Kluwer Arbitration Blog

The ever-recurring issue of investment treaty law and arbitration reform takes again center stage in this issue, courtesy of Noah Barr’s excellent piece focusing on the EU Commission’s ‘model’ of international investment protection as such model arises from the so-called new-generation International Investment Agreements (‘IIAs’) which the EU signed in recent years. Noah discusses the…

‘What makes a good arbitrator?’ asks Christopher Vajda KC in his Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Keynote address which we are delighted to publish at this issue. It is not a straight-forward question to answer. Practicing as an arbitrator does not necessarily make someone a good arbitrator, even if their practice is busy. Drawing on his…

The opening piece of this Issue ‘Challenging Homogeneity in International Arbitration: Towards Greater Diversity and Inclusion in Counsel Teams’ by Eliane Fischer and Roopa Mathews offers an interesting and informative perspective on a widely discussed, yet still not universally well-managed issue of diversity and inclusion in arbitration. ‘Diversity’ and ‘inclusion’, have been in our minds…

‘Are cryptocurrency assets a protected investment under investment treaties?’ Evgeniya Rubinina asks in the Journal’s first issue of 2023. It is both a topical and complex question to ask. It is topical because in the wake of an annus horribilis that cryptocurrencies had in 2022, including the collapse of major cryptocurrency trading firms such as…

Review of the Arbitration Act 1996: Responses to the Law Commission Consultation Paper Earlier this year, the Arbitration Act 1996 celebrated twenty-five years from the day it was brought into force. On 22 September 2022, the Law Commission issued its Consultation Paper on the Review of the Arbitration Act 1996. The Law Commission considered the…

In this issue, Professor Doug Jones and Robert Turnbull examine, and indeed question, the efficiency of the current practice of witness statements. As they explain, witness statements have become a ‘vehicle for the making of legal submissions’ commending, and at times speculating, on every matter which is implicated in a dispute, including third parties’ conduct….

The 31st of January 2022 marked twenty-five years from the day the Arbitration Act 1996 was brought into force. Inspired by the UNCITRAL Model Law but, at the same time distinctly English, the Act has rightly been hailed as an ‘exemplary piece of legislation’.1) Merkin and Flannery on the Arbitration Act 1996 (6th Edition Informa…

On Arbitrobots or Robotration There has been considerable discussion lately on the role that Artificial Intelligence (AI) may play in international arbitration (IA) in the future. While there are some interesting, indeed exciting, prospects of AI’s potential contribution to IA, there also exists a degree of hyperbole in what is predicted. Information technology has already…

As we slowly turn the corner of this brutal year, a mixed set of thoughts and reflections come to mind. For a start, one cannot help but feeling a sense of measured optimism that after a vicious tally of human losses worldwide and unprecedented disruption of every single aspect of our social and professional lives…

The selected submissions for the current issue deal with a range of diverse dispute resolution topics. Specifically, the issue includes articles on international commercial arbitration, investment treaty arbitration, construction arbitration, and articles on conflicts of laws. Further, the issue includes not only topics of practical importance, for example the proposal on the appropriate remedies against…

IN Memoriam Derek Roebuck (1935 – 2020) by Neil Kaplan With the passing of Derek Roebuck on 27 April the world of arbitration has lost its current and much-loved chronicler. Although Derek was a prolific author of legal texts he will long be remembered for his outstanding volumes on the history of arbitration from earliest…

There are certain moments in the lifetime of an academic journal that prove to be critical for its future. For this Journal, which has been successfully published for more than 100 years now, moving to the publishing house of Wolters Kluwer will undoubtably prove to be a moment of great significance. There are three main…