Shelby Grubbs, executive director of the Atlanta Center for International Arbitration and Mediation at Georgia State University College of Law, will leave his position on Jan. 1 to become a managing member of the Atlanta office of his firm, Miller & Martin, and lead its international commercial dispute resolution practice.
The center, through a hearing facility at the college, conducts continuing education and supports the college’s academic program in multiple ways, including overseeing its Vis Moot program. The center’s managing director, Magaly Cobian, will oversee the hearing facility and additional center functions.
“The hearing facility is up and running and will continue to show year-over-year growth,” Grubbs said. “We are fortunate to have Magaly as managing director. As a lawyer with an international background, she understands the needs of parties, counsel and arbitrators who come into the hearing facility. She will see that the center continues to render excellent service.”
In addition to helping design and start the hearing facility, Grubbs has overseen all aspects of the center’s activity, including publishing with the Atlanta International Arbitration Society (“AtlAS”) a drafting manual that sets guidelines for arbitration contracts, organizing more than 50 events and trainings, coaching the Georgia State’s Vis Moot team and teaching courses in international commercial arbitration. He will continue to serve on Georgia State Law’s Board of Visitors, as an adjunct professor and coach of the college’s Vis Moot team and will chair the center’s Arbitrators Council.
“We are grateful to Shelby for his tremendous efforts in starting the center and his work to ensure its continued success,” said Wendy F. Hensel, dean and professor of law. “We are fortunate that Shelby will continue to serve on our Board of Visitors and work with our Vis Moot team.”
The hearing facility, which opened in 2015, has hosted about 60 proceedings, including arbitration hearings, mediations and labor negotiations. The center, which hosts international dispute resolution proceedings but does not administer arbitrations or mediations, holds six memorandums of understanding with international administrative institutions headquartered in North and South America and Europe.
In addition, the center is listed in the Global Arbitration Review’s Regional Guide to International Arbitration. In January, the center and AtlAS will publish the second edition of Drafter’s Manual for International Dispute Resolution, Grubbs said.
“Through his dogged and indefatigable determination and boundless energy, Shelby has taken the center from a germ of an idea to an internationally recognized institution in just a few short years,” said Doug Yarn, professor of law and director of the Consortium for Negotiation and Dispute Resolution. “Although Shelby is giving up his title with the center to pursue another wonderful opportunity, he remains devoted to the center and will continue to offer support and leadership moving forward. I am excited to be able to work with him as we move to this next phase in development.”
