Gillian Carmichael Lemaire is a London-based bilingual (English/French) mediator and arbitrator working internationally.
Gillian started out as a litigator in Scotland, representing individuals injured at work in the Glasgow shipyards. She then moved to Paris, where she spent most of her career in international arbitration (and more recently mediation), including partner roles in international law firms. She founded her own practice in 2014 and returned to the UK soon afterwards. At the end of 2024 Gillian retired from legal practice as a solicitor and as a member of the Paris Bar to focus on serving as mediator and arbitrator. She is a registered mediator with the Civil Mediation Council (England & Wales) and Scottish Mediation, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb) and a Fellow of the Law Society of Scotland.
Gillian has significant disputes experience in the environmental, construction & infrastructure, energy, and commercial & corporate sectors. She also has strong transactional experience gained both in private practice and during a long-term secondment to an international environmental services corporation active in the waste, water, transport and energy sectors. Her experience spans both private and public international law and she has worked on many complex projects and disputes involving public/private partnerships, handling both commercial and investor-State arbitrations in English and French. She has extensive experience of the principal arbitration institutions and rules, as well as deep knowledge and practical experience of both common and civil law systems. She has worked on disputes worldwide, with a particular focus on France, Scotland, England, the Middle East and Africa.
Environmental disputes have been a feature of Gillian’s practice for many years and she is committed to raising awareness of the benefits of mediation as a key process for addressing many environmental and climate-related disputes. She is a signatory of the Campaign for Greener Arbitrations Pledge and the Mediators Green Pledge, and is a member of the UK Environmental Law Association.
Gillian is a board member of the Scottish Arbitration Centre, a member of the Advisory Council to the board of ArbitralWomen and a volunteer mediator for Smile Mediation (Resolve UK). She holds a certification in cyber security from the Law Society of Scotland.
Whenever there is an opportunity, Gillian enjoys helping disputants manage and resolve conflict through walking.
See Gillian’s CV for details of her professional qualifications and career.
WHAT OTHERS SAY:
“Gillian was a calm, professional voice throughout our mediation process and she was clearly the reason we managed to get to a mutually satisfactory outcome. I would recommend her to lead any mediation process without hesitation.” Chief Executive, public authority.
“Gillian has extensive experience of commercial as well as investor-State disputes and having seen her work up close on investor-State and commercial arbitrations, I can vouch for her as a first-class operator. She is quick to the issues and strategic in her approach whilst retaining a firm grasp of the detail.” Partner, law firm, London.
“Gillian impresses with her encyclopaedic knowledge of international arbitration and many years of practical involvement conducting hearings …”. KC, London Chambers.
“Gillian draws on her understanding of, and familiarity with, common and civil law systems and her significant experience of projects and disputes all over the world to find ways through the most complex legal and procedural problems.” Partner, law firm, London.
“Her ability to capture the essence of the new method of analysing disruption that we had pioneered, distil the salient findings, and explain lucidly the complex massively disrupted Middle Eastern construction dispute to an international arbitral tribunal while working remotely with a worldwide team of experts was impressive.” Contractors Claims Coordinator.
“Gillian is an excellent, very clear and professional communicator. She can readily put people at their ease and has significant practical knowledge and understanding of conducting arbitration and mediation processes.” Professor in Dispute Process Law, Top 15 ranked UK Law School.
