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…

Just when it seemed that the tech industry had turned its back on futuristic, immersive digital worlds, often called the metaverse, Apple launched its first Mixed Reality headset, the Apple Vision Pro, on June 5, 2023. Expected to go on sale in the U.S. in early 2024 for $3,499, the Apple Vision Pro signals Apple’s…

Now more than ever, technology is an integral part of hearings. Cross-examination of witnesses by videolink and streaming to remote participants are now commonly accepted; real-time transcription has become the norm wherever budget allows; and electronic presentation of evidence (EPE) is frequently used in cross-examinations. These technologies have changed the way in which we present…

The year 2022 was a busy one at the intersection of technology and international arbitration, both for the arbitration community and for the Kluwer Arbitration Blog. Virtual hearings further cemented their status as a mainstay of arbitral practice; we saw a burst of guidance, soft law instruments and rule-setting activity; and our Arbitration Tech Toolbox…

The Seoul ADR Festival (“SAF”) 2022, conducted by the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board, was held between 7-11 November 2022. The 11th Asia-Pacific ADR Virtual Conference, the flagship conference of SAF 2022, took place on 9-10 November 2022 and was attended by more than 400 participants. It covered a broad range of topics over four sessions….

While prior to the COVID-19 pandemic it was usual for international arbitration practitioners to conduct videoconferencing or telecommunications remotely for certain procedural events (i.e., initial case management conferences or witness examinations), pandemic restrictions imposed in early 2020 led to a substantial change in the way international arbitration proceedings are conducted—forcing practitioners to hold any kind…

As of January 1, 2022, the Conciliation and Arbitration Center of the Uruguayan Chamber of Commerce and Services (“Center”) has new Arbitration Rules (the “2021 Rules”) in force. They apply to cases filed from January 1, 2022 onwards. Following the trend of several other institutions in the region, who updated their rules in 2021, in…

A lot has been said about virtual reality (VR) and the metaverse in recent months, but what is it like to actually use it? With one of the authors having recently organised the first-ever gathering in VR for international arbitration practitioners, we share some thoughts on the potential and limitations of this new medium for…

In the 1970s, when my father left India to study abroad, trunk calls home were rare and expensive, requiring shouting into the phone. In 2020, we have all exasperatedly repeated “You’re on mute” and “Am I audible?” into our screens on an almost daily basis. As public spaces became off-limits, those with access to technology…

On November 15, 2021, the AAA-ICDR hosted a webinar entitled “In-House Counsel’s Virtual Roundtable” as part of New York Arbitration Week. The webinar focused on the use of alternative dispute resolution in the oil and gas industry. The panel was moderated by Eric P. Tuchmann, the Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for…

In the past year, there has been a paradigm shift from a norm of in-person hearings to a norm of virtual hearings. As part of the 10th Hong Kong Arbitration Week, KCAB INTERNATIONAL and the Korean Council for International Arbitration (KOCIA) invited arbitration practitioners, mostly based in the dynamic Korean arbitration market, to share their…

The pandemic has taught us to be flexible and adaptable and has opened up new possibilities, including the transformative use of technology in dispute resolution. While I have written on the use of technologies, including artificial intelligence (“AI”), in arbitration here before, my goal in this post is to provoke further thinking on the potential…

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to test nearly every industry and break the idea of “normal” in both our personal and professional lives. Even as large segments of the population receive vaccines and look forward to once again meeting friends, hugging grandparents and traveling to foreign countries, the international arbitration service industry has entered a new…

The Abu Dhabi Global Market Arbitration Centre (“ADGMAC”) introduced its Protocol for Remote Hearings (“Protocol”) in June 2021. The Protocol provides parties, their lawyers and the Tribunal with a set of procedural and logistical arrangements for the conduct of hearings that may be conducted remotely (whether fully or in part). Previously, in September 2019, ADGMAC…

Hello, World!   Big Tech is a term more commonly used to describe the largest and most dominant technology companies. No doubt Big Tech’s technology has been making extensive and significant impact on our day-to-day lives. The impact of arbitration tech on the arbitration world has also been noticeable. As our readers would know our…

Arbitration Tech Toolbox is a new series on the Kluwer Arbitration Blog that aims to stimulate broader discussion and debate in the arbitration community on arbitration-related technology, its impact, and its future. We believe everyone stands to gain from a discussion of best practices surrounding the ongoing adoption of new technologies and identification of available…

The Third Annual Schiefelbein Global Dispute Resolution Conference took place on Friday, January 15, 2021. The conference was hosted by the Lodestar Dispute Resolution Center at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and generously supported by Les and Linda Schiefelbein. This post distills selected topics and highlights from the conference – including comments from…

Both in Formula 1 and in international arbitration, small yet innocent mistakes can trigger significant risks. Lack of proper cybersecurity measures can lead to irreversible results with negative impact on all stakeholders involved. In Formula 1 racing, the risk of danger is at every corner and one simple wrong move can change the outcome of…

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 public health crisis, a seismic event in history, many of us feel as if 2020 is the year that did not happen. While it certainly was not business as usual, in a display of flexibility and resilience, the arbitration community ensured that the (virtual) show did go on. With…

In spite of unfamiliar challenges that emerged in 2020, arbitration progress in East and Central Asia has persisted. In this post, our East and Central Asian editorial team recapitulates major arbitration trends and developments of the region featured in the past year from the perspectives of national and interstate policies, judicial and legislative changes, as…

On 6 July 2020 the Swiss Federal Tribunal has issued a decision in which it has held that the COVID-19 pandemic does not serve as a sufficient justification to impose virtual hearings in state court proceedings against a party’s will. With a view to field of arbitration, the question thus arises whether the respective reasoning…

The Casablanca International Mediation and Arbitration Centre (“CIMAC”) convened its sixth edition of the Casablanca Arbitration Day (“CAD”) on December 3, 2020. The virtual CAD presented four panels focusing on one burning issue: “Is Arbitration Helping or Hindering the Protection of the Environment and Public Health?” This question deepens the discussion focused on during the…

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…

The Sixth Sarajevo Arbitration Day conference took place on 23 October 2020 and it was dedicated to the opportunities to adopt positive arbitration practices amidst the challenges created by the Covid-19 pandemic. This annual conference organized by the Association ARBITRI took place online for the first time and gathered legal practitioners from all over the…