Professor Dr Nael Bunni, who has died aged 85, was a civil engineer who became one of the construction industry’s leading arbitrators, conciliators and adjudicators. A Chartered Engineer, Prof Dr Bunni was a also a registered chartered arbitrator, conciliator and mediator. 

Formerly a visiting professor in construction law and contract administration at Trinity College Dublin, he was also a past president of the Association of Consulting Engineers of Ireland (1987-88), past president of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (2000-01) and a past chairman of its Irish branch (1986-89). 

Prof Dr Nael Bunni, 1939-2025.

Chair of Dispute Resolution Panel of the Institution of Engineers Ireland

Between 1994 and 2007, he was a member of the board of directors of the London Court of International Arbitration and from 2004-2012 he was the chairman of the Dispute Resolution Panel of the Institution of Engineers Ireland. He was appointed arbitrator in over 145 cases of dispute, together with many other appointments as facilitator in alternative dispute resolution methods, with parties from in excess of 50 jurisdictions.

According to an obituary in The Irish Times, Prof Dr Bunni was "a man of great integrity, adherence to the highest standards in his own professional life prompted a big personal upheaval which ultimately benefited many others".

From a practice in Dublin and as a door tenant with the construction specialising 39 Essex Chambers in London, he was involved in dispute resolution in more than 50 jurisdictions. He authored the definitive volume Construction Insurance (later Risk and Insurance in Construction), which ran to multiple editions, as well as three editions of the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (Fidic) Form of Contract – both regarded as indispensable and foundation works in their field.

He was a visiting professor in construction law in Trinity College Dublin, and for many years also lectured extensively internationally.

In 2018 Prof Dr Bunni was awarded Fidic’s Louis Prangey Award in Berlin.

In 2018 he was awarded Fidic’s Louis Prangey Award, it is the highest recognition the organisation can award. In 2020 he received the Society of Construction Law’s president’s medal for what the presenter, the current president of the High Court, Justice David Barniville, termed “a quite dazzling career”.

And all achieved from a beginning that might well have evolved otherwise, were it not for talent that emerged early.

Nael Bunni was born in Iraq 1939, into a small Christian family in Kirkuk, an ethnically diverse but Kurdish-dominated city in the northeastern part of the country. His father was a vet and, when Bunni was still a young child, the family moved to Hilla after Bunni senior was made head of a veterinary hospital there.

Hilla was an Arab-majority city in the mainly Shi’a dominated south-central Iraq. There, Bunni’s father convinced a local primary school to enrol his son, even though he was underage.

As Bunni’s son Layth recalled at his father’s funeral, “from there, Dad just flew and thrived. Year after year he came top in the annual exams. By 10, he’d finished primary school and moved on to secondary; by 15 he’d completed his final national exams.”

Around this time, the family moved again, this time to the capital where Bunni was offered a place in the University of Baghdad studying engineering – a course for which he had the grades but, at 15, was too young by a year.

No matter, his father “adjusted” his birth certificate and Bunni was in.

He graduated in 1958 and secured a scholarship to study abroad. This was a time when many of his contemporaries looked to the Soviet Union for further education but Bunni chose Manchester, England. It was while there that he met his future wife, Anne Carroll from Dundalk, then working as a nurse and they married in 1962.

After obtaining his master’s in science in Manchester, Bunni went on to Queen Mary University in London to complete a PhD in structural engineering. As part of the study abroad opportunity, he had to return to Baghdad.

And so, in 1964, he and Anne bought a small Simca car, loaded it up with their belongings and, their first child, Nadia in hand, drove across Europe to Baghdad.

Founded his own design firm

There, Bunni lectured as an assistant professor at Baghdad’s technical university, and also evaluated projects throughout the country for the construction insurance industry, and founded his own design firm. However, after Saddam Hussein’s Ba’athist Party took over in 1968, Bunni came under pressure to fake evaluations, in a business and political culture dominated increasingly by kickbacks and corruption.

Many years later, Bunni recalled, for the Irish Life and Lore archive, how in Hussein’s Iraq, all people in senior positions had to do “whatever suited him”. On what he described a “horrible day” the point came when he was asked to submit a fraudulent valuation.

“I knew I’d have to leave,” he told interviewer Maurice O’Keeffe. “I was asked to pay ... for nothing and of course, once you do it, you are in their grip because you have cheated. If I had stayed, I would have faced prosecution, jail or even worse.”

Fortunately, Bunni’s wife and children – Nadia and newly arrived son, Layth, and a second daughter, Siobhán – were already in Ireland on holiday. He joined them, setting up home in Howth, where their other children – three more daughters, Lara, Layla and Lydia – were born.

