes where a strategic approach involving knowledge and understanding of different legal systems is necessary. He has mediated disputes involving European, American and Asian companies.
He also lectures and writes extensively on the topic. A Professor of Procedural Law at Comillas University (ICADE), Paulino's PhD thesis was dedicated to cooperative conflict management methods including mediation. It has been published under the title "Cooperating as a Strategy", by Thomson-Reuters.
The Barakah Awards, sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce of Valladolid, recognise individuals and institutions across society for their efforts to promote mediation and other conflict resolution procedures in their different fields and professions. The NGO World Central Kitchen led by the chef José Andrés, and Jean-Yves Ollivier, president and founder of the Brazzaville Foundation - which designs and promotes conflict resolution initiatives in Africa – were also recognised in the 2023 awards.
This year, the awards ceremony took place as part of the inaugural World Summit on Business Mediation held in Spain. Over 800 guests attended the summit to reflect on the views of companies and experts from different sectors and jurisdictions on business-related mediation. Paulino was invited to present as part of a panel discussing "The difficult task of advising on settlement in confrontational scenarios", alongside other experts in the field.
See Paulino's full profile and contact details here.
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