Ban Jiun Ean is the Chief Executive of Maxwell Chambers, the world’s first integrated dispute resolution center in the heart of Singapore. Maxwell Chambers assembled arbitral institutions, service providers, and legal practitioners under the same roof, making the Chamber a one-stop shop for customers in a facility equipped with best-in-class hearing facilities and state-of-the-art supporting…

Mock arbitrations are an excellent way for clients and counsel to refine their hearing presentation and prepare witnesses to testify so the key arguments, evidence and themes resonate with the tribunal. Having served as both mock arbitrator and counsel in mock arbitrations, I have seen first-hand the positive impact that mock arbitrations can have on…

In June 2020, we ran a survey of users’ experiences with remote hearings.  Our preliminary findings, which we published in International Arbitration and the COVID-19 Revolution (edited by Maxi Scherer, Niuscha Bassiri, Mohamed S. Abdel Wahab) showed that over ten times more fully remote hearings appeared to have taken place on an annualised basis in…

The results of the 2021 QMUL-White & Case International Arbitration Survey were launched on 6 May 2021. The survey explores the theme of “Adapting Arbitration to a Changing World”: how international arbitration has adapted to changing demands and circumstances including the COVID-19 pandemic, and opportunities for the international arbitration community to adapt more and better….

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, virtual witness testimonies were prevalent in specific instances, such as when witnesses could not reach the venue because of illness. Article 8.1 of IBA Rules on Taking of Evidence in International Arbitration permits virtual testimony only at the discretion of the tribunal. The Commentary on the Rules establishes that the tribunal’s…

On 23 July 2020, the Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) rendered a decision examining whether conducting an arbitration hearing by videoconference over the objection of a party may violate due process (Case No. 18 ONc 3/20s). To the authors’ knowledge, this decision, rendered in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, is the first national supreme court’s…

Once one gets past the fact that the word “asynchronous” is impossible to pronounce or spell, it is an interesting concept, including for international arbitration. The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as “not existing or occurring at the same time, not coinciding in time.” If you think about TV shows, for instance, some are broadcast…

In normal times, the 32nd Annual ITA Workshop and Annual Meeting would have been an in-person summer event held in Austin, Texas. In this brave new world, the Workshop was completely reimagined to be held virtually via Zoom on 17 – 19 June 2020. Introduced by Joseph E. Neuhaus (ITA Chair, Sullivan & Cromwell), and…

Virtual hearings are not a new idea. The arbitration community only started to seriously discuss the benefits and the logistics of having virtual hearings in lieu of physical hearings when the world was put on pause by COVID-19 in around February 2020. It is not easy to organize a virtual hearing, let alone all the…

Conducting all or parts of a hearing in the form of a virtual hearing has become a daily reality for many arbitrators, parties, and witnesses as the COVID pandemic continues to disrupt the legal practice. But as countries gradually ease out of lockdown and find their way into a “new” normal, it may be worth…

In response to a query “whether an arbitral tribunal can order virtual proceedings where any of the parties to the arbitration does not consent?” posed during the drafting of the Africa Arbitration Academy Protocol on Virtual Arbitral Hearings in Africa, Professor Mohamed Abdel Wahab has now published a 6-point pathway (“Abdel Wahab’s Pathway”) that may…

In today’s busy and increasingly digitized world, pictures are the new words. The average human attention span has grown shorter and become more selective. In every facet of society, from the consumer landscape to business meetings, visual storytelling has emerged as key to delivering captivating content that commands a person’s undivided attention. This trend can…

The main concerns of parties when considering arbitration are the costs and length of arbitration proceedings (see, e.g., Queen Mary University of London 2018 International Arbitration Survey). The popularity of arbitration as a method of resolving construction disputes thus depends largely on whether costs can be reduced and efficiency maintained. This is particularly the case…

On Tuesday 22 April 2019, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (Singapore) issued their Guidelines for Witness Conferencing in International Arbitration (the “Guidelines”),1) Guidelines to be soon made available. See here the latest draft. providing tribunals, witnesses and parties with guidance in the conduct of witness conferencing.   Witness Conferencing Witness conferencing is the process by…

Experts play a pivotal role in many international arbitrations. Usually, they are there to testify what went wrong. However, their know-how of the subject matter of the arbitration and their technical expertise may also be used to explain what went right. One approach to giving an arbitral tribunal the benefit of such an explanation, when confronted…

In this continuing series of blog posts, we have been using Dispute Resolution Data (DRD)’s growing repository of international arbitration case data to analyze the extent to which such cases reach various outcomes, whether it be an award being rendered, administrative closure, dismissal, impasse, or settlement/withdrawal (which we treat as a single, distinct outcome). Our…

Following up on Efficient Arbitration – Part 2: Launching an Efficient Arbitration, where we addressed efficiency tools available at the early stages, we now provide an overview of options to save time and costs up until the award. As we continue our efficiency series, we will zone in on a selection of efficiency tools and…

[I]t is not merely of some importance but is of fundamental importance that justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done.1) R v Sussex Justices, ex parte McCarthy [1924] 1 KB 256, 259 (Lord Hewart C.J.) If you sought to distil [the connection between ISDS’s transparency and…

by Sonja Heppner, Trinity College Dublin, School of Law The text of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (‘TPP’) as agreed upon between the United States and Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam on 5 October 2015 provides for public arbitral hearings. The approach taken by the prospective signatories of…

Procedural orders rarely become the subject of blog posts, much less the impetus for concerted action among states anxious to control the strategic space on which investment treaty arbitrations unfold. However, a series of orders in Detroit International Bridge Company v. Canada generated controversy when the tribunal steadfastly excluded representatives of the United States from…

An English court recently ruled on important questions relating to arbitration due process. In Interprods Ltd v De La Rue International Ltd, [2014] EWHC 68 (Comm), the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court dismissed an application to annul an arbitral award rendered by a sole arbitrator sitting in London. The circumstances that gave rise…

I spent some time earlier this month covering the Chevron-Ecuador hearings that took place in the Federal District Court in New York City. Much has been written about the outcome of those proceedings – and the denial of a request by Ecuador for an injunction against a bilateral investment treaty arbitration started some months ago…