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A Conversation with Lucinda A. Low, Interviewed by Meg Kinnear
This interview is a part of a series organized by the ITA Academic Council to record the evolution of modern international arbitration in the words of those who have led it.
This interview was recorded in Houston, Texas, on June 12, 2025, during the 37th Annual ITA Workshop and Annual Meeting.
LUCINDA A. LOW is a founding member of Low & Kinnear Dispute Resolution LLC, based in Washington, DC, a boutique firm focused on the provision of independent adjudication and advisory services in transnational matters. Prior to founding LKDR in 2024, she was a partner with Steptoe LLP, where she co-chaired the firm’s international arbitration practice group and served as its International Practice Leader. She is widely recognized for her expertise in both international arbitration and international regulatory compliance matters. Ms. Low was the first woman to chair the American Bar Association’s Section of International Law. She has also served as President of the American Society of International Law. She was appointed by the United States to the ICSID Panel of Conciliators in 2016 and by the World Bank President to the ICSID Panel of Arbitrators in 2017, and is a member of various arbitration rosters. Her current portfolio of cases as arbitrator are a mix of investor-state and commercial disputes, involving the ICSID Convention and Rules, the UNCITRAL Rules, and the PCA, ICC, LCIA, and ICDR. She frequently serves as the presiding arbitrator, but has been appointed by both claimants and respondents. Ms. Low has been a longstanding member of the US Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on International Law. She is a member of the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR and has been an active member of its Task Force on Dealing with Allegations of Corruption in International Arbitration. She currently chairs the Coalition for Integrity, a non-governmental organization which promotes transparency, integrity and accountability in both the public and the private sectors, and serves on the Leadership Council of the World Justice Project.
MEG KINNEAR is a Canadian international disputes specialist. She co-founded LKDR in July 2024, and acts as a dispute neutral in international investment, trade and commercial matters. Meg was the first full-time Secretary-General of ICSID (2009-2024); the head of Canada’s in-house international investment and trade law group (1999-2009); and litigation counsel at the Canadian Department of Justice (1984-1999). She has been lead counsel on numerous investor-State arbitrations and domestic litigation, negotiated international investment and trade treaties, and provided strategic and legal advice on a wide variety of international investment, commercial and trade disputes. She is also a frequent speaker and author on topics related to arbitration and international investment law.