Arbitration

Applicable Law, Arbitration, Arbitration Proceedings, Arbitration Quiz, Arbitrators, Costs in arbitral proceedings, Expedited arbitration, Joinder, Jurisdiction, Mediation

(MDisputes)/ /Leave a comment

If you live or work somewhere in the northern half of the planet, odds are that at some point this summer you’ll find yourself on a beach, cityscape, mountain, or other scenic destination surrounded with children relaxedly drawing on their coloring pads, and grandparents working attentively at their crossword. What about those of us who…

Appeal, Arbitration, Due process, Efficiency, Qatar, Sport arbitration, Switzerland

(Perréard de Boccard)/ /Leave a comment

In a post dated March 2, 2011, I reported about a Swiss Supreme Court decision of February 20, 2009 where the Supreme Court had confirmed a CAS award which deemed an appeal withdrawn after the appellant had failed to pay the advance on costs. I indicated that I did not know what had happened to…

Anti-suit injunction, Arbitration, Arbitration Act, Commercial Arbitration, Enforcement of an arbitration clause, International arbitration, Jurisdiction

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

The Court of Appeal of England and Wales ruled last month that where parties have entered into an arbitration agreement, one party can obtain an anti-suit injunction to prevent the other party from initiating proceedings in a foreign court, even where no arbitration is underway or indeed even contemplated. In AES Ust-Kamenogorsk Hydropower Plant LLP…

Arbitration, Arbitration Act, Arbitration Proceedings, Middle East, Qatar

(The Center for American and International Law)/ /Leave a comment

There are two legal jurisdictions in Qatar with laws containing specific provisions related to arbitration: the State of Qatar and the Qatar Financial Center (the “QFC”). The latter is a separate jurisdiction with its own laws within the state. The QFC Law provides for the arbitration of commercial disputes in relation to contracts that have…

Annulment, Appointment of arbitrators, Arbitration, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, Arbitrators, arbitrators’ conduct, Bias, International arbitration

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White & Case

CIETAC’s Vice Chairman and Secretary General recently announced at a conference in London that CIETAC may soon permit parties to select arbitrators from outside the CIETAC list. As the CIETAC Rules currently allow parties to appoint off-list only if they have agreed to do so, this announcement suggests that CIETAC may in the future allow…

Arbitration, Commercial Arbitration, Supreme Court

(Allen & Overy LLP)/ /1 Comment

There was no shortage of coverage of the recent English Supreme Court case Jivraj v Hashwani, the case concerning whether an arbitration clause was contrary to anti-discrimination legislation applicable to employees. But there was one issue which received little attention before the Supreme Court – whether or not the nature of the relationship between the…

Anti-arbitration, Arbitration, Arbitration Awards, Arbitration Proceedings, Arbitrators, Commercial Arbitration

(MDisputes)/ /3 Comments

I write this post on a train on the way home from a seminar held by the Milan Chamber of Arbitration (CAM) to introduce a new rule and guidelines that could be seen as a necessary next step in the trend towards greater efficiency in arbitration. Before commenting on where these new developments might take…

Arbitration, Arbitration Act, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration Awards, Arbitration clause

(Debevoise & Plimpton LLP)/ /5 Comments
American Society of International Law (ASIL)

Costa Rica has a new Arbitration Law, which is based on the 2006 version of the UNCITRAL Model Law. The relative speed with which the new Arbitration Law was adopted came as a surprise to many. Only a few months ago, at the Second International Arbitration Congress organized by the ICC Costa Rica in San…

Arbitration, Arbitration Proceedings, Arbitrators, Bias, Efficiency

(Astigarraga Davis)/ /Leave a comment

In the current zeitgeist focusing on the need for efficiency and speed in arbitration, we are at risk of over-correcting to the point of diminishing important functions of the arbitral process. There is little doubt that the arbitral process generally has become too much like litigation, and needs to be more efficient and less costly….

Arbitral seat, Arbitration, Arbitration Act, Asia-Pacific, Confidentiality, Enforcement, International arbitration, kompetenz-kompetenz, Mediation, National Arbitration Laws, New York Convention, Seat of the arbitration, UNCITRAL Model Law

(Herbert Smith Freehills)/ /Leave a comment
Herbert Smith Freehills

The new Hong Kong Arbitration Ordinance (Cap. 609) (the “Ordinance”) comes into effect today, having been approved by the Hong Kong Legislative Council at the end of last year. The Ordinance represents the culmination of many years of discussion and consultation and marks a significant milestone in the development of Hong Kong as a world-class…

Actual expenditure, Arbitration, Damages, Damages experts, Expert evidence

(FTI Forensic and Litigation Consulting)/ /Leave a comment

“…there are known knowns; these are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don’t know we don’t know” Former US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. One of…

