Arbitration Institutions and Rules

Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, ICSID Convention, International arbitration, International Courts, International Law, NAFTA

(Richmond School of Law)/ /Leave a comment
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

The Rules, Practice, and Jurisprudence of International Courts and Tribunals (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2012) has just shipped. I am the (proud) editor and a contributor of the book and am delighted to have the opportunity to bring it to the attention of this group. I think it will be of special interest to arbitration practitioners….

Arbitration, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, BIT, Class arbitration, International arbitration, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection

(University of Victoria Faculty of Law)/ /Leave a comment

International arbitration has long played an important role in resolving disputes that arise out of political and economic crises.   “Arbitration in Times of Crisis” is the theme of the 9th Annual ITA-ASIL Conference on 28 March 2012 in Washington, D.C. (see program).   The conference will focus on lessons from the past use of arbitral mechanisms…

Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration Awards, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, Arbitrators, Commercial Arbitration, Domestic Courts, International arbitration, Other Issues, Suggestions to improve transparency and access to usable data, Transparency in investment arbitrations

(White & Case LLP)/ /Leave a comment
White & Case

The views of lawyers involved in international commercial and investment arbitration are being sought for a new international arbitration survey from Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL). Conducted by QMUL’s School of International Arbitration and sponsored by White & Case LLP, the 2012 survey aims to examine whether a “harmonised international arbitration procedure is emerging,…

Arbitration Institutions and Rules, International arbitration

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The P.R.I.M.E. Finance dispute resolution services and its Arbitration and Mediation Rules were launched at the opening conference of P.R.I.M.E. Finance in the Peace Palace in The Hague on 16 January 2012. Dutch Minister of Finance Jan-Kees de Jager officially opened P.R.I.M.E. Finance, which offers dispute resolution services in the area of complex financial products….

Annulment, Arbitration Awards, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, arbitrators’ conduct, BIT, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration

(US Department of State)/ /Leave a comment

Iura novit curia (usually translated as “the court knows the law”) refers to the power and/or obligation of a court to conduct its own legal analysis outside the parties’ pleadings. While there are very few decisions on iura novit curia in the investment treaty arbitration context, a small number of investment treaty arbitral tribunals and…

Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, BIT, Class arbitration, Due process, Foreign Investment Law, ICSID Convention, Investment Arbitration

(University of Victoria Faculty of Law)/ /1 Comment

With the release of the Dissenting Opinion in Abaclat v. Agentina, we now have the benefit of a forceful critique of the majority’s decision that the Abaclat Tribunal has jurisdiction to hear the claims of over 60,000 Italian investors against Argentina under the ICSID Convention and the Argentina-Italy BIT.  Professor Georges Abi-Saab’s Dissenting Opinion (the…

Arbitration Institutions and Rules

(CMS Cameron McKenna LLP)/ /Leave a comment
YIAG

As I write this blog, a team from CMS has been working hard on the next edition of the CMS Guide to Arbitration. As with the previous edition, the Guide will include chapters on arbitration written by practitioners from across Europe and beyond. It will also identify, as with many arbitration texts, resource material, including…

Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitrators, Efficiency, ICC Arbitration, Jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal, Pre-arbitral procedure

(Herbert Smith Freehills)/ /2 Comments
Herbert Smith Freehills

In an emergency, swift and effective action is required. Yet in international arbitration proceedings, it can take weeks or months to constitute an arbitral tribunal. What options, then, are open to a party in need of urgent interim relief before an arbitral tribunal has been formed? In many circumstances, applying to the national courts of…

Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, Arbitrators, arbitrators’ conduct, Bias, BIT, Class arbitration, Due process, Efficiency, Foreign Investment Law, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, Public Policy

(University of Victoria Faculty of Law)/ /Leave a comment

In its 4 August 2011 Decision on Jurisdiction and Admissibility, the majority of the Tribunal in Abaclat and Others (Case formerly known as Giovanna a Beccara and Others) v. Argentine Republic affirmed that it had jurisdiction to hear the claims of over 60,000 Italian investors against Argentina arising out of Argentina’s default on various sovereign…

Appointment of arbitrators, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitrators, Costs in arbitral proceedings

(Editor in Chief, ASA Bulletin; LALIVE)/ /Leave a comment

The ASA seminar on “Arbitral Institutions under Scrutiny” on 9 September in Zurich yielded some interesting insight in the practice of arbitration institutions, and views of well-known practitioners on the problems faced by modern arbitration systems. After the general introduction from ASA President Michael E. Schneider, Lara Bander and Mehtap Tari Hirt, two post-graduate students…

Appointment of arbitrators, Arbitration, Arbitration Act, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration clause, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitrators, arbitrators’ conduct, Dispute Resolution, Dispute resolution clause, English Law, ICC Arbitration, International arbitration, Ismaili community, Nationality requirement in arbitration clauses, Pro arbitration, Supreme Court

(Allen & Overy LLP)/ /Leave a comment

In this post, we will first deal briefly with the facts in the case of Jivraj v Hashwani and the findings of the first instance judge and the Court of Appeal, which by now would be very familiar to anyone reading this blog. We will then look at the Supreme Court’s judgment ([2011] UKSC 40),…

Arbitration Institutions and Rules, ICC Arbitration

/ /2 Comments

As discussed by Paul Friedlandhere, on September 12, 2011, the International Chamber of Commerce issued its revisedRules of Arbitration. The new rules, which update the 1998 Rules and will take effect on January 1, 2012, are the result of a two-year effort by a special task force that gathered input and consolidated best practices from…

