Donny is a commercial arbitrator and mediator based in Toronto, Canada. He also practises internationally as counsel and arbitrator with particular focus on North America, the United Kingdom, India and South East Asia.  He is a dual-qualified barrister (England and Ontario), and has over 25 years of legal and business experience.

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He accepts instructions to act as a neutral or as a party representative in international commercial arbitration and in mediation.  He also supports parties in making decisions amidst legal risk with Decision Analysis techniques. He is a Door Tenant at Crown Office Chambers, UK, and practises in Ontario through DDRS Law Professional Corporation. He is a roster member at Arbitration Place in Toronto and co-chair of Canada's premier arbitration conference series, CanArbWeek.

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He was formerly a partner at Herbert Smith Freehills, having spent 15 years in their London office.  His legal practice focuses on complex commercial arbitration and litigation in the financial services, private equity, energy and telecommunications sectors, and has included an in-house secondment to a large conglomerate business based in Mumbai, India, with interests in energy, power, shipping and construction. 

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Prior to his legal career, Donny was a Chartered Management Accountant and worked in the energy industry in finance and treasury.  As such, his legal practice has often involved M&A and shareholder claims, banking disputes, accounting fraud issues and disputes with complex quantum or valuation aspects.

Donny has experience of living and working in Canada, England, India and Sri Lanka, and is a graduate of the London School of Economics, and a solicitor-advocate and barrister in England & Wales.  He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, a mediator accredited by the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution in London, and a member of the ICC Canada arbitration committee. He served on the ICC's Task Force on Arbitration and ADR (2020-2023). 

He also serves as a Senior Advisor to the Investment Committee of a well-known litigation fund based in London, and has been a guest lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, Osgoode Hall Law School, Toronto and the International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators.