Baker & McKenzie values global arbitration work at £6bn

International firm Baker & McKenzie claims it is handling arbitration cases around the world with a total value of more than $10bn (£6.25bn).

It is the first time that the firm has calculated the sig- nificance of its arbitration work.

The head of the international arbitration group says that the figures indicate the increasing importance of alternative dispute resolution work.

Jeremy Winter, who is a partner in the construction and projects department at Baker & McKenzie's London office, says: "It is increasingly common that arbitration is the chosen method of resolving disputes.

"I would expect the volume of our business to carry on rising."

He says the biggest cases involve power projects in South America and South-East Asia, where clients are keen to avoid taking their disputes to local courts.

"I doubt whether anyone else is doing the same volume of work as us, but other significant firms are doing a large amount of arbitration," says Winter.

David Sutton, head of the arbitration practice at Allen & Overy, says: "It's obviously a large sum of money, but other firms are conducting cases of that size.

"I am personally handling billions on a regular basis at Allen & Overy."