Paris Arbitration Week (PAW) 2026 once again drew a global mix of practitioners, experts and industry participants, and Delta Consulting Group was proud to be part of it. Each year brings its own energy, and this one was no exception.

Our participation this year ranged from supporting substantive discussions to hosting one of the week’s standout social events. Both sides of that experience matter to us. The technical conversations are important, but so are the moments that allow people to connect more informally.

Things got underway on March 25 with Managing Director Dakus Gunn attending the GAR Live: Construction Disputes Speaker’s Dinner. Delta was the exclusive sponsor of the evening, which brought together speakers and industry leaders for a warm and elegant dining experience. It was a sparkling start to what would be a busy few days.

From there, Dakus and his cohorts headed straight to the evening’s main event, an exclusive champagne reception hosted by  Delta Consulting Group, Osborne Partners, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co and M&CO Legal at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris.

With some of the world’s most impactful art and the Eiffel Tower as a backdrop, the reception brought together more than 400 guests from across the arbitration and construction communities. The evening moved easily between guided art tours, ongoing conversations and the kind of spontaneous introductions that tend to define PAW at its best. It offered a chance to step away from formal panels and spend time with clients, colleagues and friends in a more relaxed setting.

We were joined by a strong Delta group, with team members arriving from North America, France, the United Kingdom and Spain. Jeff Fuchs, Darin Buchalter, Charlie Heckman, Steven Lynch, Dakus Gunn, Oscar Martinez, James Spencer, James Hanson, Martin Hicks, Andres Cevasco, Konstantinos Lytos and Mariela Zechter were all in attendance. Having that mix of perspectives in one place always adds something special, both to the conversations and to how we show up as a company.

The following day, on March 26, Dakus took part in the GAR Live: Construction Disputes conference as a panelist on “Nobody Wants This: Streamlining contract management.” The session tackled a familiar issue: as projects become more complex, the volume of documentation continues to grow. In practice, this often means extensive paper trails created in anticipation of potential disputes.

The discussion focused on whether that approach actually helps or whether those same efforts could be directed more effectively elsewhere.

Dakus joined Peter Rosher (Independent Arbitrator, Rosher Arbitration), Patrick Baeten (Secretary General, BESIX Group), Renato Nazzini KC (Director of the Centre of Construction Law and Dispute Resolution, King’s College London) and James Newland (Partner, Dentons). The conversation was practical and grounded, with different perspectives on how to balance risk management with efficiency without losing sight of the realities on the ground.

Later that evening, Darin Buchalter and Jeff Fuchs attended the GAR Awards at the Pavillon Gabriel, where they celebrated the achievements of the international arbitration community, saw the GAR 30 and Power Index rankings revealed and connected with many of the globe’s top attorneys, arbitrators and experts.

Outside of the scheduled events, much of the week was shaped by the in-between moments: meetings that ran long, quick catch-ups between sessions, introductions that turned into longer conversations. We had the chance to reconnect with people we see every year and to meet others for the first time.

That sense of continuity is part of what makes Paris Arbitration Week what it is. The same core community returns, but it continues to evolve. New voices come in, relationships deepen and the conversation moves forward.

By the end of the week, what stood out was not just the formal programming, but the simple value of being in the same place at the same time. Those interactions, whether planned or unplanned, continue to be at the heart of the arbitration community. We look forward to picking up these conversations again over the coming months.