Mark Entwistle

Overview

Mark Entwistle has been employed in the construction and engineering industry since 1973 and is dually qualified as quantity surveyor and lawyer (barrister). He has for many years been a practising international arbitrator (sole and President), dispute board member and chair, adjudicator and mediator. After training with a major civil engineering and building contractor, during which time he became professionally qualified and gained experience of a variety of civil engineering and construction projects (as quantity surveyor and project manager), he joined James R Knowles in 1985 and opened the company’s Cardiff office in 1987; managing that office until 1995 when he took on a wider role in business development, based in London. He was appointed Executive Director in 1990, a position which he resigned to move into private practice in May 2000. Mark has been appointed as tribunal in connection with contracts in a wide variety of domestic and international civil engineering, building, power, transport (rail, road, air and sea), process, water treatment and petrochemical schemes and other commercial and property matters. He is well-versed in a range of international and domestic contract forms, including the suites of contracts published by FIDIC, NEC, JCT, ICE, I Chem E, and I Mech E.

He was formerly regularly appointed to write contracts, to give legal opinions and to advise parties in connection with disputes covering a considerable range of subjects and projects, including legal interpretation, financial entitlements, valuations and claims, planning and programming and technical and quality issues. He is especially well-versed in financial claims.

He has at various times acted as examiner and visiting lecturer at various Universities and Institutions. He was a course Director for the RICS Diploma in International Arbitration and a regular tutor in dispute boards and adjudications for DRBF.

He has been a regular judge at the annual Vis East Arbitration Moots in Hong Kong, Belgrade and Paris, and is a former member of the CIC Working Party on money-laundering and proceeds of crime in the UK.

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Relevant Skills And Experience

Mark is a qualified construction and engineering professional, lawyer, arbitrator, adjudicator, dispute board practitioner and mediator. He has received frequent UK domestic and international appointments as arbitrator, adjudicator and dispute board member and chair, since 1987, and has delivered over 400 awards and decisions (in arbitration, adjudication and dispute boards). He has been appointed in projects and disputes ranging in value from a few thousand to multi-millions of pounds/dollars/euros, including concurrent arbitrations involving multiple parties. He formerly represented parties in numerous formal proceedings as advocate or as case manager, and has received a great number of appointments and made many appearances in court (both criminal and civil proceedings) and arbitration as expert witness, both party and court-appointed, since 1983. Including appointments for legal advice, he has acted in over 750 cases in the fields of civil engineering, property, building construction projects and disputes generally. He is included as an approved adjudicator in the UK list of the Climate Change Adjudicators, was appointed as dispute board adjudicator panelist on the London 2012 Olympic Project.

He has delivered over 850 papers and lectures at public and in-house conferences and on courses and seminars on the full spectrum of construction and engineering law subjects, both in the UK and internationally. He is a member of the International Bar Association (IBA) and its International Construction Committee.

Country Experience

Lebanon, Kuwait, Qatar, Palestine, Tanzania, Japan, Ethiopia, France, Italy, Romania, Gibraltar, Falkland Islands, Cyprus, Ireland, Oman, St Lucia, Mustique, Grand Cayman, St Kitts, Ghana, Saudi Arabia, Philippines and Bangladesh, United Kingdom.

Languages Spoken – English (native language), Italian (Proficient), French (Conversational) and Spanish (Conversational)

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Academic Qualifications

• B.Tech. (Bachelor of Technology – Applied Physics) 1971.
• LLB (Hons) (Bachelor of Laws) 1993.
• Barrister Called (Lincoln’s Inn) 1997.
• Diploma in International Commercial Arbitration (Dip I C Arb) (2003).

Professional Memberships

• Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (FRICS) Elected 1985.
• Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb) 1987.
• Fellow of the Dispute Board Foundation (FDBF) 2007.
• Fellow of the Association of Forensic and Advanced Valuation Executives (Master) (FAFAVE).
• Member of the Association of Consulting Engineers (ACE).
• [Formerly Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Building (FCIOB) Resigned 2021].

