Dr. Blanke has extensive and wide-ranging experience in all types of international commercial and investment arbitration in both common- and civil law jurisdictions. In the 2014 and 2015 editions of The Legal 500, Dr. Blanke has been recommended for international arbitration in the UAE and is praised as “very professional” in The Legal 500 2016. He is also recommended, including for construction arbitration, in The Legal 500 EMEA 2019. More recently, Dr. Blanke has been ranked in the Legal 500 Private Practice Arbitration Powerlist – Middle East Region 2023. Dr. Blanke is listed as a leading arbitration specialist in Who’s Who Legal 2015 and 2016, Who’s Who Arbitration – Future Leaders 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 and in Who’s Who Legal: Arbitration 2021 and as a Global Leader in arbitration in Who’s Who Legal 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. The 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 editions of Chambers & Partners Global list Dr. Blanke as one of the Most in Demand Arbitrators in the UAE.
Dr. Blanke also has relevant antitrust law experience. He served a training period with the late Merger Task Force of the Directorate-General of Competition of the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, and trained with former Advocate-General Jacobs and Judges Jaeger and Azisi of the European Court of First Instance and the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg as well as the ICC International Court of Arbitration in Paris, France.
Dr. Blanke is a regular speaker on international arbitration at conferences and seminars worldwide, including in Europe, the US and the Middle East. He has held teaching positions in international arbitration at the University of Southampton, England, and is an approved tutor of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London/Dubai. He also teaches courses on arbitration at the Dubai Legal Affairs Department (DLAD) and the International Dispute Resolution Institute (IDRI), Nigeria. More recently, Dr. Blanke has been appointed to teach a course on International Energy Dispute Resolution as part of the LL.M in Business Law at the Dubai campus of the Université Saint Joseph (USJ). Dr. Blanke also serves as an Advisory Board Member of the Faculty of Business and Law at the British University in Dubai.
Dr. Blanke has acted as advising counsel and arbitrator under most leading institutional arbitration rules (including the ICC, LCIA, DIAC, DIFC-LCIA, ADCCAC, GCC, SCC and JAMS arbitration rules) and ad hoc (including the GAFTA, LMAA and UNCITRAL Rules) in arbitrations seated in the US, Europe, the Middle East and Asia in relation to a variety of industry sectors, including aviation, private equity, banking and finance, construction/real estate, commodities, hospitality, travel/leisure, cosmetics, IT, telecoms, oil and gas, maritime/shipping etc. Dr. Blanke has, inter alia, been appointed to the ICC, LCIA, DIAC, ADGM, arbitrateAD, CIETAC and CRCICA Panel of Arbitrators.
"Gordon Blanke has great visibility in the UAE and is trusted. His background allows him to bring a procedural structure to the framework of arbitration."
To date, Dr. Blanke has sat as Chairman, Sole Arbitrator, Co-arbitrator and Emergency Arbitrator in over 80 ICC, SCC, LCIA, DIFC-LCIA, DIAC, ADCCAC, AjCCCA and ad hoc (including LMAA) arbitrations, including international commercial, construction, real estate, corporate and other disputes of varying sizes, governed by English, Italian, Swedish, Qatari, DIFC and UAE law. Appointments representative of Dr. Blanke’s work as Arbitrator include:
Appointment as Chair in a dispute between a Swedish software company and a Saudi strategic business solutions company arising from a master reseller agreement for the promotion and sale of software to customers in KSA and related training and consulting agreements governed by Swedish law under the SCC Rules and seated in Lund, Sweden.
Dr. Blanke is widely published on the subject of international arbitration, having authored, co-authored and edited over 250 books, articles and case summaries. He is a leading authority on antitrust arbitration and arbitration in the UAE, having published a number of seminal practitioner’s texts, including, without limitation:
Dr. Blanke also holds a number of editorial appointments, including for the Journal of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (Kluwer), the European Competition Law Review (ECLR) (Sweet & Maxwell), the Journal of Law in the Middle East (JLME) (LexisNexis), the Yearbook of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law (YIMEL) (Brill). He is also (together with Prof. Dr. Renato Nazzini) Editor-in-Chief of the Global Competition Litigation Review (GCLR) (Sweet & Maxwell) and contributing editor and Member of the Scientific Board of Gulf Legal Advisor (LexisNexis).
