The energy transition lies at the heart of climate change mitigation efforts.  A new survey by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) in collaboration with Pinsent Masons, the Future of International Energy Arbitration Survey Report, (“the Energy Report” or “the 2022 QMUL Survey”) (see also here) offers guidance to anticipate and mitigate those risks for…

Every arbitration starts as a dispute that arises months or even years before the tribunal is constituted. Well in advance of filing a request for arbitration, or an answer to one, parties may begin taking steps to prepare, including by conducting a preliminary cost/benefit analysis, gathering and reviewing documents, interviewing witnesses, identifying and meeting with…

According to arbitration historian Derek Roebuck, what practice was widely used during the reign of her majesty Queen Elizabeth I to avoid the involvement of the Crown in disputes?   “Arbitrage”, a practice in many ways similar to modern arbitration, and which had its roots in the Norman conquest. “Dunking”, a means of encouraging litigants…

Looking for a fun night out with your arbitration friends now that the holidays are over? Then you will be happy to learn that International Arbitration finally has a game show!  It will be held in Edinburgh on Monday, 19 September 2022. Join our live version of the Kluwer Arbitration Blog Quiz! in Edinburgh, at…

The Summer 2020 Kluwer Arbitration Quiz was met with a very enthusiastic response: 271 submissions from around the world! The quiz focused on how the conduct of arbitrations may differ, depending on industries and regions, as revealed by data collected to date by Arbitrator Intelligence. That data is collected through responses submitted by parties and…

As the global pandemic has constrained in-person gatherings, many arbitration practitioners will have foregone most of their summer travel. Fortunately, for this summer’s holiday (quiz), we can all take a trip together to Transparency Land, where all arbitrators and institutions are above average, but may not all be equal in how they manage proceedings. With…

Nkiru Agbu is the winner of the 2020 Kluwer Arbitration Quiz. Nkiru spent New Year’s Day researching the Quiz in order to be the first to submit the correct answers. Now that’s passion for international arbitration! Nkiru won a very special prize for her correct answers for which she will be contacted. In addition to…

Should odd domestic arbitration practices be forgot, and never brought to mind!   Planning to be more international in the coming decade? Just in time for your New Years resolutions, we have the 2020 Kluwer Arbitration New Years Quiz.  This year, the blog’s editors have helped assemble questions about domestic arbitration practices from around the…

“Developing arbitration into a matured system of adjudication that can fully compete with litigation may create tension with its promise of providing a quick, fair, and flexible way to resolve a dispute. … Some years ago, Johnny Veeder posed the question, “whose arbitration is this anyway?”  Perhaps the time has now come for the arbitration…

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…

The Kluwer Arbitration Blog thanks everyone who responded to the New Year Arbitration Quiz, and have decided that all those who responded will receive free subscriptions to this blog for 12 months.1) It is true that the Kluwer blog is already free. In keeping with the theme of arbitration, however, we felt our award should…

The Prague Rules on the Efficient Conduct of Proceedings in International Arbitration will be officially launched this week (December 14). This set of rules of evidence and procedure formulated from civil law practices has already generated a substantial and healthy debate within the international arbitration community, including here on the Kluwer blog, on whether they…

TO: Secretary General, Arbitration Institution FROM: In-house counsel involved in a major contract negotiation Madam/Sir, We are both in-house litigation counsel for a large international company, and your institution was recently proposed for the disputes clause in an important contract. Since neither of us had any previous experience with your institution, we searched your website…

Mark Twain once wrote that a person with a new idea “is a crank until the idea succeeds.”1)Pudd’nhead Wilson’s New Calendar, in Following the Equator (1897). The Merriam Webster dictionary defines “crank” as “an annoyingly eccentric person.” Innovations and new ideas on the verge of implementation seem to arrive almost weekly in international arbitration. They…

Last week GAR released the shortlist for its 2017 award for “best innovation by an individual or organization”. What is notable about this year’s shortlist is that of the ten innovations on the list, six directly address transparency and/or diversity in international arbitration. From an online directory of African arbitration practitioners, to the launch of “Dispute…

The cover of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy famously features a “Don’t Panic” button. In the weeks leading up to the Brexit vote, some English law firms posted reassuring articles on the possible effects a vote to leave would have for dispute resolution in London. “Don’t panic” seemed to be a common theme. Yet…

The Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce began the new year by announcing two interesting and even bold innovations. The ICC Court will now, according to the ICC’s own press release, “publish on its website the names of the arbitrators sitting in ICC cases, their nationality, as well as whether the appointment…

The New York Times has just published a three-part series of investigative articles about arbitration practice in the United States, casting it as machine of repeat-players used by large companies to deprive ordinary citizens of access to justice. It is a pity the writers did not look deeper under the hood of that machine. Had…

Fellow Kluwer arbitration blogger, Duarte Henriques, recently started a Facebook page dedicated to discussing topical issues in international arbitration. The page regularly features “memes” all aspects of the practice. Below are a few. When international arbitration meets social media, no one is spared. – – – – – – – – – – – –…

The 2015 International Arbitration Survey is out. Subtitled “Improvements and Innovations in International Arbitration,” the most recent effort by Queen Mary / White & Case has a lot to say about efforts to date to improve the practice and what more can be done. The survey’s methodology and sample size have themselves been the subject…