Firms will often write that for effective representation it is best to engage law firms at an early stage in the dispute process. Whilst there may be some merit in this, it may not necessarily be entirely true. It is evident that in-house roles are not what they were initially thought to be. In house…
In the middle of uncertainty over the economic implications of a European Union without Britain and against a continuing rise in the popularity of arbitration as an avenue for redress by corporate investors, a round-table discussion at a chambers on third-party funding of disputes on Tuesday 12 July 2017 could not have come at a…
The Hong Kong Legislative Council (LegCo) recently adopted a new law permitting the third party funding of arbitration. This comes as a welcome development, bringing Hong Kong into line with other common law jurisdictions and ensuring that it keeps pace with its international rivals. It also strengthens the position of the Hong Kong International Arbitration…
So called “emergency arbitration” is raising considerable interest among international arbitration practitioners, as the importance of this tool aimed at protecting the parties’ rights either during the period between the filing of an arbitration request and the constitution of the arbitral tribunal or in the course of the proceedings, before the award is rendered, is…
In June 2014, at the ITA Workshop in Dallas, I heard a passionate woman presenting her mission of increasing fairness, transparency, accountability, and diversity in the arbitrator selection process, and how she intended to do this. “I want to support this” is what I thought. Roger Alford was so kind to introduce me to this…
Who Should Regulate the International Bar? The regulation of professional ethics of the international bar is among the most hotly debated issues in international arbitration (inter-state, investor-state, and commercial). It reflects the regulatory gap that has developed as proceedings before international courts and tribunals have proliferated and counsel diversified. Addressing this issue is crucial, as…
On May 30, 2017, Volterra Fietta and the University of Notre Dame hosted a debate of whether foreign investors can sue the United Kingdom for a hard Brexit. The recorded video is now available for viewing. Markus Burgstaller and I presented the case that foreign investors may have viable claims against the UK, while Jeremy…
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…
1. I have written elsewhere about the uncertainty that the Portuguese courts have experienced in defining the “international public policy” of the Portuguese State and, more specifically, in finding in some particular cases that there was a situation amounting to a violation of that standard for the purposes of annulment of (or refusal to recognise)…
In April 2010, Professor Jan Paulsson delivered his inaugural lecture as holder of the Michael R. Klein Distinguished Scholar Chair at the University of Miami School of Law where he expressed the view that the practice of unilateral appointments (or nominations) of arbitrators is a moral hazard which should be removed. This lecture sparked debate…
On Thursday, the arbitral tribunal in Croatia/Slovenia rendered a final award on the merits of the dispute despite what a previous post on this blog called “severe breaches of duty of confidentiality and impartiality” during the arbitral proceedings. In commercial and investment arbitration, where procedural irregularities arise, either party can seek annulment of the award…
The analysis of Ukrainian court practice enables us to share our thoughts on trends regarding the recognition and enforcement of GAFTA/FOSFA awards in Ukraine, and to provide tips that may help to enforce this type of awards in the future. Seven Trends on the Recognition and Enforcement of GAFTA/FOSFA Awards in Ukraine 1. Ukrainian courts…
SCC was one of the first institutions to provide for emergency arbitrator proceedings in its rules. In 2010, the new Appendix II was added to the SCC Arbitration Rules and the Rules for Expedited Arbitrations (“SCC Rules”), allowing a party in need of prompt interim relief to receive a decision from an emergency arbitrator where…
Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S. today announced its collaboration with Arbitrator Intelligence (AI) to improve resources available to the arbitration community and bring more transparency to the arbitration process. Through this collaboration, Wolters Kluwer will provide AI’s Arbitrator Intelligence reports on Kluwer Arbitration, making highly valuable data widely available and providing users with important…
In a judgment dated 8 June 2017, the Hong Kong Court of First Instance (the “Court”) rejected an assertion of Crown immunity by China National Coal Group Corporation (“China Coal”) (a PRC state-owned enterprise (“SOE”)) and granted a charging order against the shares it held in a Hong Kong company, China Coal Hong Kong Limited…
I. Introduction A deposition is a “witness’s sworn out-of-court testimony” (Legal Information Institute “Wex, Deposition”). In U.S.-based litigation, a deposition is available as part of the discovery procedure. In the United States, a deposition is also available in arbitration. Arbitral tribunals seated in the United States may order a deposition of a witness if s/he…
The Twenty-eighth ITF Public Conference on Economic Crime and International Investment Law, hosted by the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL) on 22 May 2017, attracted 13 distinguished speakers and more than 100 participants for a day discussion on the issues of economic crime in investor-state arbitration. The conference provided a forum for…
Quantum experts often rely on the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) approach to assess losses. The DCF approach is one of the most widely-used and accepted valuation methods, thanks in large part to its flexibility and the fact that it can be tailored to accommodate a wide array of assumptions. The DCF approach is a method…
When one talks with practitioners about the use of economics in the context of International Arbitrations, the conversation basically focuses on damages determination and what methodologies to use to determine amount of harm. Very often the discussion becomes dry and both sides end up being frustrated. No doubt discussions around discount rates or valuation methodologies,…
The numbers are in, and they are encouraging. In the past decade, female arbitrator appointments have more than tripled. Last year alone, arbitral institutions appointed a third more female arbitrators than the year before. Driving this trend is the Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge (the “Pledge”), a global initiative addressing the gender imbalance in arbitration….
My previous blog post on this topic dealt with two issues stemming from the juxtaposition between the current arbitration legal framework and necessary due process requirements which are specifically developed for antitrust damages proceedings: (1) the necessary regulation of complex arbitration specifically designed for antitrust damages matters, and (2) the need to address information asymmetry…
After several years in the planning, one year in the making, and many months in the testing, Arbitrator Intelligence (AI) will on 1 June 2017 launch its AI Questionnaire or “AIQ.” The formal unveiling will occur in Singapore at an event hosted by the Drew & Napier law firm, supported by the Singapore International Arbitration…
One of the most significant changes that the new Russian Arbitration Law introduced, which has been in force for past eight months, relates to the requirement of Governmental authorization for establishing an arbitral institution (more discussion on this can be found in some of previous KAB posts available here, here, here). In particular, the Russian…
On March 9, 2017, a three-person ICSID Tribunal rendered an Award in Ansung Housing Co., Ltd. v. People’s Republic of China. The case marks the second time where China appears as a Respondent before an ICSID tribunal. The first case was brought by a Malaysian company in May 2011, but that case was discontinued on…
