There has been a lot of talk about artificial intelligence (“AI”) in international arbitration in recent years. I vividly remember when I gave the keynote speech on “International Arbitration 3.0 – How Artificial Intelligence Will Change Dispute Resolution” at the Vienna Arbitration Days 2018. At the time, people were quite skeptical about the topic, but…
Participants in the London International Disputes Week 2023 (“LIDW 2023”) had great difficulty choosing from a line of outstanding events to attend. This blog post reports on one session from the third and fourth day of the week, respectively, “The Evolving Role of Arbitral Institutions” and “International Commercial Courts and Arbitration: Competitors or Bedfellows?” …
The international arbitration community has made progress on improving diversity across the field, but continues to fall short on appointing diverse international arbitration tribunals. Experts point to a range of reasons for the lack of diversity in international arbitration tribunals, chief among which is the lack of an experienced pool, coupled with the reluctance of…
In the absence of concrete publicly available information about arbitrators, arbitration practitioners often resort to cognitive shortcuts and just plain guesswork in the arbitrator selection process. As explored in a previous post, parties and counsel frequently rely on arbitrators’ common-law or civil-law education and practice as indicators for how they might approach key case management…
Arbitrators make many decisions that affect the outcome of a case. The most obvious decisions are, of course, their decisions on the merits. But arbitrators also make a host of other procedural and case management decisions that can affect the outcome of a case. Procedural and case management decisions may include rulings on briefing and…
In June 2020, the Swiss Arbitration Association (ASA) launched its much-awaited Arbitration Toolbox, an online and interactive tool that guides a user through the various stages of an arbitration. Initially the brainchild of former ASA President, Elliott Geisinger, the Toolbox was brought to fruition under the presidency of the current ASA President Felix Dasser. The…
Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S. announced enhancements to Arbitrator Tool and a new Relationship Assessment Tool within Kluwer Arbitration Practice Plus (KAPP). Integrating artificial intelligence and machine learning with Wolters Kluwer’s arbitration expertise, the new features will provide arbitration professionals with valuable insights to assess arbitrators, properly advise their clients, and increase their rate…
On June 22, 2021, the Dispute Resolution Interest Group (“DRIG”) of the American Society of International Law hosted the webinar “Psychology in Oral Advocacy: Using Science to Persuade International Tribunals.” The event featured Doak Bishop, Ula Cartwright-Finch, Jennifer K. Robbennolt and Sabina Sacco, and was moderated by DRIG co-chairs Simon Batifort and Rémy Gerbay. This…
On 24 March 2021, the Rising Arbitrators Initiative (RAI) held the fourth session of its webinar series “The Rising Arbitrator’s Challenge: Navigating the Promise and Perils of Your First Appointments”. This fourth conference focused on the challenges that first appointments bring to arbitrators in Latin America and has brought together both young and more seasoned…
The role of party-appointed experts in the arbitration process has been the subject of debate for many years. This debate is set to continue, given the increasing volume of cross-border transactions and growing number of organisations and industries embracing arbitration as a dispute resolution mechanism. As a result, disputes submitted to arbitration have become increasingly…
In Disney’s Fantasia, the third segment—called The Sorcerer’s Apprentice—is based on the poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It features the charming but somewhat lazy Mickey, who is tired of his chores. To get some help, he borrows Sorcerer Yen Sid’s hat, and uses it to magically animate a broom with what today we might…
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…
In its judgment of 26 November 2019 (I ACa 457/18), the Warsaw Court of Appeal gave its view on the duties of arbitrators and counsel in cases involving state aid. In a well-argued decision, the Court reversed the decision of the lower court and annulled an award rendered by a prominent international tribunal on the…
The lack of a binding effect of a State’s right to interpret treaties has been raised as one of the reasons to reform the current Investor-State Dispute Settlement (“ISDS”) regime. The movement to reform the current ISDS regime led to the UNCITRAL Working Group III discussion (“WG III discussion”), which has been addressed in this…
The COVID-19 pandemic catapulted discussions on online dispute resolution methods like no other phenomenon. With this, determining the proper seat for online arbitration has become the center of conversation. As the world adapted to the challenges presented by the pandemic, so too did international arbitration. Suddenly, there was a wave of virtual hearings, webinars and…
Last month, ICSID published a further Working Paper (WP4) linked to its ongoing reform process, by which it is considering a series of amendments to the ICSID and ICSID Additional Facility Rules. The Working Paper is the fourth in a series of working papers, preceded by Working Papers 1 (August 2018), 2 (March 2019), and…
Over the past few months anti-corruption protesters in Lebanon have taken to the streets calling for widespread reforms to the Lebanese economic and political system. This has caused considerable strain on the country’s already frail economy. The first two weeks of the unrest saw a complete closure of banks with no possibility of making transfers…
Introduction Whenever the court is confronted with the task to determine the governing law of an arbitration agreement on the basis of knowing only (1) the stipulated governing law of the main contract and (2) the seat, a three-folded test will be applied. It inquires into (i) express choice, (ii) implied choice and (iii) closest…
“Deliberations of the Arbitral Tribunal” was the theme of the #YoungITATalks held in Sao Paulo on October 10, 2019, organized by L.O. Baptista Advogados and Young ITA. Experienced arbitrators Adriana Braghetta (L.O. Baptista), Carlos Elias (CEARB) and Mariana Craveiro (ContiCraveiro) discussed with moderator Mariana Cattel (L.O. Baptista) the ‘behind the scenes’ of arbitral tribunals’ deliberations….
This August, Kenya hosted the 7th annual East African International Arbitration (EAIAC) conference. This year’s theme was Government Contracting and Investment Disputes: Lessons for States and Investors. The conference explored the full spectrum of government contracting from procurement and PPPs (public-private partnerships), tender disputes, dispute mitigation in government contracts, investment arbitration and arbitrating with governments…
As reported in earlier blog posts on the Kluwer Arbitration Blog, 1) See, e.g., Zoltán Novák, New Arbitration Act in Hungary, Kluwer Arbitration Blog, 15 October 2017; Alexandra Bognár, Hungary: Are Interim Measures Hard to Enforce?, Kluwer Arbitration Blog, 18 July 2017; Ioana Knoll-Tudor, The 2018 Hungarian Arbitration Act: Implications of the New Setting Aside…
A common concern for arbitration practitioners in Africa is that when it comes to African seated arbitrations, African practitioners are underrepresented. The African Arbitration Association (AfAA) was set up as a combined vision of practitioners in the region to create a platform that would encourage and create more opportunities for greater representation of African…
On December 2018, the Prague Rules on the Efficient Conduct of Proceedings in International Arbitration (“Prague Rules”) were released. (For related posts on the Prague Rules on Kluwer Arbitration Blog click here, here, here, and here.) The Prague Rules aim to increase efficiency and reduce costs in arbitral proceedings. The project arose from a general…
The Public Policy Exception as an Unruly Horse There is an ongoing quest for a uniform application of the New York Convention. However, the interpretation of the exceptions to enforcement still varies. Albeit applying the same provisions, national courts continue to adopt different approaches to the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. This is particularly true…