Appeal, Appointment of arbitrators, Arbitration, Arbitration Agreements, Arbitration clause, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitrators, Commercial Arbitration, Dispute resolution clause, Domestic Courts, Enforcement of an arbitration clause, English Law, ICC Arbitration, Nationality requirement in arbitration clauses, Supreme Court

(White & Case LLP)/ /2 Comments
White & Case

One of the key issues that now awaits the decision of the U.K. Supreme Court in Jivraj v. Hashwani is whether there is a contract between the parties and the arbitrators, such that the arbitrators may be considered “employees” of the parties (and thereby subject to the law prohibiting discrimination by employers)? If there is…

Arbitration, Jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal, Pre-arbitral procedure, Set aside an arbitral award, Supreme Court, Switzerland

(Editor in Chief, ASA Bulletin; LALIVE)/ /Leave a comment

In a recent decision, the Swiss Supreme Court examined whether contractual provisions contemplating certain procedural steps before initiating arbitration proceedings impacted the jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal (Case no. 4A_46/2011 of 16 May 2011, to be published in ASA Bulletin, 2011. English translation to be published in Swiss International Arbitration Law Reports, 2011). The contract,…

Appeal, Arbitration, Principle of finality, Review on the merits

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

On 27 April 2011, the US Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision (AT&T Mobility LLC v Concepcion (563 US ____ (2011) 17)), concluded that due to the principle of finality, arbitration would be “poorly suited” to cases where the stakes are particularly high (class actions in the instant case). The US Supreme Court added: “[w]e…

Anti-arbitration, Arbitration, Arbitration clause, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, ICC Arbitration, Joinder

(MDisputes)/ /1 Comment

Conferences on arbitration frequently include a session on “drafting” dispute resolution clauses for international contracts. The term drafting is also included in the title of many articles, book chapters, and entire books. While the actual content that follows this topic heading is often helpful, especially for non-specialist in-house counsel and transactions lawyers, the term itself…

Arbitration, International arbitration

(J. Sagar Associates)/ /2 Comments

Such a makeover will certainly not be achieved in sixty minutes. Sixty days will not nearly be enough. One would not, however, have to be too audacious to hope that India can reinvent itself as an arbitration-friendly part of the world in sixty months. From its early years as a newly independent, fledgling democracy, India…

Arbitration, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Middle East

(Conway & Partners)/ /4 Comments

January 28, 2011 – violent protests rocked Egypt; February 2, 2011 – political anxiety and ongoing unrest in Egypt threaten to shake other economies; February 11, 2011 – Mubarak resigned. March 22, 2011 – fire at Egypt interior ministry; April 17, 2011 – ex-ministers to be tried. Recently, a significant amount of unrest has occurred…

Arbitration, Costs, Europe, Switzerland

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

According to the rules governing domestic arbitration (Art 30 of the Concordat on Arbitration, and, as of 1 January 2011, Art. 378 of the Swiss Federal Code on Civil Procedure), a party that does not pay its share of the advance on the arbitration costs requested by the arbitral tribunal risks to lose the benefit…

Arbitration, Arbitrators

(Conway & Partners)/ /2 Comments

It is interesting to see what can happen sometimes during an oral hearing for an arbitral proceeding. I have noted from my esteemed colleagues that they have witnessed a very interesting phenomenon – watch the arbitrators – can you tell who appointed whom? Should you be able to? Having worked for most of my career…

Arbitral seat, Arbitration, Arbitration Institutions and Rules

(Herbert Smith Freehills)/ /Leave a comment
Herbert Smith Freehills

The aftermath of the Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy saw more than 20,000 retail investors in Hong Kong suffer losses from investments in structured products. This gave rise to political pressure on the Hong Kong Government to review its financial regulatory system and to step up its investor protection mechanisms. As one of the key outcomes of…

Arbitration

(Taylor Wessing)/ /2 Comments
YIAG

The 1981 French Arbitration Law did not contain a provision covering the form or the proof of an international arbitration agreement. The former Article 1499 of the Code of Civil Procedure (“CCP”) indirectly addressed the issue of form by stipulating, in the context of the recognition and enforcement of awards, that the existence of an…

Arbitration, Europe, Sanctions, Switzerland

(Editor in Chief, ASA Bulletin; LALIVE)/ /2 Comments

Introduction: Many international commercial contracts (such as e.g., construction, distribution, sale and purchase) are governed by Swiss (substantive) law as per a choice of law provision. Often the choice of law is made in combination with an arbitration clause referring disputes to arbitration in Switzerland. The effect of international sanctions on commercial contracts has become…

Arbitration, Arbitration Act, Canada, Consumer contracts, Enforcement of an arbitration clause, North America

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

Anyone considering Canada as the seat of an arbitration or as one among several jurisdictions where recognition and enforcement proceedings could be commenced should pay close attention to the Supreme Court of Canada’s March 18 decision in Seidel v. TELUS Communications Inc., 2011 SCC 15, which appears to mark a philosophical shift in Canadian arbitration…