In a recent High Court case, it was held that a reference in a contract to the “court” did not mean a court at all but meant instead – perhaps alarmingly – arbitration. This decision in Helice Leasing S.A.S. v PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) TbK [2021] EWHC 99 (Comm) may be a cause of concern…

At the dawn of the New Year, following their adoption in November 2020, the revised DIFC-LCIA Rules of Arbitration (the “2021 DIFC-LCIA Rules”) have now entered into force with effect from 1st January 2021. Readers of this blog will recognise the DIFC-LCIA as the free zone sister organization of the London Court of Arbitration (LCIA)…

Although the Old Continent has suffered tremendously at the hands of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world of arbitration still managed to find a way to keep on going. In this post, we are going to provide an overview of the most pivotal arbitration developments that occurred on the European soil in 2020. Among others, these…

Electronic signatures (e-signatures) may affect in some cases arbitration’s most valuable characteristic: the enforceability of the arbitral award. In most jurisdictions, and in particular pursuant to Article 31(1) of the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration, arbitral awards must be rendered in writing and contain the arbitrators’ signatures. The enforceability risks of authenticating an arbitral…

The judgment issued by the High Court of England and Wales in Xstrata Coal Queensland P Ltd & Anor v Benxi Iron & Steel (Group) International Economic & Trading Co (Xstrata) is a rare example of a successful challenge brought under section 68 of the Arbitration Act 1996 (“the Act”). It serves as a reminder…

On 11 August 2020 the LCIA unveiled the long-awaited update to its Arbitration Rules (the 2020 Rules). The 2020 Rules will become effective on 1 October 2020 and will apply to arbitrations commenced from that date onwards. They will supersede the 2014 edition of the LCIA Arbitration Rules (the 2014 Rules). The 2020 Rules introduce…

There was a time when arbitrators were to a large extent immune from liability and could thus not be sued before national courts for damages caused to the parties to a dispute. This was true mainly in common law jurisdictions and was probably the case in most civil law countries as well. For instance, under…

For decades, like clockwork, the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot (‘Vis Moot’) and its sister competition, Vis East Moot, have brought together students, academics, practitioners, and arbitrators to consider emerging and important substantive topics in international arbitration and international sales law. Many of us honed our passion for these fields as student participants in the Vis…

Emergency arbitrator (“EA”) applications are fast gaining popularity among both arbitral institutions and international arbitration users. EA provisions were first introduced in the 2010 SIAC Rules to address the need for emergency interim relief before a tribunal is constituted, and many arbitral institutions have adopted relatively similar EA procedures over the past decade. For example,…

The seat of arbitration is a vital aspect of any arbitration proceeding. The situs is not just about where an institution is based, where hearings will be held or where there may be a good pool of arbitrators. It is also about which courts have supervisory power over your arbitration and the scope of those…

The use of tribunal secretaries in arbitration is a hotly debated topic. For some time now, the use of a secretary has been increasing in the interests of cost and time efficiency. For some however, there is a fear that arbitrators delegate their duties and for a ‘second’ or ‘fourth’ arbitrator to be involved in…

“When Justice Delayed Would be Justice Denied: Emergency Arbitrators and Interim Measures in International Arbitration” was the subject of the 28th Annual Workshop of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA), which took place on 16 June 2016 in Dallas, Texas. Under the leadership of ITA’s Chair, Abby Cohen Smutny (White & Case), and the conference…

An arbitration can be severely disrupted by a party who refuses to comply with an order or direction of its tribunal. In such circumstances, a peremptory order may be used to force the non-compliant party to comply with the earlier order or direction within a specific timeframe. An arbitral tribunal’s peremptory order was recently enforced…

Following a recent announcement of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) (see https://www.lcia.org//News/difc-lcia-arbitration-centre-relaunched-today.aspx), its Dubai-based sister organisation, the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC)-LCIA Arbitration Centre, re-launched its operations from a new location in the DIFC with effect from 18 November 2015. The move to the DIFC Gate Building, which has become an iconic landmark…