In Ireland, Bunni began work as an engineer and in 1975 he received his first arbitral appointment and his career took him in that direction. Thus, for more than half a century, he was involved in construction dispute resolution, and was appointed arbitrator in more than than 150 cases in more than 50 jurisdictions.

His prowess as a space-frame analyst and designer was recognised by professional colleagues. His work on such three-dimensional structures, for a church in Kilbarrack and the Square centre in Tallaght, both won awards.

Other achievements and multiple appointments were enumerated by Barniville when presenting him with the Society of Construction Law award.

Apart from his own work as a consultant engineer, he served as president of the Association of Consulting Engineers of Ireland in 1980. He also served as chairman of the Irish branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, of which he was a founding member and, in 2000, as president of the worldwide Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

In 2015 he was appointed by the government as chairman of the Ministerial Panel of Adjudicators, an acknowledgment of his achievements as it was made not through political connections but based purely on his experience as a dispute resolver.

For 13 years he was a member of the board of the London Court of International Arbitration and for more than a decade, was chairman of the dispute resolution panel of the Institute of Engineers of Ireland.

While Bunni was widely recognised professionally, his son said that “what mattered more [to him] was how he went through life – with a feisty courage, an absolute obsession with truth and justice, a complete sense of how he wanted his family to be and a very precise, logical mind”.

When their youngest child was two, Anne followed her husband into professional life. The former nurse studied law, was called to the Bar, and in 1996, became the first woman to chair the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators’ Irish branch. In the same year, she was appointed vice-chairwoman of the Employment Appeals Tribunal, serving until she reached retirement age in 2003. She died in 2020.

Nael Bunni is survived by his children, Nadia, Layth, Siobhán, Lara, Layla and Lydia, his sons-in-law, Paul, Nicola, Charlie, and Frederick, daughter-in-law Sarah Jane, 27 grandchildren and five great grandchildren. 

39 Essex Chambers

Essex Chambers said: "A recent talk at Dubai Arbitration Week asked the audience to consider the merits of selecting the engineer arbitrator over the lawyer arbitrator.  The dispute resolution world’s cognoscenti knew to appoint Professor Dr Nael Bunni (who originally qualified and practised as a Chartered Engineer) as an arbitrator over any lawyer. 

"Dubai was one of a number of cities that Nael spent some time in. Born 1400 miles away in Kirkuk, Iraq, in April, 1939, a scholarship took him to 1960s Manchester for master’s degree studies. That was where he met the then Anne Carroll, a Dubliner, who he was married to for not quite 60 years. Anne who also went on to practice as an arbitrator predeceased Nael in 2020. After taking his PhD at Queen Mary, London in 1964, and then returning to Iraq for several years the political turmoil in that country led him to move to the Republic of Ireland in 1969.

"It is a stock phrase to say that it is difficult to sum up someone’s professional achievements and recognition. But Nael’s distinction as an engineer, arbitrator, conciliator and adjudicator is well recorded. Space just does not allow for all the positions he held and awards he was given to be set out.

"An early notable professional achievement was, when he was about 45, to write ‘Construction Insurance.’ This became by the time of the last edition, in 2022, Risk and Insurance in Construction co-authored with one of his six children Lydia. There were other books and many papers. Nael was international president of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators 2000-2001; Chair of the Irish Branch 1986-1989 and (in more recent years) was the Irish Branch Patron. The Society of Construction Law awarded Dr Bunni their President’s Medal in 2021 to mark his significant work promoting the study and understanding of construction law.

"We were privileged that he was associated with these Chambers.

"Nael lectured, spoke to and trained thousands of people all around the world.  A generation of students at Trinity College Dublin benefited from his work in establishing and championing Trinity’s Diploma in Construction Law from 1996 until ill health saw him cease teaching in the last year or two. Nael’s prowess and renown as a teacher, author and neutral was not confined to the British Isles: he was an international dispute resolution powerhouse.  But importantly as one of innumerable online tributes posted in memory of Nael, on the day he passed away November, 25 2025, remarked he was : ‘A wonderful and endlessly delightful man.. ‘ RIP Nael." 

The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (Ciarb) president, Professor Dr Mohamed Abdel Wahab C.Arb FCIArb, said: “It is with deep sadness that we mourn the passing of Prof Dr Nael Bunni, a distinguished arbitrator, a remarkable professional, a generous mentor to many, and a deeply respected gentleman. His loss is felt profoundly by all who had the privilege to know him, work with him, and/or learn from him.

