Tim Taylor, QC (ILFA Founder)
Tim Taylor founded ILFA in 2007 and stepped down in January 2014.
He is a solicitor advocate and has specialised in complex Commercial Dispute Resolution throughout his professional career, since qualifying with Herbert Smith in 1980.
The majority of his work entails an international element and embraces litigation as well as arbitration and mediation.
Tim headed King & Wood Malleson SJ Berwin’s Litigation Department from 1997 to 2004 when he began to spearhead the firm’s International Arbitration Practice. The Department is rated by Chambers Legal Directory 2003 as one of the top two of a list of thirty leading litigation practices in the UK with forty lawyers or less.
Tim is recognised as a leader in the field of the Dispute Resolution in both the Legal Business, Legal Experts Directory and the Chambers Global Directory of the Worlds Leading Lawyers. He is variously described in Chambers and the Legal 500 as “superb”, “a marvellous and mercurial figure”, and as having “an extraordinary mind which allows him to bring something different to any piece of litigation”.
Dapo Akande
Professor Dapo Akande is Yamani Fellow at St Peter’s College, University of Oxford, Associate Professor of Public International Law, and Co-Director of the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict (ELAC) & the OxfordMartin Programme on Human Rights for Future Generations. He is the current Convenor of the Oxford Law Faculty’s Public International Law Group. He has held visiting professorships at Yale Law School (where he was also Robinna Foundation International Fellow) and the University of Miami School of Law.
He is (or has been) a member of the boards of several journals, academic and professional organizations, including: the Editorial Board of the American Journal of International Law; the Scientific Advisory Board of the European Journal of International Law; the Editorial Board of the African Journal of International and Comparative Law; the Advisory Council of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law; the Executive Council of the British Branch of the International Law Association; and the Advisory Board of the International Centre for Transitional Justice. Dapo has advised States, international organizations and non-governmental organizations on matters of international law.
He has advised and assisted counsel or provided expert opinions in cases before several international tribunals and national courts. He has worked with the United Nations on issues relating to international humanitarian law and human rights law; acted as consultant for the African Union on the international criminal court and on the law relating to terrorism; and also as a consultant for the Commonwealth Secretariat on the law of armed conflict and international criminal law. He has also provided training on international law to diplomats, military officers and other government officials.
He has varied research interests within the field of general international law and has published articles on aspects of the law of armed conflict, international criminal law, the law of international organizations, and international dispute settlement.
Dr Adesegun Akin-Olugbade
Dr. Akin-Olugbade is General Counsel and Corporate Director of the African Finance Corporation. Former General Counsel and Director at the African Development Bank, Dr. Akin-Olugbade has over 20 years of experience in the legal /financial sector having worked at both the technical and management levels, in the public and private sector for leading corporate and commercial law firms. Dr. Akin-Olugbade was the Division Manager of the Finance and Administrative Affairs Division of the General Counsel and Legal Services Department of the AfDB and was the pioneer Chief Legal Officer and Head of the Legal Services Department of the African Export-Import Bank (Afriexim Bank).
Phillip Aliker
Phillip Aliker is a Barrister at Tanfield Chambers. He specialises in international commercial contractual disputes including international commercial arbitration and commercial litigation and property litigation.
He is a Chartered Arbitrator and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators accepting appointments in ad hoc and institutional arbitrations.
Phillip is accredited as a mediator, he is admitted to the Roll of Advocates in Uganda, the Dubai International Financial Court and he is admitted as Foreign Legal Consultant in the State of New York.
Jeffrey Golden
Jeffrey Golden is Chairman of P.R.I.M.E. Finance, and a member of the Foundation’s Panel of Recognised International Market Experts in Finance, a Governor and Honorary Fellow of the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he has also been Visiting Professor in the Law Department (2010-2013), and a member of chambers at 3 Hare Court. He recently retired from international law firm Allen & Overy LLP, which he joined as a partner in 1994 after 15 years with the leading Wall Street practice of Cravath, Swaine & Moore. He was the founder partner of Allen & Overy’s US law practice and senior partner in the firm’s global derivatives practice and has broad experience of a wide range of capital markets matters. He has acted extensively for the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, was a principal author of ISDA’s master agreements and has appeared as an expert witness in several high profile derivatives cases.
