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…
This blog is adapted from a keynote speech delivered at the Helsinki International Arbitration Day on 28 May 2015. Most arbitration lawyers and users of arbitration services would probably agree that efficiency is a key issue in international arbitration, or that efficiency of arbitration is a key issue. However, these two ways of stating the…
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…
In April 1976, an event now known as the Pound Conference ignited modern ADR in the USA, launching discussion of what may have become the “greatest reform in the history of the country’s judicial system”.1 Forty years later, all stakeholders in the dispute prevention and resolution fields around the world are being invited to participate…
On 13 May 2015, the CJEU handed down judgment in Gazprom (C-536/13). As readers will recall, the case concerns whether an EU court must refuse to give effect to an anti-suit award granted by an EU seated arbitral tribunal on the basis that such a measure is incompatible with EU Regulation 44/2001 (the “Brussels I…
The so-called Jnah v. Marriott saga belongs to the category of cases that are seemingly never-ending. It is telling that the contracts which gave rise to the various disputes between the Lebanese company Jnah Development SAL (“Jnah”) and the US company Marriott International Hotels Inc. (“Marriott”) were concluded in 1994. On 18 March 2015, the…
On the ground that arbitration is a consensual and neutral means of dispute resolution, it has been suggested that arbitrators ought to be wholly and exclusively at the service of the parties and that they are not entrusted with a mission to defend public interests. There may be reasons to call this view into question….
As a fitting tribute to the vision of the first dedicated arbitration education institution, the School of International Arbitration (SIA) marked its 30th anniversary with a two day conference looking back and looking forwards. Entitled “The Evolution and Future of International Arbitration: The Next 30 years”, it brought together over 200 graduates, academics and practitioners…
and Brenda Horrigan and Rebecca Soquier, Herbert Smith Freehills LLP, Shanghai The sanctions arising out of the Ukrainian crisis have led commercial entities to consider their options for resolving current or potential disputes. In this post, we consider the impact of the sanctions against Russia on the future of dispute resolution for Russian entities and…
In connection with the upcoming 2015 ITA Workshop in Dallas on June 17-19, we are now conducting a survey on the experiences of arbitration practitioners with enforceability of arbitral awards. We write to invite your participation. As you may recall, last year we launched the 2014 ITA Survey on the Enforcement of Arbitral Awards, and…
As contracts containing Dispute Adjudication Boards (“DAB’s”) as a mandatory prerequisite to arbitration are on the increase (and being recognised as such by many legal systems) what issues are there around enforcing the establishment of such a Board? There is always, especially when a contentious situation has arisen, a party more reluctant to engage in…
The University of Virginia’s Spring 2014 symposium focused on the topic of international development. One panel focused on the role of international politics in the context of international dispute settlement. With the mandate to examine elements related to both politics and development, I was asked to explore outcomes in investment treaty arbitration (ITA) as a…
SIAC ended speculation as to who would succeed Dr Michael Pryles as the next President of the SIAC Court of Arbitration by announcing, at the SIAC Annual Appreciation Event on Monday 2 March 2015, the appointment of Mr Gary Born of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, with effect from 1 April 2015. At…
Introduction Initially created as a tool for construction contracts, a dispute board may be defined as an intermediate dispute resolution mechanism established at the outset of the project and remaining in place until the end thereof whereby board members, with the expertise of the relevant construction sector, upon request provide prompt recommendations or decisions whenever…
Both UNCTAD and ICSID have recently released documents designed to provide snapshots of key developments and trends in investor-State arbitration. Both documents draw upon a statistical analysis of case filings and outcomes to generate overviews of the lay of the land in this area of law. The documents highlight a number of important trends, and…
