Independent Adjudicators - Biographies

Melanie Carter

Melanie Carter has been an Independent Adjudicator since January 2010. 

Melanie Carter is an experienced public and administrative lawyer. She has worked in the sector for over 25 years, both for and against public authorities. Originally a barrister, she then worked in-house in the Government Legal Service. Her time in Government covered a broad range of domestic and international work. This work included acting for the Home Office on criminal justice and immigration and the Treasury Solicitors Department, including time at the Health & Safety Executive.

Melanie spent a number of years on negotiating treaties in relation to money laundering, culminating in her working as an expert at the United Nations, drafting model confiscation laws. As part of her time in Government, she worked for the Commission for Racial Equality as a social policy lawyer and as head of prosecutions for incitement to racial hatred offences.

Since joining the private sector as a solicitor in 1997, she has specialised in judicial review and advice on corporate governance. She currently works for Bates, Wells & Braithwaite LLP, a firm of solicitors known for their charity and public law practice.

Amongst her specialisms is advice to the external auditors to public sector bodies. She is well known in this field for her work on such high profile cases as the Westminster CC, 'Home for Votes' affair and the investigations into corporate governance at Doncaster MBC and Lincolnshire CC.  Her other work includes conduct of judicial reviews and statutory appeals for public authorities, professional regulatory bodies, charities and individuals. Melanie is a specialist in information law.

Melanie is a judge in the First Tier Tribunal Service in the Information Rights jurisdiction. She has sat since 2005 on appeals from the decisions of the Information Commissioner on Freedom of Information, the Environmental Information Regulations and Data Protection cases. Between 2000 - early 2010 she was a Legal Chair of the Adjudication Panel in England and Wales. These cases were either appellate or first tier and concerned the standards, ethics and integrity of local government Councillors. She is a former magistrate.

Melanie has for many years sat as a legal assessor for professional regulatory bodies (the Institute of Chartered Accountants, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and the Accountancy, and Actuarial Discipline Board), advising disciplinary committees adjudicating upon breaches of professional regulations.

Her most recent international work has been a capacity building review of the Ministry of Legal Affairs in Guyana and the drafting of the Prison and Parole Bill for the Government of the Maldives.

Eldon Van Cleef Greenburg

Eldon Van Cleef Greenburg has been an Independent Adjudicator since January 2010. 

Eldon Greenberg is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of the law firm of Garvey Schubert Barer. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Mr. Greenberg was Deputy General Counsel of the Agency for International Development and General Counsel of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration during the Carter Administration. 

Eldon specializes in environmental and natural resources problems, including fishery management, marine mammal and endangered species issues. He also teaches international negotiation as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center.

Michael Lodge

Michael Lodge has been an Independent Adjudicator since 2006. 

Michael Lodge is an experienced international lawyer, with a strong background in fields including:
•    Public international law
•    Law of the sea (particularly fisheries and deep seabed mining)
•    The marine environment
•    Human rights.

He has extensive practical experience in multilateral and bilateral diplomacy and possesses internationally-recognized high-level skills in negotiating and drafting international treaties and agreements.

Michaels’s experience includes:
•    Counsellor to the Round Table on Sustainable Development at the OECD
•    Associate Fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), London, and Director of an independent panel examining the problems of regional fisheries organizations
•    Secretariat for the Ministerial-led Task Force on IUU Fishing on the High Seas
•    Legal adviser to the International Seabed Authority
•    Legal Counsel to the South Pacific Forum Fisheries Agency
•    Executive Secretary of the Conference for Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific
•    Head of the Interim Secretariat for the Preparatory Conference for the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission
•    Immigration Judge, Asylum and Immigration Tribunal, UK
•    Member of Advisory Board, Pew Marine Fellows Program, USA.

Michael Lodge has worked as a consultant on fisheries, environmental and international law in Europe, Asia, Eastern Europe, the South Pacific and Africa. He has written widely on fisheries and deep seabed mining. He is a barrister of Gray’s Inn, London and also holds an MSc. in Marine Policy from the London School of Economics. He has over 20 years’ experience of living and working in numerous countries with different social and cultural backgrounds.

Wylie Spicer

Wylie Spicer has been an Independent Adjudicator since January 2010. 

Wylie Spicer is a Canadian Barrister and Solicitor with 35 years of experience concentrating in:
•    Maritime law
•    Public inquiries in maritime and human rights matters
•    Complex litigation.

Wylie Spicer is recognized as one of Canada's most knowledgeable lawyers in maritime matters including issues related to the development of the offshore oil and gas business and the development of the waters of the Arctic Ocean.

Wylie’s awards include:
•    QC (Queen’s Counsel) – 1995
•    Top 50 CEOs of Nova Scotia in 2006
•    Top Shipping Lawyer – International Who’s Who of Shipping and Maritime Law 2009

Wylie has held a number of positions including:
•    President, Canadian Bar Association (NS) in 2009 and member of the Canadian Bar Association’s National Council.
•    Managing Partner, McInnes Cooper – 2001-2006
•    Chair, McInnes Cooper, ADR Practice Group
•    Professor, Maritime Law, Dalhousie University

In addition, Wylie has a very extensive list of publications generally dealing with matters of private international law including maritime law.