Arbitration

Applicable Law, Arbitral Tribunal, Arbitration, Arbitration Awards, Investment agreements, Investment Arbitration, Uncategorized

(University of Victoria Faculty of Law)/ /Leave a comment

At a conference a few years back, a well-known and respected arbitrator was speaking on the topic of predictability and consistency of arbitral decision making in investment treaty arbitration.  The arbitrator asked whether arbitrators should fly solo or in flocks.  He made a strong and persuasive case for the independence of the arbitrator, to fly…

Arbitration, Arbitration Awards, Arbitrators, Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), Uncategorized, United States

(Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP)/ /Leave a comment
WilmerHale

The U.S. Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) provides that a federal district court may vacate an arbitration award, among other reasons, “where there was evident partiality or corruption in the arbitrators.” 9 U.S.C. §10(a). However, as illustrated by a recently decided case in the Southern District of New York, U.S. district courts apply different standards of…

Arbitration, Asia-Pacific, UNCITRAL Model Law

(Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP)/ /Leave a comment

and Matthew Lee* Introduction Last Wednesday, the international arbitration community in Australia won a significant victory. Indeed, in TCL Air Conditioner (Zhongshan) Co Ltd v The Judges of the Federal Court of Australia [2013] HCA 5 (13 March 2013), S178/2012, the Australian High Court (“Court”) dismissed a challenge to the constitutionality of the International Arbitration…

Arbitration, ICC Arbitration

(Stockholm University)/ /1 Comment

The ICC Institute of World Business Law has launched the 2013 edition of the Institute Prize for dissertations and essays on international commercial law, including arbitration, for anyone under the age of 40. The Prize of 10,000 Euro is awarded by a jury consisting of members of the ICC Institute Council. Essays and doctoral dissertations…

Appointment of arbitrators, Arbitral Tribunal, Arbitration, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration Awards, Arbitration clause, Arbitration Proceedings, Arbitrators, Commercial Arbitration, Consumer contracts, Costs in arbitral proceedings, Discovery, Dispute Resolution, Dispute resolution clause, Efficiency, International arbitration, Mediation, Pre-arbitration Dispute Settlement Procedures, Uncategorized

(Pepperdine University School of Law)/ /1 Comment
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

A new study of dispute resolution practices in Fortune 1,000 corporations shows that many large companies are using binding arbitration less often and relying more on mediated negotiation and other approaches aimed at resolving disputes informally, quickly and inexpensively. The 2011 survey of corporate counsel developed by researchers at Cornell University’s Scheinman Institute on Conflict…

Arbitration, Arbitration Act, Domestic Courts, Domestic law, Enforcement, Europe, Evidence, Interim Orders

(Linklaters)/ /Leave a comment

The recent Portuguese Voluntary Arbitration Law, which has been in force since 14 March 2012, (English version available here), was received with great enthusiasm amongst the legal community, which claimed for a new arbitration law that could bring to Portugal a regulatory framework closer to the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration. The goal…

Africa, Arbitration, Arbitrators, Investment protection

(Lazareff Le Bars)/ /Leave a comment

Over the past decade, Africa has emerged as a leading center of economic growth. From mining and manufacturing, to banking and telecoms, nearly every industry is witnessing rapid expansion in Africa, driven by both African enterprises and businesses from around the world. Naturally, an increase in international commerce has resulted in an attendant increase in…

Arbitration, Competition Law, United Arab Emirates

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /1 Comment

The vexed question of the arbitrability vel non of competition law has now reached the shores of the United Arab Emirates. Readers will, of course, be aware that this question has been answered in the affirmative – and most will agree rightly so – in the world’s leading arbitration jurisdictions, in particular in Europe and…

Advocacy, Arbitration, Dispute Resolution, International Courts

(International Moot Court Competition Association (IMCCA))/ /1 Comment

and Stanka Cherkezova With the finals of the Philip C. Jessup and Willem C. Vis Moot approaching it is a good time to spend a few words on oral advocacy and persuasion which are indispensable to moot-courting and real life career as well. A judge from the International Court of Justice once said that he…

Arbitral seat, Arbitration, Enforcement, Uncategorized

(Herbert Smith Freehills LLP)/ /1 Comment
Herbert Smith Freehills

If the answer is London, Paris, Geneva, New York, Tokyo and Singapore, what is the question? International cities? Fashion hot spots? Location of Manchester United supporters’ clubs? It may well be the answer to all three questions (although I confess that I have not actually checked the Manchester United one), but they are also the…

Arbitration, Arbitration Agreements, Asia-Pacific, Dispute resolution clause, Enforcement of an arbitration clause, LCIA Arbitration, Singapore International Arbitration Centre

(Norton Rose Fulbright)/ /Leave a comment
YSIAC

In International Research Corp PLC v Lufthansa Systems Asia Pacific Pte Ltd [2012] SGHC 226 (per Chan Seng Onn J) (“International Research”), the Singapore High Court addressed the issue of whether an arbitration clause contained in one contract between two parties binds a third party who subsequently enters into a supplemental agreement with the original…

Arbitral Tribunal, Arbitration, Arbitration Awards, Arbitration Proceedings, Arbitrator Challenges, Arbitrators, arbitrators’ conduct, Confidentiality, Conflicts of interest, Costs, Costs in arbitral proceedings, Damages, Disclosure, Dispute Resolution, Enforcement, Investment

(University of Portsmouth)/ /1 Comment
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

As its Council Member I attended the ICC Institute of World Business Law’s 32nd annual meeting on ‘Third-Party Funding in International Arbitration’ held in Paris on 26 November 2012. It was a grand success as it drew many professionals, arbitrators, experts, academic specialists and, above all, representatives from some major third-party funding bodies such as…

