Adjudication & Dispute Boards

A Dispute Board is a new dispute resolution process where either one or more Dispute Board members act as the dispute resolution/prevention facility on large-scale construction projects for the life of the project. The Dispute Board is appointed jointly by the parties – the Employer and the Contractor – at the start of the project and it remains in place for the life of the project and in many cases even past the construction completion date. Dispute Boards are now being used on a variety of long-term concession matters, in ship building, and even in health care as part of a hospital system’s dispute resolution process.

Dr Chern’s major focus is in the field of Dispute Boards, which have covered the areas of heavy construction, infrastructure development, and civil engineering. He has also been instructed both as counsel in ICC arbitrations and as arbitrator having been frequently selected as a Panel member on ICC construction arbitrations arising out of Dispute Board decisions taken to the ICC. He has specialist knowledge of construction adjudication, acting either as a Dispute Board member, adjudicator or as counsel and is only one of the approximately 40 FIDIC President’s List Adjudicators worldwide and only 1 of 3 who head the Assessment Panel for the FIDIC President’s List.

His experience on Dispute Boards (in particular, service on Dispute Adjudication Boards, DRB, DAB, CDB) is on large infrastructure projects such as hydroelectric and nuclear facilities, dams, roads, bridges, and tunnels. He has served as member (18) and chairman (230) on dispute boards for contracts covering traditional, design and construct, and turnkey contracts and is familiar with all relevant Dispute Board rules and procedures including the World Bank Harmonised, FIDIC, ICE and ICC Dispute Board rules. Additionally he authored the Dispute Boards section in Emden’s Construction Law, as well as Chern on Dispute Boards (1st Edition 2007, 2nd Edition 2011 Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, 3rd Edition Routledge Publishing, 3rd Edition 2014 Informa and 4th Edition 2019 Informa). Dr Chern also instructs on the subject and is an accreditor of Dispute Board Members for both FIDIC and the DBF.

In addition to his Dispute Board work he has acted as an adjudicator in over 225 matters (including 137 decisions given under UK statutory adjudication schemes as well as internationally in Hong Kong, China, India, Pakistan, Japan, South America, and elsewhere). He is familiar with ICE, TeCSA, JCT, ACE (CIC), Scheme for Construction Contracts and other Adjudication Rules. No decision has been overturned at arbitration. He is experienced in World Bank/FIDIC conditions, the UK Construction Act 1996, statutory schemes and associated amendments to most major standard form contracts. Additionally he has experience in the drafting and interpretation of contractual provisions and procedures for arbitration, adjudication and dispute boards.