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The Honourable Neil Brown KC

Neil Brown is a prominent arbitrator and adviser in the domain name field. He has arbitrated hundreds of domain name cases, both as a panel of 1 and as a member of 3 person panels. His decisions have been widely quoted and referred to in other decisions, industry and scholarly journals and wherever discussion of domain name issues takes place. He has also been retained as an adviser and is well known for expressing clear and persuasive views.

 

Mr Brown is also in demand as a speaker at conferences and for writing papers on domain name issues and also for lecturing and tutoring. He operates out of Melbourne, Australia, but travels internationally and works overseas as well as in Australia.

 

As well as domain name matters, Mr Brown is a prominent mediator and arbitrator, internationally and in Australia and some of his work in that regard is in Intellectual Property, although he also mediates and arbitrates in commercial, financial , trade, construction and building matters.

Neil's Career

Neil has had a long and distinguished career in the Law and Government. Since 1964 he has practised in virtually every area of the law, mainly in commercial, construction and intellectual property matters and in 1980 he was appointed Queen’s Counsel.

He was a member of the Australian Parliament from 1969 and a Minister and Shadow Minister in the Federal Government of Australia in five portfolios – Business and Consumer Affairs, Employment and Youth Affairs, Communications, Attorney- General’s and Foreign Affairs.

 

He was a delegate to the General Assembly of the United Nations and other national and international organisations. In Parliament, he was an early advocate of international commercial arbitration in Australia under the International Arbitration Amendment Bill 1988.

 

In recent years, Neil Brown has conducted three inquires for the Australian Government:

  1. An inquiry into the claims of a ‘whistleblower’ against a bank

  2. The Consultative Group on Constitutional Change to the Australian Constitution

  3. Administrative law examination of several inquiries into the crash of a military aircraft.

 

At various times, Neil Brown has been a Director of Meridian Communications Pty. Ltd., a Member of the Advisory Board of the Commonwealth Rehabilitation Service (CRS) and a Director of Life Insurance Complaints Service Limited.

 

After years of service in these fields he is now practising in mediation, arbitration, the conduct of inquiries and consulting. His specialities are commercial contracts, trade and intellectual property. He is one of the leading international practitioners in domain name arbitration.

Current Appointments

  • Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators

  • Chartered Arbitrator

  • Adjunct Professor of Law, Murdoch University, Western Australia

  • ICSID – Member of the Panel of Conciliators at the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington, USA.

  • ICDR / AAA Member of the Panel of The International Centre for Dispute Resolution, the international division of the American Arbitration Association

  • WIPO   Member of the World Intellectual Property Organisation  (WIPO) Arbitration and Mediation Center’s List of Neutrals and the Center’s Domain Name Panel.

  • NAF   Member of the Panel of Arbitrators and Mediators, National Arbitration Forum (USA).

  • CIETAC   Member of Panel of Arbitrators for International (Foreign  – related) Disputes of the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC).

  • KLRCA   Member of Domain Name Dispute Panel for the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre For Arbitration

  • IAMA   Member of Domain Name Dispute Panel for The Institute of Arbitrator and Mediators, Australia

  • C INST ARB   Member of Panels of Arbitrators and Mediators with The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (Australia).

  • PANELIST for the Resolution of Domain Name Disputes at the Regional Centre for Arbitration, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the Czech Arbitration Court, Prague and The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators  (Australia)

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