Former member of the NewGen CAM-CCBC steering committee, arbitrator Bernard Potsch (right) explains how academic competitions, workshops and personal connections are preparing a more diverse generation for the market

By Pedro Augusto

Bernard Potsch clearly remembers how uncomfortable he used to feel speaking in public. While still a student, coaching the team from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) for the Vis Moot in Vienna, he decided to confront it head-on. “I wanted to overcome my shyness a little. I wanted to start practicing speaking and arguing in public, which I saw as essential for effective legal practice,” he recalls. It was the beginning of a journey that, years later, would lead him to help shape the future of Brazilian arbitration. This time, however, from the other side of the table.

Now an arbitrator and attorney at Batista Martins Advogados, Potsch was part of the New Generation CAM-CCBC steering committee from the commission’s creation in 2019 and remained involved for two terms. NewGen, an initiative of the Center for Arbitration and Mediation of the Chamber of Commerce Brazil-Canada (CAM-CCBC), promotes the development of new professionals in the dispute resolution field. For Potsch, one lesson comes up repeatedly in conversations with each new generation: law firm experience alone is not enough.

“In most cases, simply being at a law firm is not enough. You need to go beyond that, develop your skills and build your network,” he says. This was the idea behind NewGen: less as a formal department and more as an open platform where young professionals themselves propose ideas and find ways to turn them into reality.

According to Potsch, this is how initiatives that now have a life of their own came about. One example is a workshop created by members of the commission that gradually gained prominence and became part of the CAM-CCBC’s regular calendar of activities. Another is the Legal Writing course, focused on legal writing and particularly useful for teams competing in arbitration competitions.

Expanding access to the arbitration community has also always been among the commission’s priorities. “From the beginning, we made a point of taking arbitration beyond the Rio-São Paulo axis, with events in the Northeast, South, Central-West and North of the country,” Potsch says. Diversity became part of the same agenda, with the creation of a council dedicated to the issue and initiatives to increase the participation of different profiles in the community. According to the former steering committee member, the idea is to ensure that opportunities also reach professionals who face greater barriers to access, whether due to economic or geographic factors or a lack of professional networks.

Academic arbitration competitions feature prominently in Potsch’s account as a key part of this development. After all, this is where his own journey began. Coaching the UERJ team at the Vis Moot between 2010 and 2018 brought him closer to students and professors from different jurisdictions and helped him build a professional network that, according to him, remains active to this day. In Brazil, the expansion of these competitions has opened new doors for students interested in arbitration, while support from the CAM-CCBC has come to include preparatory events, academic and social gatherings and, more recently, the Legal Writing course.

A generation that enters arbitration early

In Potsch’s view, this new generation enters the market differently from previous ones: many professionals are exposed to the field while still at university and participate in competitions even before they begin working. “It is a generation that was shaped through participation in competitions. Today, it is difficult to find someone involved in arbitration who did not participate in these competitions during university,” he says.

He also highlights the role of technology in how these professionals learn and connect with one another. “The new generation is using new technologies to maintain these connections, learn more effectively and reach new levels, while preserving the strength of social interaction that has always driven this community,” he says.

For the attorney, the growth of Brazilian arbitration also increases the responsibility of those now entering the field. “Brazilian arbitration has grown significantly and is moving beyond the growing pains of adolescence as it begins its adult life. That adult life requires a new generation prepared not only to take advantage of the market, but also to develop and defend it,” Potsch concludes.