Jeffrey has served on the American Bar Association’s working group on the rule of law and economic development (Chair), He is Immediate Past Chairman of the Society of English and American Lawyers (SEAL), a former Chairman of the American Bar Association’s Section of International Law, Co-Chair of its Financial Engineering for Economic Development (FEED) Task Force, a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, an elected member of the American Law Institute, a Trustee of the International Bar Association Foundation and General Editor of the Capital Markets Law Journal (Oxford University Press).
Professor Maurice Mendleson QC
Maurice is a barrister at Blackstone Chambers, specialising in public international law including international litigation and arbitration; negotiations with and for governments; advising; and expert evidence. Areas include: boundaries; law of the sea; jurisdiction; investment protection; diplomatic and state immunity; human rights.
Dame Judith Macgregor
Dame Judith Macgregor was British High Commissioner to South Africa from 2013 – 2017, when she retired from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) after some 40 years in the Diplomatic Service. Before South Africa, Dame Judith served as British Ambassador to Slovakia from 2004-2007 and Ambassador to Mexico from 2009-2013. She also served as the FCO’s Director for Security from 2000-2001 and Director for Migration from 2007-2009. She was awarded the DCMG for her services to Diplomacy in 2016.
As President of the FCO Women’s Association, Dame Judith oversaw a significant increase in the number of women in the senior grades. In Mexico and South Africa she spearheaded work to increase bilateral Research and Development Programmes and extend post graduate scholarships, professional and educational exchanges for young people.
Dame Judith now serves as an Independent Non Executive Board Member for Fresnillo plc, the Governing Council of Southampton University and the British Tourist Association. She was elected Honorary Bencher of the Middle Temple and Honorary Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford in July 2017 and became a Deputy Lieutenant for Hampshire in December 2017.
Folarin Oyeleye
Folarin Oyeleye is an Executive Director and advisor to UK private clients at J.P. Morgan Private Bank. As part of his responsibilities, Folarin is a relationship manager and investment advisor managing discretionary portfolios and advises on non-discretionary investments portfolios.
Folarin joined J.P. Morgan in 2006 and prior to focusing on UK private clients, he worked within various investment teams advising clients in Europe and the Middle East.
Folarin was Co-Chair for the Black Organisation for Leadership Development EMEA (2015-2017), a Business Resource Group at J.P. Morgan which provides employees, particularly those of black heritage, with an empowering environment that focuses on professional and personal development. Folarin was a Trustee for the Helena Kennedy Foundation from 2006 to 2015, which provides financial bursaries, mentoring and support to disadvantaged students from the further and adult education sectors, enabling them to complete their studies in higher education and move on successfully to employment.
Folarin is a graduate of University of Surrey and holds a BEng (Hons) in Electronic Engineering. Folarin was raised in Nigeria prior to continuing his education in Ireland and UK.
Andrew MacLeod
Professor Andrew MacLeod is a Non-Executive Chairman of British based Griffin Law, Non-Executive Director at New York based Cornerstone Capital, and a Visiting Professor at Kings College London. He is, additionally, a part of the Chatham House/ICRC Expert Panel on Humanitarian Negotiations with Non-State Armed Groups and an Affiliate Senior Associate to the Center for Strategic International Studies in Washington DC. He served on the Advisory Boards of the World Economic Forum’s Future of Civil Society Project Advisory Board, Kings College Humanitarian Futures Project and the UN Expert Group on Responsible Business and Investment in High-Risk Areas.
Professor Andrew has received Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal by Australia for work in the Balkans and Rwanda. He also received the Australian Defence Medal for service as an officer in the Australian Infantry and a Silver Medal for Humanity from the Montenegrin Red Cross.