Interview with Sandra Baird: a retrospective of more than a decade at the heart of the SIA

As administrator of the School of International Arbitration, she was active right at the heart of the School for more than a decade.  Introducing Sandra Baird, whose combination between organisational skills and British flair are likely to have made an impression on anyone who has spent any time at the School. At the occassion of her retirement this academic year, AFSIA contacted her for some thoughts on past, present and future of the school.

Sandra, when did you first get involved in SIA? Were times different then? 

I took over administering the School of International Arbitration in 1997. For me, the biggest difference between those days and the last couple of years is the economic climate. Back then, the economy was doing well and law firms were able to offer financial support to our conferences and events. Nowadays, law firms have clearly had to cut down their budgets and are more selective in their decisions to sponsor. While the School's reputation has continued to open doors, obtaining sponsorship has nonetheless been more difficult recently.

How did you see the SIA develop?

When I arrived at the School, Professor Lew had already built up the SIA to one of the strongest and best established areas at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies. I remember having the feeling at the time that it would be difficult to develop it even further. For me, the milestone in the SIA's development during my time at the School was therefore the arrival of Professor Mistelis. Starting from the strong foundations present, he actually did manage to take the School a step forward and improved it. A further milestone in the development was the appointment of Dr. Brekoulakis as lecturer. His input again constitutes a step forward for the School, and together with Professor Mistelis he will be the SIA's future.

During your time at the School, you have organised numerious conferences, meetings and events. Any you remember in particular?

The most momentous occasion at SIA was the build up to the Conference on Contemporary Problems in International Arbitration at the Barbican in 2005. This was a large three day event to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the SIA at the Barbican from 10 to 12 April 2005, with a galadinner on the second evening.

The evening before the conference started, we were still compiling the conference programmes until around midnight in a room not much bigger than 9ft by 9ft. There must have been around 10 people plus the materials for a conference of over 250 attendees in this room. As you can imagine, tempers got very frayed and we thought this was not a good start to the conference. Anyone who was there that evening could not fail to remember this. But as usual, the conference turned out to be a great success and normality was restored.

An other occasion I remember in particular, was the inaugural lecture of Professor Mistelis on 7 November 2007. Not only because the evening was successful and enjoyable, it was good to see that the University had acknowledged his expertise.

The SIA is a unique part of the Centre of Commercial Law Studies (CCLS). How did you experience the interaction between the College or CCLS and SIA?

We have always had a lot of support from the College and in particular Professor Philip Ogden in the Principals office. I think both the College and the CCLS have always recognised the importance of the SIA and I am sure that this support will continue in the future.

During your time at the School, you have seen many students pass by. Are you still in contact with any of them?

Oh yes, I have remained in contact with many students from SIA. Paradoxically, some of the students who did their studies many years ago are the ones I particular remember and feel closer to. While their time as a student may have been longer ago, many of them seem to think back fondly to their time at the SIA and have remained in touch over the years. In general, I must say I that I have actually been impressed by the number of students that have kept in contact as well as the support they have given and continue to give to the SIA in a big way. To me, this makes SIA alumni unique.

Is there any difficult moment you can remember?

Not really. I truly enjoyed all aspects of working at the SIA. The academics and students I got to work with were among the best at CCLS and our associates at law firms both in London and overseas are all exceptional people.

Sandra, thanks a lot and best of luck with all your further endeavourments.