Michelle Sindler's flair for studying languages has certainly come in handy over the course of her legal career. Sindler has practiced in four different jurisdictions for four separate firms, including as a partner at three firms.

However, the wheel has now come full circle for the arbitration expert and qualified mediator, as she is back where it all began in Australia, having being appointed as the CEO of the Australian International Disputes Centre (AIDC) which was officially opened in Sydney in August.

"Australia has previously been behind the eight ball when it comes to the practice of international dispute resolution," Sindler says. "Asia and Europe have traditionally shown much more interest in hearing cross border matters, and has obviously been in closer proximity obviously to other countries, but with Australia lifting its profile globally, it is much more involved in international business and much more involved in the arbitration space."

Have law degree, will travel

Sindler started her career with Minter Ellison in 1985 after obtaining degrees in law and languages (she is fluent in French, Italian and Czech) from Sydney University, rising to the partnership in 1990. At that stage in her career, Sindler was mainly involved in litigation, representing well known Australian companies in both domestic and international disputes.

"Looking back at the Australian litigation landscape in the 1990's, court matters were characterised by cases often taking some time to complete, with a whole raft of procedures and processes that also made it fairly costly as well," Sindler says.

"The benefits of arbitration included the fact that clients had access to a range of processes, such as the International Court of Arbitration [ICC] or the Australian Centre for Commercial Arbitration [ACICA, established in 1985], the matter could be settled quickly and the rules were not as strict [as court cases]."

Litigation lawyers in Australia were increasingly attracted to arbitration and alternative dispute resolution during this period, but many local practitioners were heading overseas as Australia did not have the infrastructure or volume of arbitration work as compared to many other countries.

Despite the fact that Australia's international arbitration structure and alternative dispute resolution [ADR] processes were lagging behind others in the region and in Europe, Sindler says that it wasn't only the desire to be at the epicentre of international commercial disputes that lead her to pursue her career overseas. Rather, it was her position as the head of the International Association of Young Lawyers (which allows members up to 45 years of age) that prompted Sindler to head to Europe.

"I was a member of the International Young Lawyers Association and was going to be appointed as president," Sindler says. "It is rather difficult to do that from Australia, and that was a major factor in my decision to move to Europe."

In 2000, Sindler obtained a secondment with the Swiss firm Bär & Karrer in Zurich, officially joining the firm just over one year later and being appointed as its first female partner in 2002. Sindler was commissioned with the task of developing the firm's arbitration capabilities, and worked on arbitration matters with many of Europe's most well known pharmaceutical and manufacturing companies, specialising in joint venture and construction disputes.

In 2008, Sindler got itchy feet once more and joined the hordes of Australians living and working in London where she accepted a partnership position with the UK telecommunications and real estate specialists Olswang LLP.

"I never intended to stay in Switzerland forever, and had never lived and worked in London before," Sindler explains. "London has a vibrant arbitration community and that was attractive to me."

Sindler says her most recent move to return to Australia was for both personal and professional reasons. A desire to be closer to her family and to be involved in the development and promotion of Australia's burgeoning ADR and arbitration infrastructure meant that she finally succumbed to the overtures of Trevor Morling QC, the AIDC president, and accepted the chance to head the fledgling body.

"The development of arbitration has moved east from Europe," Sindler says. "This has been recognised by European practitioners and international companies, who realise that you don't need to go to Stockholm or Zurich to gain access to quality arbitration systems and practitioners."

Two months after opening, Sindler says that the Centre is gaining a steady increase in its workload as "the word gets out" about its existence.

"We are hearing more and more arbitration and mediation matters involving businesses operating domestically and international corporations," Sindler says.

Taking on Asia

The establishment of the AIDC in Sydney has opened a new level of competition between the two other major regional centres for arbitration and mediation, Hong Kong and Singapore.

It is estimated that the number of cases before the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre has at least doubled in the past decade.

In Singapore, the legal services sector, of which its International Arbitration Centre is a major part, accounted for 0.6 per cent of the country's GDP in 2008.

Can Australia compete with such established players, given that Hong Kong's arbitration centre is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and Singapore's centre was established in 1991?

"Australia is viewed as having efficient and effective procedures and practices, with an open court system and arbitration friendly environment," Sindler says.

"It is seen as a safe place to do business, and that degree of transparency and openness would attract many people that do business in Asia."

Sindler is realistic with her expectations of just how much work will flow through the AIDC in the short-term.

She realises the Centre will need to be heavily promoted at regional forums and that it has to prove its bonafides in order to lure work away from the more established bodies in the region.

"There was a sentiment within the legal community in Australia that such a Centre on our shores was long overdue," Sindler says.

"We are in a good position to capitalise on the strength of our legal system and practitioners and proximity to Asia.

"Now is the time to bring business back to this part of the world."