ICANN have appointed Chris LaHatte as its new ombudsman, an experienced mediator and lawyer who has practised in New Zealand, Taiwan and Central Asia, commencing in the new role on 28 July.
LaHatte is a lawyer, graduating from the University of Auckland and earned a Masters Degree in Dispute Resolution from Massey University, also in New Zealand, with judicial settlement conferences as his thesis. He is also a Fellow of the Arbitrators and Mediators Institute of New Zealand, a mediator for the New Zealand Law Society on cost issues and a construction law adjudicator.
He has practised as a barrister for many years, coming to see alternative dispute resolution as the most effective tool in dealing with conflict as well as presenting papers and writing articles about aspects of dispute resolution and other matters. LaHatte has also written for Thompson Reuters on court procedure.
With all this experience, LaHatte says he is acutely aware of the need for developing countries to have a strong voice in international organisations such as ICANN telling Xinhua that he anticipated many of the issues concerning developing nations would involve "communications difficulties."
"We don't know exactly what the issues are going to be because we haven't seen them yet," LaHatte told Xinhua.
"People from different cultures sometimes mean different things when they talk to each other that's one of the issues my office constantly seeks to raise awareness of," he said.
LaHatte also believes that the expansion of the gTLD space that will commence in 2012 may cause some disputes
LaHatte will continue to be based in New Zealand, where he lives with his family, who he believes allow him to practise his dispute resolution skills!