The Swedish Arbitration Act [“Act”] is currently under review. In 2014, 15 years after the Act first entered into force, a committee was given the task of assessing how well it has worked in practice and how it measures up internationally. According to the committee’s terms of reference, the primary motivation behind the review is…

The 2015 International Arbitration Survey is out. Subtitled “Improvements and Innovations in International Arbitration,” the most recent effort by Queen Mary / White & Case has a lot to say about efforts to date to improve the practice and what more can be done. The survey’s methodology and sample size have themselves been the subject…

This is the second part of a post related to arbitration and antitrust follow-on damages claims in Europe. Part 1, which addressed problems of jurisdiction ratione materiae that arise in relation to follow-on damages claims, is accessible here. Part 2 of this commentary addresses additional challenges and opportunities that warrant attention when the possibility of…

This post, which will be presented in two parts, proposes to pick-up on a subject addressed in an earlier commentary posted by R. Bellinghausen and J. Grothaus regarding the CJEU’s decision in CDC v. Akzo Nobel et al [See Judgment C-352/13]. As highlighted in the earlier post, the CJEU’s recent decision raises a number of questions…

for YSIAC In an age of ever-increasing complexity, where your watch can open your garage and answer your phone (yes, the Apple watch can really do that), many of us in the international arbitration community have lost sight of the most powerful weapon in the advocate’s toolbox: simplicity. A previous post on this blog eloquently…

Choice of dispute resolution mechanism is crucial in drafting and negotiation of financial transactions. Usually lenders insist on having their preference inserted into the financial agreement and this is why dispute resolution clauses in such transactions reflect primarily the interests of lenders, and lenders seek efficient settlement of disputes. Traditionally large international banks and other…

Treaty shopping, also called corporate (re-)structuring, is most often associated with legal persons, in particular mailbox companies. Much discussed in this respect is the practice of “round-tripping” where the investor-claimant is foreign-incorporated, but majority-controlled by natural or legal persons of host State nationality (see e.g. Tokios Tokeles v Ukraine, ICSID Case No. ARB/02/18, Decision on…

Background At the end of June 2015, the London Court of International Arbitration issued three new guidance notes to accompany its 2014 arbitration rules. The guidance notes, entitled: “Notes for Parties”, “Notes for Arbitrators”, and “Notes on Emergency Procedures” are available on the institution’s website. In issuing the guidance notes, the LCIA has followed in…

By Order of 11 May 2015 (unpublished) in Case No. ARB 005/2014 – A v. B, Justice Sir David Steel of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Court of First Instance dismissed an application made by an award debtor to set aside an order granted by the DIFC Court on 8 January 2015 (unpublished) for…

In a recent ruling of the DIFC Court of First Instance (CFI 043/2014 – DNB Bank ASA v. (1) Gulf Eyadah Corporation (2) Gulf Navigation Holding PJSC, ruling of the DIFC Court of First Instance of 2nd July 2015), H.E. Justice Ali Al Madhani, one of the UAE-national resident judges of the DIFC Courts, drew…

At the CIARB’s London centenary conference earlier this month, the Honourable Chief Justice of Singapore, Sundaresh Menon, cautioned that: “we should remain mindful that there is no place for complacency or reason to assume that [the] international system of dispute resolution which so many have invested so much in, will continue on its recent trajectory…

On 5 November 2014, the French Cour de Cassation, overruled a decision of the Paris Court of Appeal for having reversed the burden of proof in a case involving a non-participating party. With this victory before the French Supreme Court, Yukos Capital (“Yukos”) is one step closer to the enforcement of an arbitral award against…

As mentioned in a prior entry (Brussels’ Sanctions Against Russia and Moscow’s Retaliatory Measures Through the Eyes of the Arbitrator), under certain conditions, arbitrators have the authority to give effect to economic sanctions that are external to the applicable law. These, just like exchange control regulations and antitrust laws, fit into the category of overriding…

On 24 June 2015, the Australian Productivity Commission released its eighteenth Trade and Assistance Review 2013-14. The Commission is an independent research and advisory body, with statutory authority to report annually on the economic impacts of Australia’s international trade policy. As readers of this blog may recall, in previous years the Commission’s Review has influenced…

Third-party funding is a controversial, dynamic, and evolving phenomenon in international arbitration. Proponents and opponents of third-party funding debate whether the practice will make a positive or negative impact on the worldwide system of dispute resolution. Both sides of the debate make predictions regarding the effect of third-party funders through the cases that they finance….

Introduction and background Vladivostok is often perceived as the ‘capital’ of Russia’s Far East. It is also often portrayed, however, as Moscow’s backward colonial outpost, with few cars on the streets and where the supermarkets’ half-empty shelves offer nothing but Bulgarian pickles and stale bread. This perception is misguided. Russia’s Far East encompasses 36% of…

The 27th Annual Workshop of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration (“ITA”), which took place on June 17-18 in Dallas, Texas, examined  “Subconscious Influences in International Arbitration”.  The Workshop was organized by co-chairs José Astigarraga of Astigarraga Davis (Miami), Professor Margaret Moses of Loyola University Chicago School of Law (Chicago) and Luke Sobota of Three Crowns…

Accentuate Ltd v. ASIGRA Inc. [2009] EWHC 2655; Fern Computer Consultancy Ltd v Intergraph Cadworx & Analysis Solutions Inc [2014] EWHC 2908 (Ch) In 2009, a senior libel judge sitting in the English High Court held that an arbitration agreement was “null and void” or “inoperative” because it purported to apply a foreign law which…

No doubt that the last three years have been quite busy for the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) and for the Energy Charter Conference. The number of investor-state arbitration cases under Article 26 of the ECT doubled in this time span, going from thirty known cases to sixty-eight (as reported on the website of the Energy…

Prior to 2012, India faced widespread criticism from the international arbitral community over a series of judgments concerning arbitration. Much has changed since 2012 – in the post-Bharat Aluminium (“BALCO”) era. A pro-arbitration approach by the judiciary was reflected in a series of judgments that came after the BALCO judgment, such as Reliance Industries (Reliance…

and Katherine Bell, Schellenberg Wittmer In 2014, the Swiss Supreme Court rendered 32 decisions on petitions to set aside international arbitral awards. Consistent with a traditionally low success rate, the Supreme Court granted only 4 of the 32 petitions. One of these four petitions was considered in a French-language decision dated 7 April 2014 (Decision…

and Ian Hopkinson, Clyde & Co At above US$60 per barrel, crude oil prices have bounced a little since their January 2015 low. However, with continued mixed indications concerning US production, opinion remains divided on where prices will end up in the short to medium term. As the recent GAR Live Energy Disputes event (held…

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ordered a fund management committee (‘SBC’) to arbitrate its dispute with Navistar International (‘Navistar’) – at Navistar’s request – despite the fact that Navistar refused SBC’s own request for arbitration, ignored SBC’s formal notice of arbitration, and then litigated SBC’s claim in court for over a year (Art…