Institutional Appointments

• Chartered Institute of Arbitrators:
  • Chairman of the Board of Management – 2003-2007 and 2010/2011 (temporary).
  • Member of the Board of Trustees – 2004-2007.
  • Elected Member of Council – 1997 – 2004.
  • Chairman of the Arbitration Committee – 2001 – 2004.
  • Chairman of the Membership Sub-committee – 1999 – 2002; Member 1997 – 1999.
  • Member of the Professional Practice Committee – 2009 – 2014; Chair 2011- 2014.
• Dispute Resolution Board Foundation (DRBF):
  • Region 2 Director – 2013 – 2017.
  • Chair of Region 2 Ethics Committee 2016-2017.
  • Chair of Region 2 Mentoring Committee (2017 – 2021).
• Association of Independent Construction Adjudicators:
  • Chairman – 2008 – 2014.

Panel Listings

• Arbitrator/Adjudicator with the London International Court of Arbitration (LCIA).
• Arbitrator/Adjudicator with the International Chamber of Commerce (Paris) (ICC).
• Arbitrator/Adjudicator with the Indian Chambers of Commerce, based in Delhi.
• Arbitrator/Adjudicator with the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce.
• Arbitrator/Adjudicator with the Association of Forensic and Advanced Valuation Executives (FAVE).
• Arbitrator/Adjudicator with Kuala Lumpur Centre for Arbitration (AICA).
• Arbitrator/Adjudicator with the Centre for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR), in New York.
• • Arbitrator/Adjudicator with the Dispute Board Federation (Geneva).
• Arbitrator/Adjudicator In the UK with RICS, RIBA, CIArb., CLG.

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Project Experience

International Experience

His practice has involved him with clients and projects around the world including Lebanon, Kuwait, Qatar, Palestine, Tanzania, Japan, Ethiopia, France, Romania, Gibraltar, Falkland Islands, Cyprus, Ireland, Oman, USA, St Lucia, Mustique, Grand Cayman, St Kitts, Ghana, Saudi Arabia, Philippines and Bangladesh, across a wide spectrum of contracts for engineering, construction, and professional services, including commercial and public buildings, highways and bridges, tunnels and pipelines, power generation, sewage and water treatment works, petrochemical and gas production plants, railways, ports and airports, and semiconductor, manufacturing and waste treatment plants. In addition, he has spoken at conferences in UK, Malaysia, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Italy, Dubai, France, Switzerland, Germany, Ireland, South Africa, Botswana, Kenya, Bulgaria, Turkey, Spain and Chile.

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Current Position

• International arbitrator, dispute board member, adjudicator, trainer and contract lawyer in private practice, based in London and Wales.

Recent Appointments

• Multiple and concurrent DB appointments on highway projects in Ethiopia (FIDIC Red/Yellow books).
• Chair of a 3-person DAB in Romania (Rail project) (FIDIC Red book).
• Arbitrator in a commercial project in UK (bespoke contract).
• Chair of a 3-person DAB in Oman (airport project) (FIDIC Red book).
• Consultant legal advisor to a nuclear fusion organisation (France).
• Arbitrator on a rail project (Qatar).
• President of arbitration tribunal highway project (Romania).
• DAB appointment highway project (Romania).
• Co-arbitrator rail project (Philippines).
• DAB Chair two separate rail and bridge projects (Bangladesh).
• Sole arbitrator power station project (Falkland Islands).
• Sole arbitrator domestic property (Ireland).
• Multiple arbitration, adjudication and expert determination appointments (UK).

Commitment to Dispute Resolution and Avoidance

Mark is co-founder of the Conflict Avoidance initiative promoted by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, and a signatory to the Conflict Avoidance Pledge.

Awards

• Contract Lawyer of the Year – Wales – Finance Monthly – Law Awards (2017).
• Construction Lawyer of the Year – UK – Corporate Insider (2019).