After years of experience testifying as a financial expert in legal disputes, Kartik Gupta wanted to take a more central role in the conflict resolution process. Alternative dispute resolution appealed to him, but he knew he’d need some training. So he enrolled in the arbitration program from Kompass Professional Development.
That was just a few years ago. Since finishing the course, he has successfully arbitrated multiple cases that draw on both his financial expertise and his ADR skills.
We spoke with Kartik recently to learn more about his experience with Kompass and his overall career journey. Here are the highlights of that conversation.
Q. Could you share a bit about your background? What were you doing before Kompass?
Kartik: I am a career forensic accountant. I started my career back in India and moved from there to the Caribbean, then to Europe, and then finally landed in Canada a few years back.
I was an expert witness on dispute cases with a leading consulting firm in Vancouver, but I always wanted to be on the other side of the table. I’d seen the work of mediators and arbitrators and I was interested in trying that out.
Q. What made you choose Kompass?
Kartik: The ADR Institute of Canada had a list of providers who offered training, and Kompass was one of them. I went through the course notes and looked at how long it was and what I would achieve. It seemed to be the right fit. The practical aspect of the Kompass coursework appealed to me—a lot of it was role plays, which was fantastic.
Q. What specific skills were you looking to develop?
Kartik: I wanted to know how to conduct an arbitration. It’s a niche area where you don’t have many mentors or coaches to guide you. It’s sort of a closed profession where it becomes very difficult to get an understanding of how the actual process works, due to the confidentiality of the process. So what I was looking for was to understand how the entire process works, right from when you’re appointed as an arbitrator to when you release your award.
Q. What was the toughest part of the training for you?
Kartik: I would say the toughest part was writing the award. When you come in as an expert witness, you’re only looking at a very niche area of the dispute, in my case the financial aspect of it. You’re focused on that one area.
But as an arbitrator or mediator, you’re looking at the dispute from a more holistic point of view. You have to take in all the bits and pieces and join them together as a puzzle and then write the award. And that award has to be reasoned, and you need to be sure you’re doing justice to the parties. So that was the most difficult part.
Q. How was the instructor and the vibe in class?
Kartik: The instructors were fantastic. They knew what they were talking about. They had the knowledge and the practical experience to guide us through the process. In fact, I’m still in touch with one of the instructors, Andrew Livingston. We often chat about how things are going.
The class was a good mix of people from different professions. We were able to have a very thorough discussion when we had those role plays because we had the perspective of lawyers, finance specialists, and other industry experts. It was a great value add.
Q. Since you finished the course, have you done any arbitration? Are you using those skills now?
Kartik: Yes! About a year and a half after completing the course, I was appointed by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on an arbitration as a sole arbitrator, a dispute that was arbitrated virtually.
It was a truly eye-opening experience. It encompassed all the difficult aspects of the arbitration that we discussed during our course. I encountered challenges that we thought would be rare occurrences, making that case a fascinating and demanding one to handle. So it was very interesting and rewarding.
I finished that arbitration at the end of 2022, and since then I’ve been appointed a few more times on arbitrations, mostly on the international commercial side.
Q. Do you feel like Kompass prepared you for what you faced when you got out there and were actually doing it?
Kartik: Absolutely. I think it gave me a solid foundation to start things off. There could be aspects of the real-life situation that you may never do in the course setting, but it does arm you with ways and processes and procedures that you can use to deal with those. It taught me where to look if I run into problems.
So the course equipped me with the necessary tools and knowledge to conduct an effective arbitration. Without it, I would have been unsure of how to proceed.
Q. How would you rate the program overall?
Kartik: It was an excellent program. I love the fact that there were role plays built into it. They give you real-world experience of how an arbitration would proceed.
The course cannot prepare you for everything under the sun, but it does arm you with the right information. It teaches you how to conduct an efficient dispute resolution process.
EXPLORE ARBITRATION TRAINING FROM KOMPASS
The 10-week arbitration program from Kompass is accredited by the ADR Institute of Canada and the ADR Institute of Ontario. The training is delivered online and fulfills the educational requirements for the nationally recognized Qualified Arbitrator (Q.Arb) designation.
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