Meg Kinnear
Meg Kinnear brings unparalleled expertise and experience in investor-State, trade and commercial disputes, having led the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) from 2009-2024, and the Trade Law Bureau of Canada from 1999-2009. Over her more than 40 year career, she has been involved in complex, high-stakes litigation and arbitration involving diverse sectors such as transportation, natural resources, manufacturing, oil and gas, mining, aviation, and construction.
In July 2024, Meg co-founded LKDR with Lucinda Low, where she focuses on international adjudication before ad hoc and institutional bodies. She is available to act as a neutral in commercial, investor-State, trade and other disputes. She is also available for mediation, conciliation, fact-finding and similar services.
Contact Meg
Services
International Arbitration
- Investor-State disputes
- State-State disputes involving investment, sanctions, taxation, trade and other issues
- International commercial disputes involving individuals, private entities, States or State-owned enterprises in the concessions, construction, energy, finance, manufacturing, mining, natural resources, procurement, technology transfer, and other sectors
Other International Dispute Resolution Mechanisms
- Mediation and conciliation of investment and commercial disputes
- Commissions of Inquiry and fact-finding bodies
- International trade dispute panels
- Other international adjudication, whether ad hoc or institutional
- Compliance monitoring
Meg’s Story
Meg began her legal career in 1983, articling in the Ottawa, Ontario law firm of Scott & Aylen (now Borden Ladner Gervais LLP). She trained in a broad range of fields including administrative and general litigation, and commercial, corporate and real estate transactions.
Civil Litigation Section, Canadian Department of Justice (1984-1999)
In 1984, Meg joined the Civil Litigation Section of the Canadian Department of Justice and gained extensive domestic litigation and arbitration experience representing the government of Canada, individual government departments, and State-owned corporations such as the Export Development Corporation. She frequently appeared before the trial and appellate divisions of the Federal Court of Canada, all levels of courts in Ontario, and numerous federal administrative tribunals. Her domestic advocacy experience ranges from arguing in favour of “back to work” legislation under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, defending mandatory retirement policies of the Canadian Armed Forces before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, numerous international tariff classification disputes before the Canadian International Trade Tribunal, and aboriginal land claims in federal courts. She was part of the legal team defending Canada after its 1993 cancellation of the privatization of Pearson International Airport, focusing on a complex multi-million-dollar contract damages claim made by a private consortium of contractors and concessionaires.
Meg was recruited as the Executive Assistant to the Deputy Minister of Justice in 1996. She played a key role in that capacity, liaising with the Minister of Justice, the Privy Council Office, and senior leadership of the Canadian government on behalf of Justice Canada.
Trade Law Bureau of Canada (1999-2009)
Meg subsequently became the General Counsel (1999-2006) and then Senior General Counsel (2006-2009) of the Trade Law Bureau of Canada (JLT), a combined legal unit of the Departments of Justice and Foreign Affairs responsible for all international trade and investment matters involving Canada. In that capacity she provided legal advice concerning compliance with international obligations by government departments and agencies, negotiated investment and trade treaties on behalf of Canada, and appeared as counsel in international investment and trade disputes involving Canada.
Canada received its first international investment arbitrations under NAFTA Chapter 11 when Meg joined JLT, and she was extensively involved in those cases. She was lead counsel in numerous NAFTA Chapter 11 arbitrations under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, developed Canada’s position in investment treaty cases, and recruited and led an expert in-house group to manage a growing caseload of investor-State arbitrations. She negotiated several FIPAs (bilateral investment treaties), and was part of Canada’s delegation on the amendment of the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules. Meg was also part of the working group leading to the Free Trade of the Americas Agreement (FTAA) negotiations and worked on the subsequent negotiations of that agreement (dispute settlement group) from 1999 until its suspension in 2005. In 2002 she was elected by her peers as Chair of the group negotiating dispute resolution mechanisms for the FTAA.
At JLT, Meg had oversight of Canada’s World Trade Organization (WTO) cases and was involved in some of these hearings. In addition, she was involved in softwood lumber disputes between Canada and the United States. She was in-house counsel on the softwood lumber arbitration between Canada and the United States initiated under the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) rules. She also led the Canadian legal team that negotiated the Canada-United States Softwood Lumber Agreement of 2006, which successfully concluded then-ongoing litigation between the two countries over alleged trade subsidies on exports of Canadian lumber.
International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) (2009-2024)
In February 2009 Meg was elected by the member states of ICSID as its first full-time Secretary-General (SG), and subsequently also became a Vice-President of the World Bank. ICSID is the leading global institution for investment arbitration and conciliation, having administered roughly 75% of all known cases. Meg was responsible for the operations of ICSID from 2009 to 2024, including case registration, case management, staffing, finances, and technical assistance.
Under her direction, ICSID increased its membership from 143 to 158 states, increased its overall caseload from 292 to 1034 cases, and substantially improved the diversity of arbitral appointments in ICSID cases. She led the modernization of the ICSID procedural rules, resulting in the most comprehensive update of the ICSID Convention Rules and ICSID Additional Facility Rules, and the creation of stand-alone Mediation and Fact-Finding Rules in 2022. She also represented ICSID in the discussions leading to the Mauritius Convention of 2014, and the 2023 Code of Conduct for investment arbitrators. She has actively participated in discussions on international investment law and procedure at UNCITRAL, the OECD and UNCTAD. Meg retired from ICSID in June 2024, having served 3 terms in the position.
Professional Activities
Throughout her career, Meg has been an active participant in numerous legal organizations. She was a Vice-President of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) from 2016-2018, and a member of the ICCA Governing Board from 2010 – 2021. She is a Counsellor to the Executive Council of the American Society of International Law (2019 – present) and has been on the Global Advisory Board of the New York International Arbitration Center since 2014. Her work has been recognized by various organizations, including an Award of Appreciation from the Africa Arbitration Academy (2024), the Harry Leroy Jones Award of the Washington Foreign Law Society (2020), and the American Bar Association Award for Outstanding Performance by an International Lawyer in Government or International Organization (2014).
She is also a prolific writer, having authored numerous articles on international investment law and procedure, including a leading text on NAFTA Chapter 11 arbitration. She was Editor in Chief of the ICSID Review from 2011-2024, and frequently speaks on international arbitration. She has designed and given technical presentations to businesses, lawyers and government officials addressing dispute prevention and readiness, advocacy and procedure in investor-State arbitration and mediation.