"Prof Dr Bunni was a towering figure in the world of dispute resolution, and his life was a journey of giving to all those who interacted with him. His integrity, intellectual rigour, and unwavering commitment to excellence was an inspiration to many. Through his work, he helped shape the standards that many adhere to today. He left a legacy that will endure in the numerous projects, publications, arbitrations and adjudications he was involved in. He has touched the lives of many, directly and indirectly, and those who knew him personally will remember his kindness and his willingness to give his time and guidance to others." 

The International Federation of Consulting Engineers 

The International Federation of Consulting Engineers said: "Dr Bunni was a giant in the field of FIDIC contracts for more than three decades where he played a significant role around issues related to risk, liability, insurance, contracts, dispute avoidance and dispute resolution. He had a longstanding involvement in the FIDIC contracts committee, was involved in the development of the 1999 suite of FIDIC contracts and has been a special advisor to the committee on insurance and related matters.

"He was also closely involved in the development of the 2017 suite of FIDIC contracts and their subsequent reprints, the FIDIC Contracts Guide 2022 and also played a key role in the development of many other FIDIC contracts. Right up to the present day, Dr Bunni has been a vital asset for FIDIC and the continued development of its global industry-leading contract and agreement model forms and guides. A regular speaker at FIDIC conferences and construction industry business events, Nael’s wide expertise in the field of insurance and liability in various legal jurisdictions was always well recognised and valued. He also received FIDIC’s highest accolade, the Prangey Award, in 2018 for his outstanding service to FIDIC and the consulting engineering industry."

FIDIC’s chief legal and contracts officer, Daduna Kokhreidze, said: “This is a massive loss for the FIDIC community, for the industry and for all of us who worked closely with him. There is no doubt that Nael will be greatly missed and this is a very sad day. He provided continuous support to FIDIC over many decades, with his very diligent reviews and advice on our contracts. His latest contribution is also reflected in the FIDIC Carbon Management Guide, which launches next month. Nael was always happy to help and share his significant experience and he applied that experience and expertise by authoring many books on FIDIC contracts. He really was a great person – a legend in his field I would say – and he will be sorely missed by everyone who knew him and who worked with him.” 

'Arbitration will always be better than confrontation' 

In an interview with Irish Construction News a number of years ago, Prof Dr Bunni had said: "I was interested in dispute resolution from the beginning of my career because of my involvement in construction insurance in Iraq in the 1960s,” Dr Bunni recalls. “I was in charge of a construction insurance business, and there were always disputes in relation to whether contractors were entitled to be paid or not.

“It [arbitration] is much more than a lower-cost alternative to the courts. It’s private to begin with. There is no linen washing in public. It can be much cheaper than going to court, but it can also be more expensive in some instances. 

“Costs can be minimised by the parties agreeing on the process in advance,” he explains. “For example, it is possible for the parties to an arbitration to agree to a time limit for the process. That puts the onus on them to ensure that witnesses and other participants are available to take part in the hearings, of course.

“The most expensive part of arbitration is the hearing itself. If you can limit the time it takes, you can limit the costs. Arbitrators have a duty to act diligently and quickly, and cases can take a much shorter time than court cases if the parties concerned co-operate.” 

The construction industry provides fertile ground for disputes, Prof Dr Bunni had said in the interview. “The potential for disputes is definitely very high. By its nature, it’s an industry where you are starting from scratch. Drawings and specifications can be incomplete, a draftsperson can be wrong or miss something, and all the words of people can be taken to mean different things.”

He said that disputes often arose from a relatively simple disagreement. “If it is not resolved quickly, it will become a claim. If the claim isn’t accepted, it will become a dispute. Disputes should be resolved as quickly as possible otherwise a lot of time and money can be consumed. And, how you resolve disputes is a very important part of the construction industry." 

Prof Dr Bunni lamented changes to the construction landscape in Ireland that have all but put an end to the use of arbitration in public works disputes.

“Arbitration has changed in Ireland, unfortunately, because of various conditions imposed on contractors by public works contract,” he says. “It has been a problem for a few years. It has made contractors bear the costs of arbitration even if they win. This is against all normal legal practices where costs follow the award. This has made arbitration effectively dead in Ireland for public works contracts. Contractors won’t venture into arbitration when they are exposed to potentially very high costs. Arbitration has lost its value in Ireland, and I don’t think it will recover unless the government takes action. I don’t know how this situation was dreamt up and accepted. It is completely unfair that the winner should bear the costs of an arbitration process. This has to be changed.” 

And according to Prof Dr Bunni, the use of arbitration for the resolution of private-sector construction disputes has also been on the wane. “In the private sector, conciliation has taken over from arbitration,” he points out. “It suits the Irish mentality. In conciliation, the parties get together to work out a solution. Generally, they work out a solution that is acceptable to both of them and allows them to live with each other afterwards. Arbitration has really lost its glamour as a result.”