February 2025
DIAC Training Session, Dubai Chamber of Commerce, Dubai: “The Application of Soft Laws”
January 2025
CIArb UAE Branch & YMG Joint Seminar, Capital Club, DIFC: “Arbitrating in the MENA: Lessons from Practice”; panelist
November 2024
Oman Arbitration Centre (OAC), DIFC Academy – DAW 2024: “Shaping the Future of Arbitration: Revisiting the Oman Commercial Arbitration Centre Rules”; panelist
Dubai Branch of the CIArb/ Obeid & Partners, Waldorf Astoria, DIFC – DAW 2024: “The Plurality and Synergies of Legal Traditions in International Arbitration: Looking Beyond the Common and Civil Law Divide”; panelist
October 2024
Global Disputes Summit 2024 – Dubai Edition, Ritz Carlton, DIFC, Dubai: “Key Arbitration Trends in the UAE Region”, panelist
April 2024
DIAC Training Session, Dubai Chamber of Commerce, Dubai: “Soft Laws”
ADGM/ICSID Joint Conference, ADGM, Abi Dhabi: Speaker, Panel: “The Settlement of International Energy Disputes in the Middle East – The Resolution of Disputes in the Energy Sector: Commercial Arbitration”
February 2024
PwC Mock Cross-Examination Training, Riyadh International Dispute Week 2024, Riyadh Fairmont Hotel, Riyadh: Arbitrator panel (Chair)
January 2024
Lazareff Le Bars 10th Annual Pre-Moot, Fairmont, The Palm, Dubai: Arbitrator panel (Co-arbitrator)
November 2023
Dubai Arbitration Week (DAW) 2023 – “The Future of Common Law in Dubai and the Middle East”, 3VB, Ritz Carlton, DIFC, Dubai – Panel discussant
October 2023
Algiers Arbitration Days 2023, Algiers – “L’arbitrage dans les zones franches des EAU”
DIAC-USJ Conference on “Arbitration and the Rise of Renewable Energy Disputes”, Dubai Chamber, Dubai – Panel discussant
May 2023
Union Arab Bank (UAB)-ICC Joint Conference, ICC Headquarters, Paris: “The Use of Arbitration and ADR to provide efficient and innovative access to justice in the international banking and trade sectors” – “The suitability of arbitration and ADR to resolve disputes arising from Islamic finance”, Speaker: “Semi-Secular Arbitration in Islamic Banking and Finance”
“Civil Law Concepts in Focus: A Colloquium on Good Faith and Contract Interpretation in MENA and Beyond”, ADGM, Abu Dhabi: “Practical considerations around good faith” – Panel discussant: “The application and interpretation of the principle of good faith in the ADGM and the DIFC”
April 2023
2023 IDRI Annual Lecture, Abuja, Nigeria: “Arbitrating in a Modern World: Challenges and Opportunities”
March 2023
Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA) Conference 2023, The Marquis Marriott, Business Bay, Dubai – Supply Chain Challenges in a Dynamic Economic and Regulatory Environment: Disputes, Compliance Pitfalls, and Contractual Relief Mechanisms – Panelist: “Arbitrating ESG- and HR-Related Disputes”
February 2023
9th Lazareff Le Bars Training Session, Fairmont-The Palm, Dubai: Speaker
Linklaters’ 7th CARTAL Conference, Centre for Advanced Training and Research in Arbitration Law, National Law University, Jodhpur – Panelist: “Expensive Consequences: Implications of Economic Sanctions on International Arbitration”
ICC Institute Advanced Training on Complex Arbitrations, Abu Dhabi – “Multiple Parties”, Speaker
January 2023
GAR Live Abu Dhabi 2023, ADGM – The GAR Live Debate: Discussant on the motion “This house believes that post-covid in-person main hearings will again become the norm.”