Canada Chapter "Dispute Resolution Agreement Workshop"

Tim Martin has nearly 40 years of experience in the international oil & gas and infrastructure industries where he was general counsel, country manager, finance director, commercial manager and economist, working in more than 50 countries on some of the largest energy projects in the world.

Tim was President of the AIPN, twice voted its Member of the Year and received its President’s Award and Legacy Award. He was the AIPN Vice-President of Education for several years, responsible for the formative development of the AIPN’s model contracts. Tim chaired the AIPN model contract workshops in Banff and in Tuscany, Italy. He has organized and chaired the leading annual conference on Dispute Resolution in the International Oil & Gas Business for more than a decade, co-sponsored by the AIPN and leading international arbitration institutions around the world. Tim presently co-chairs the AIPN’s Model International Dispute Resolution Agreement committee.

Tim now acts as an arbitrator, mediator, expert and counsel, with particular expertise in the energy, oil & gas, project infrastructure and construction sectors. He has been a sole arbitrator, party appointed arbitrator, institution appointed arbitrator and tribunal chair in institutional and ad hoc arbitrations. He has also acted as counsel, mediator, expert witness and strategic advisor in the resolution of a wide range of disputes. Tim has advised governments, industry organizations, and international and national oil companies on dispute resolution matters.

Governments and companies have retained Tim as an expert in a number of high profile energy disputes. He has wide-ranging experience in various legal systems including the common law, civil law, Shari’ah law and socialist legal systems. His business sector experience includes: energy, oil & gas, refining, petrochemicals, mining, infrastructure, construction, international trade & investment, regulatory & administrative, compliance (anti-corruption, sanctions and boycott law), and finance & banking.

Tim is a Fellow and Chartered Arbitrator of the CIArb, a Board Director of the American Arbitration Association and a member of the London Court of International Arbitration. He has been elected to the arbitrator panels of the International Centre for Dispute Resolution, the ICC International Court of Arbitration, the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, the Kuala Lumpur Regional Arbitration Centre, the Bahrain Chamber of Dispute Resolution and the Energy Arbitrators List.

Tim is the Chair of the Journal of World Energy Law & Business, the official journal of the AIPN and the leading journal on international energy, which is published by Oxford University Press. He has published and spoken extensively on dispute resolution and energy issues throughout the world.

Peers, leading arbitration institutions and industry publications have described Tim as the “go to guy for energy disputes”, “the best around for energy disputes”, an “industry specialist and arbitrator”, a “true innovator in international oil & gas law”, and a “true expert in the oil & gas sector”.

More details on Tim and his experience can be found at his website: www.timmartin.ca.

David Tupper practises in the Litigation & Dispute Resolution Group. His practice involves all aspects of corporate/commercial litigation with an emphasis on securities law, construction law, insurance law, environmental law and oil and gas law. He has appeared before all levels of courts in Alberta, in applications, trials and appeals, and has appeared in the Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal. 
In the securities area, David has acted for both the acquiror and the target in hostile takeovers, and has frequently appeared before the Securities Commission of Alberta to attack or defend Shareholder Rights Plans. He has acted in dozens of arrangements, including the Suncor/Petro-Canada arrangement, and has successfully defeated challenges to those arrangements by adverse parties. David has also acted for management, and for dissident groups, in proxy contests and related court challenges. He has had significant experience in oppression cases, including disputes over the entitlements of shareholders and holders of debt instruments. 

David has acted as counsel for plaintiffs and defendants in construction disputes involving engineering, builder and architectural issues. The construction projects at issue have included oil sands facilities, roadways, bridges, buildings, manufacturing plants, and energy facilities. Issues have included delay, cost overruns, deficient construction, deficient design, and negligent estimates. Many of the matters have been worth hundreds of millions of dollars and have involved hundreds of thousands of documents. The matters have been dealt with both by way of arbitration and in the courts. 

In the insurance area, David has acted as counsel in subrogation actions, coverage actions, and liability defence matters, involving property, liability, and life insurance policies. He has also prepared coverage opinions dealing with numerous issues involving property and liability policies and reinsurance losses of very significant magnitude. 

In the oil and gas area, David has given advice, led litigation, and conducted trials in a range of matters involving contractual disputes, unitization, pooling, farmouts, processing agreements and other issues. 

David also acts in the environmental area, and has provided advice on large and small matters, including one of the largest pieces of environmental litigation ever brought before Alberta courts, and in disputes relating to gas station contamination, oil spills on waterways, and coverage for environmental claims. 
David is ranked in Band 2 of Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business as a leading Alberta business litigator and is recognized as having a "tremendous ability to listen to clients, understand the issues, and convert that to a successful strategy" and as "smart, effective, no-nonsense and moves very quickly".  David is listed as one of the elite 500 lawyers in the Legal 500 Canadian Guide (for dispute resolution).  He is a repeatedly recommended commercial litigator in Lexpert in 2014.  He was also listed in "Lexpert's Special Edition on Litigation: Canada's Leading Litigation Lawyers, in December 2014, and December 2013.  He was also listed as a leading corporate commercial cross-border litigation lawyer in Canada in 2014 and 2013 by Lexpert.  He is ranked as an Alberta Litigation, Energy Litigation, Class Action Litigation, and Insurance Litigation, star in the Benchmark Litigation rankings.  He is also in the elite "Honourable Mention" category for those lawyers uniformly recommended.  David has been ranked as one of the "Best Lawyers in Canada" in Class Action Litigation, Insurance Law, Product Liability Law, Corporate and Commercial Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution categories for a number of years.  He has also been listed in "Who's Who Legal: Insurance & Reinsurance 2015 as being among the world's leading insurance & reinsurance lawyers. David was named as one of the “Top 40 Under 40” by Calgary Inc. magazine in September 2005.  In his free time, David is active in many volunteer organizations. 

Mike McCachen specializes in dispute resolution with a focus on energy. He has very extensive trial experience in complex cases and represents clients with Canadian and worldwide interests in litigation, arbitration and regulatory proceedings.

Representative experience includes:

  • Royalty disputes
  • Domestic and international commercial arbitration of energy disputes; political risk insurance disputes respecting distressed foreign assets
  • Aboriginal disputes in an energy context, including constitutional issues involving aboriginal title and treaty rights
  • Contract and joint venture disputes in oil & gas and oil sands matters
  • Disputes respecting transportation, processing/upgrading, and marketing of oil and gas, bitumen and petrochemicals