Dancia Penn is an arbitrator, mediator, practicing lawyer, and a former Attorney General of the British Virgin Islands. Her extensive legal experience, in the Caribbean and beyond, encompasses contentious and non-contentious corporate, commercial and regulatory matters in a wide variety of areas. She has the unique distinction of serving in all three branches of Government and appearing in the Courts at all levels including Her Majesty’s Privy Council. Dancia regularly sits as Chair or Member of various arbitration and ad hoc tribunals and also represents parties before them.
Dancia Penn, OBE, KC is an arbitrator and mediator, and a practising lawyer based in the British Virgin Islands.
Dancia is a British Citizen and is a former Attorney General of BVI. She has the unique distinction of serving at the highest levels in all three branches of Government – Executive, Legislative and Judicial – having also served as BVI Deputy Governor, Deputy Premier, and Minister of Health, and a Judge of the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal.
In 2020, Dancia was appointed as a Judge of The Caribbean Community Administrative Tribunal (CCAT), a part-time role. The CCAT was established by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to determine claims by employees of Commonwealth Caribbean Public Institutions.
In 1996, Dancia became King’s Counsel and now is the senior KC in BVI. Her extensive legal experience, in the Caribbean and beyond, encompasses contentious and non-contentious corporate, commercial and regulatory matters including in financial services, insolvency and shareholder disputes, and a wide range of other areas of private law including trusts and estates, as well as public law matters.
With an extensive international client-base, Dancia regularly advises and assists clients in BVI, in the Caribbean, United States, United Kingdom, Europe, Latin America and Asia on matters involving BVI law. She appears in the BVI High Court and the Commercial Court in major commercial and other disputes. Dancia has appeared in the Courts at all levels including Her Majesty’s Privy Council (the highest appellate court from BVI).
Dancia works as an Arbitrator and is a qualified Mediator on The Roster of the Mediators of The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. She regularly sits as Chair or Member of various arbitration and ad hoc tribunals and also represents parties before them.
She is a member of The Panels of Distinguished Neutrals of The International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR) and is an Arbitrator on its Global Panel which is CPR’s general commercial panel. Also, she is a member of Panel of Arbitrators, BVI International Arbitration Centre.
Dancia is an arbitrator and mediator with 33 Bedford Row Chambers, London and Arbitration Place in Canada. She is also Co-Founder of Caribbean Arbitrators based in BVI and was recently appointed Vice-Chair for The English-Speaking Caribbean of The Carbon Neutral Online Dispute Resolution Platform.
Dancia is an accredited member of the Arbitrator Roster of the BVI Labour Arbitration Tribunal and is regularly chosen as a party representative on that and other tribunals.
Dancia typifies diversity in arbitration in terms of gender, race and geography, and is included in The List of Arbitrators of African Descent with a U.S. Nexus.
She is highly regarded for her broad and extensive experience and expertise, her competence and sound judgment, and her balance, equanimity, cultural sensitivities, integrity and fairness.
