Ciarb Roebuck Lecture 2026: Revisiting the Paradox of Trust
18 June 2026 · London · In person · Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (Ciarb)
The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators' annual Roebuck Lecture, delivered in 2026 by Dr Crina Baltag FCIArb on disclosure, transparency and the changing dynamics of impartiality in international arbitration.
What happened
Locus Standi editorial
On 18 June 2026 the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators held its annual Roebuck Lecture at the International Dispute Resolution Centre in London, delivered this year by the arbitrator and academic Dr Crina Baltag FCIArb, who teaches at Queen Mary University of London and joined the roster of Arbitra International in January. Her title, Revisiting the Paradox of Trust, set up the evening's central tension: the age of expansive transparency has not made the selection of arbitrators feel any safer.
Baltag began from first principles. Arbitration runs on trust, and neutrality is the load-bearing wall; screening arbitrators for anything that might compromise it has always been part of the bargain. What has changed is the surface area now open to scrutiny. Arbitrators are more visible than any generation before them, and disclosure has crept outward from formal conflicts of interest to almost any trace of opinion, a published article, an old lecture, a social media account, even a liked post on LinkedIn.
Her sharpest illustration was the challenge in Rinat Akhmetov v Russia, where an arbitrator was disqualified over a LinkedIn post supporting Ukrainian soldiers after the 2022 invasion. The case, she argued, marks a shift in the governing standard from actual bias toward the mere appearance of partiality, so that any online footprint can itself become the basis of a challenge.
That is the paradox at the heart of the lecture: more disclosure has not produced more confidence. A check that was once close to binary has become continuous and open-ended, and the burden has shifted to the parties, who are now expected, under IBA guidance, to uncover whatever a reasonable investigation would reveal. But where does that search stop, across trade press, past talks, social media and material in other languages? Baltag pressed the room with the question the guidance leaves unanswered: how much investigation is enough?
She also warned of a chilling effect. If any stray sentence can later be turned into grounds for a challenge, arbitrators may simply write and speak less, to the cost of the field's scholarship. And while challenges are rising, disqualifications are not keeping pace, because the standard of proof remains high, which only deepens the paradox.
Her prescription was balance rather than elimination. Disclosure exists to establish adequate confidence in a selection, not to scrub away every conceivable doubt; not all disclosures carry equal weight, and the real skill lies in the judgment to know what matters and what can be set aside. More visibility, she concluded, does not automatically buy more trust. Dr Baltag follows recent Roebuck lecturers Sir Robin Knowles, Professor Emilia Onyema and Dr Kabir Duggal.
The detail
Date: 18 June 2026
Location: International Dispute Resolution Centre (IDRC), London, London
Format: In person
Field: Arbitration
Cost: Free
Organiser: Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (Ciarb)
Who spoke: Dr Crina Baltag FCIArb
Hosts: Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (Ciarb)