Arbitration, Asia-Pacific, Domestic Courts, Domestic law, Enforcement, Set aside an arbitral award, Set aside an international arbitral award, Uncategorized

(Chapman Tripp)/ /2 Comments

Arbitration is underpinned by natural justice. Article 18 of the Model Law, enshrining the right of the parties to be treated with equality, and given a full opportunity to present their case, was described by UNCITRAL in 1985 as the “Magna Carta of Arbitral Procedure”. Yet the Model Law does not in Articles 34 and…

Arbitration, BIT, Damages, ICSID Convention, International arbitration, International Law, Latin America, Manifest disregard of the law

(New York Law School)/ /Leave a comment
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

By Tai-Heng Cheng* & Lucas Bento** Introduction On October 5th, 2012, a split ICSID tribunal determined that the Republic of Ecuador had breached the US-Ecuador bilateral investment treaty (“BIT”), and awarded damages of US$1.77 billion (US$2.3 billion with interest applied), reportedly the largest award ever to have been issued by an ICSID tribunal. This award…

Arbitration, Arbitration Awards, Arbitration clause, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, Commercial Arbitration, Corporate Counsel's view, Domestic law, English Law, Expedited arbitration, ICC Arbitration, ICSID Convention, International arbitration, Investment Arbitration, LCIA Arbitration, New York Convention

(Conway & Partners)/ /Leave a comment

There are many clients who are often engaged in industrious works that result in disputes. Typically, the applicable arbitral agreements requirement submitting claims to international arbitration and, in this author’s opinion, appropriately so. However, these same clients may also be subject to frequent claim assertions that lack any true merit. Despite this, there is not…

Arbitral seat, Arbitration, International arbitration, Middle East, New York Convention, Seat of the arbitration

(Mechantaf Law)/ /Leave a comment

On 14 October 2012, Justice David Williams of the DIFC Court of First Instance (Dubai International Financial Centre) applied a course correction by issuing a decision confirming the jurisdiction of the DIFC Courts to grant a stay in the presence of a valid arbitration agreement providing for a seat of arbitration outside the DIFC. Justice…

Arbitration, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, International arbitration, Latin America

(Linklaters)/ /1 Comment

A few months ago I wrote a post on this Blog about what I saw as “work left to do” in the Spanish arbitration system. I started with the need to build a regional court of arbitration on a par with those well-known centres in other jurisdictions, with the fundamental aim of taking advantage of…

Arbitration, Arbitration Agreements, Costs, Costs in arbitral proceedings, Enforcement

(Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP)/ /1 Comment
WilmerHale

In its important 2011 decision AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, the United States Supreme Court sharply limited the grounds on which a court may invalidate an arbitration agreement. A recent ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, In re Checking Account Overdraft Litigation MDL No. 2036, illustrates how lower courts are…

Arbitration, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration clause, Domestic Courts, Jurisdiction, Switzerland

(Editor in Chief, ASA Bulletin; LALIVE)/ /1 Comment

In a recently published decision dated 6 August 2012 (4A_119/2012), the Swiss Federal Supreme Court confirmed its own jurisprudence according to which state courts facing a jurisdictional defense based on an alleged arbitration agreement must not assess in full the validity of the arbitration agreement. In such cases, the state court must limit itself to a summary examination of whether or not a valid arbitration agreement exists.

Arbitration, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration clause, Brazil, Domestic law, English Law, International arbitration, Law governing the arbitration agreement, Seat of the arbitration, UNCITRAL Model Law

(McGill University Faculty of Law)/ /2 Comments
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

The English Court of Appeal’s recent decision in Sulamerica CIA Nacional De Seguros SA v Enesa Engenharia SA [2012] EWCA Civ 638, which is discussed in a recent post by Guy Pendell, underscores an important weakness in the international arbitration system’s legal framework. While everyone accepts that the arbitration agreement is the foundation of an…

Anti-arbitration, Appeal, Arbitration, Bias, Domestic Courts, Sport arbitration

(Private International Arbitration Law Clerk at The Honorable Charles N. Brower)/ /1 Comment

During a bitter battle with anti-doping authorities, international cycling champion Lance Armstrong publicly campaigned against the anti-doping arbitration process. Armstrong’s offensive provides insights into widespread misconceptions about arbitration. On 20 August 2012, a U.S. Federal District Court dismissed Armstrong’s petition to enjoin the U.S. Anti Doping Agency (USADA) from further pursuing allegations that he was part…

Arbitration, Arbitration Awards, Arbitration Proceedings, Commercial Arbitration, Domestic Courts, Russia

(Clifford Chance LLP)/ /1 Comment

and Julia Popelysheva, Clifford Chance LLP Introduction On 19 June 2012 the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitrazh Court of the Russian Federation (“SAC RF“) issued a decree (“Decree“) in case No. VAS-1831/12 in which it examined the validity of an optional jurisdictional clause. The full text of the Decree setting out the rationale for the…

Arbitration, Domestic Courts, Enforcement, Middle East, New York Convention, Public Policy, Review on the merits

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /Leave a comment

As explored in some detail in Part I of this blog post, recent UAE supervisory court case law has heralded a new era of enforcement of international awards in strict compliance with the 1958 New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Awards (the “New York Convention”). To recap, the Maxtel line of…

Arbitration, Arbitration clause, Arbitration Proceedings, Canada, Consumer contracts, Domestic Courts, Enforcement of an arbitration clause, Pro arbitration

(www.marcgold.ca)/ /1 Comment

In recent years, Canada has an enjoyed a reputation as an arbitration-friendly country. This is due to a number of factors, including the incorporation or adaptation of the Model Law into the arbitration legislation at the provincial and federal level, a sophisticated arbitration community well versed in both the common and civil law traditions, and,…