Legal Expert, Chartered Arbitrator & Accredited Mediator
Internationally trusted dispute resolution and legal expertise.
About G. Brian Hutchinson
G. Brian Hutchinson is an experienced Chartered Arbitrator, Accredited Mediator, and Legal Expert in commercial and company law. Alongside his academic role, for over three decades he has advised, decided, and assisted in the resolution of complex commercial disputes, combining deep academic insight with substantial practical experience as a neutral and expert.
Brian acts as arbitrator, mediator, expert adjudicator, and expert witness in matters involving contract law, commercial transactions, company law, construction, financial services, technology disputes, and cross-border commercial issues. His work is marked by clarity, fairness, and analytical precision — qualities consistently recognised by parties, practitioners, and institutions.
Brian is licensed as a Practising Barrister in Ireland under the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015. He is an Irish national, and speaks English (mother tongue) and French (conversational).
Brian serves as Associate Professor at the UCD Sutherland School of Law at University College Dublin, where he has taught and published extensively in arbitration, mediation, company law, commercial law, and dispute resolution. He is widely known internationally for his pioneering work in online dispute resolution, including leadership of the ECODIR project and participation as an invited expert in UNCITRAL Working Group III.
Brian’s distinctive combination of rigorous legal scholarship, practical dispute resolution experience, and long-standing independence makes him a trusted choice for parties seeking a decisive, fair-minded, and highly informed neutral.
Expertise
Arbitration
Brian has acted in over thirty arbitrations, arbitrating predominantly as sole arbitrator, with additional experience as an arbitrator’s legal adviser and tribunal-appointed expert. His arbitral work has involved commercial, construction, property, and shareholder disputes, as well as domain-name disputes under the .IE registry.
He has handled disputes ranging up to €75 million, including multiparty, cross-border, and document-heavy matters. He has worked with and advised on arbitrations under UNCITRAL, ICC, CIArb, ad hoc rules, and Irish statutory and sectoral schemes including the Engineers Ireland rules and has intimate knowledge of other rules including LCIA and VIAC. He is a member of the WIPO and NetNeutrals arbitration panels and a Fellow and Chartered Arbitrator of the CIArb.
Mediation
Brian mediates commercial, shareholder, organisational, construction, and technology disputes, and sometimes high value family disputes. His approach is calm, structured, and facilitative, with an emphasis on helping parties reach workable and durable solutions.
Expert Opinions and Expert Evidence
Brian has significant experience acting as a legal expert, expert witness, and expert determiner in both domestic and international disputes. His work covers commercial and company law, contract interpretation, agency and fiduciary duties, governance and directors’ duties, statutory and regulatory interpretation, and corporate structures in international taxation.
He has provided expert evidence in international litigation, domestic and international arbitrations, regulatory contexts, Tax Appeals Commission proceedings, and construction adjudication. His opinions have been accepted by courts, tribunals, and parties in every instance.
Examples of past expert engagements include: the effect of company strike-off on property located in England (before the UK High Court); voluntary transfers in insolvency proceedings (Ireland and USA); rights of estate agents in commercial property sales; Irish company law issues in substantial shareholder litigation in the United States; and contractual, confidentiality, and procedural issues in major construction arbitrations. He has also been retained by institutions to provide training for judges, appeal commissioners, and other decision-makers.
Consultancy and Advisory Work
Brian has played an active role in policy development and law reform, including advising on the Irish Arbitration Act 2010, contributing to the implementation of the EU ADR Directive, and serving as a member of ICODR. His clients have included public authorities such as the Irish Revenue, as well as international investors, multinational corporations, and major construction firms.
Academic and Professional Background
Brian is Associate Professor at the UCD Sutherland School of Law and has held a range of senior leadership positions, including Assistant Dean, Associate Dean, Vice Dean, Programme Director for the BCL, and Director of Graduate Studies. He founded and continues to direct UCD’s long-running Diploma in Arbitration.
He is the author of Keane on Company Law (6th edition), a leading text on Irish company law, and has numerous scholarly and academic publications to his name. His full academic profile and publications list can be viewed here .
He served as a long-standing member of the statutory Company Law Review Group, where he has chaired and co-chaired key subcommittees. Internationally, he has served as invited expert and observer at UNCITRAL Working Group III (ODR) and has contributed to EU and governmental projects on dispute resolution.
Brian is Editor of the Commercial Law Practitioner and serves on the editorial boards of the Irish Jurist and the International Journal of Online Dispute Resolution.
Professional Memberships
Fellow and Chartered Arbitrator, CIArb;
Fellow, National Institute for Technology and Dispute Resolution;
Member, European Court of Arbitration (Irish Delegation);
Practising Barrister under the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015.
Contact
Email: info@gbh.ie