Annulment, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitrators, arbitrators’ conduct, Commercial Arbitration, Costs in arbitral proceedings, Due process, International arbitration

(White & Case LLP)/ /Leave a comment
White & Case

The escalation of costs and delays in international arbitration and the consequent dissatisfaction of the system’s users have become prime subjects for users of and commentators on international arbitration.1)See, for example, Jean-Claude Najar, ‘Inside Out: A User’s Perspective on Challenges in International Arbitration’, Arbitration International, 25 (2009) 515, 517. An informal study by the Corporate…

Appointment of arbitrators, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, Efficiency

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The recent global financial crisis has had a significant effect on the types of disputes submitted to arbitration in the major Asia-Pacific financial centres. Arbitration centres have responded with various measures to cater to more cost conscious clients, and to increase the efficiency of proceedings and to speed up the way proceedings are conducted. Governments…

Annulment, Appointment of arbitrators, Arbitration, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, Arbitrators, arbitrators’ conduct, Bias, International arbitration

(White & Case LLP)/ /Leave a comment
White & Case

CIETAC’s Vice Chairman and Secretary General recently announced at a conference in London that CIETAC may soon permit parties to select arbitrators from outside the CIETAC list. As the CIETAC Rules currently allow parties to appoint off-list only if they have agreed to do so, this announcement suggests that CIETAC may in the future allow…

Appointment of arbitrators, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, BIT, ICSID Convention, Investment Arbitration, Venezuela

(University of Victoria Faculty of Law)/ /1 Comment

The four most recent ICSID disqualification decisions (Universal Compression v. Venezuela, OPIC Karimum v. Venezuela, Tidewater v. Venezuela and Urbaser v. Argentina) have unanimously rejected applications to disqualify arbitrators on ICSID tribunals.  This post addresses an issue raised in three of the most recent decisions—disqualification based on repeat appointments by the same party or counsel—and…

Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, Enforcement, ICSID Convention, Investment protection

(Perréard de Boccard)/ /Leave a comment

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is not foreign to defending investment claims. In order to restore investors’ confidence in its country, the Pakistani government has enacted on April 28, 2011 a law to secure foreign investment. The International Investment Disputes Act (the “Act”) has been qualified by the Pakistani president, Mr. Asif Ali Zardari, as…

Appeal, Appointment of arbitrators, Arbitration, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration clause, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitrators, Commercial Arbitration, Dispute resolution clause, Domestic Courts, Enforcement of an arbitration clause, English Law, ICC Arbitration, Nationality requirement in arbitration clauses, Supreme Court

(White & Case LLP)/ /2 Comments
White & Case

One of the key issues that now awaits the decision of the U.K. Supreme Court in Jivraj v. Hashwani is whether there is a contract between the parties and the arbitrators, such that the arbitrators may be considered “employees” of the parties (and thereby subject to the law prohibiting discrimination by employers)? If there is…

Anti-arbitration, Arbitration, Arbitration clause, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, ICC Arbitration, Joinder

(MDisputes)/ /1 Comment

Conferences on arbitration frequently include a session on “drafting” dispute resolution clauses for international contracts. The term drafting is also included in the title of many articles, book chapters, and entire books. While the actual content that follows this topic heading is often helpful, especially for non-specialist in-house counsel and transactions lawyers, the term itself…

Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Commercial Arbitration, Legal Practice

(Notre Dame Law School)/ /1 Comment

[Editor’s Note: Upon hearing the results of the Vis competition, I invited members of the winning team to do a blog post about their experience. Below are the reflections of the members of the University of Ottawa Vis team on winning the competition.] It’s nice when hard work pays off. It’s even nicer when five…

Arbitration, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Middle East

(Conway & Partners)/ /4 Comments

January 28, 2011 – violent protests rocked Egypt; February 2, 2011 – political anxiety and ongoing unrest in Egypt threaten to shake other economies; February 11, 2011 – Mubarak resigned. March 22, 2011 – fire at Egypt interior ministry; April 17, 2011 – ex-ministers to be tried. Recently, a significant amount of unrest has occurred…

Arbitral seat, Arbitration, Arbitration Institutions and Rules

(Herbert Smith Freehills)/ /Leave a comment
Herbert Smith Freehills

The aftermath of the Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy saw more than 20,000 retail investors in Hong Kong suffer losses from investments in structured products. This gave rise to political pressure on the Hong Kong Government to review its financial regulatory system and to step up its investor protection mechanisms. As one of the key outcomes of…

Arbitration Institutions and Rules

(Conway & Partners)/ /Leave a comment

The International Chamber of Commerce Court of Arbitration (the ICC) is the largest arbitral institute. In addition, its Rules of Arbitration (the Rules) greatly influence the practice of arbitration, resulting in several commentaries. Over the course of 2011, these Rules are continuing to undergo revision and changes to continue to reflect current practices and trends…

Arbitral seat, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration clause, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings

(Herbert Smith Freehills)/ /1 Comment
Herbert Smith Freehills

In recent years, an increasing number of parties to arbitration clauses providing for CIETAC arbitration in mainland China have chosen to take advantage of Article 4.2 of the CIETAC Rules, which allows parties to adopt “other arbitration rules” as the applicable rules of the arbitration. The underlying reason for this trend is simple: Article 4.2…