Hearings

Australia, Hearings, Investor-State arbitration, ISDS, ISDS Reform, PCA, Permanent Court of Arbitration, Transparency, Transparency in investment arbitrations

(University of Sydney & Williams Trade Law)/ /Leave a comment

On 4 August 2023, in an investor-State dispute settlement (“ISDS) arbitration commenced against Australia on 29 March 2023 under the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (“ASEAN”) Australia New Zealand Agreement for a Free Trade Area (“AANZFTA”), Singapore-incorporated Zeph filed an application for interim measures including an unusual request. Zeph sought an order that Australia’s “officers…

Case Management, Hearings, Interviews with Our Editors, Singapore, Virtual Case Administration, Virtual hearings

(Peter & Kim)/ /Leave a comment

Ban Jiun Ean is the Chief Executive of Maxwell Chambers, the world’s first integrated dispute resolution center in the heart of Singapore. Maxwell Chambers assembled arbitral institutions, service providers, and legal practitioners under the same roof, making the Chamber a one-stop shop for customers in a facility equipped with best-in-class hearing facilities and state-of-the-art supporting…

Arbitration, Hearings, Moot Courts

(MacGrath Arbitration)/ /Leave a comment

Mock arbitrations are an excellent way for clients and counsel to refine their hearing presentation and prepare witnesses to testify so the key arguments, evidence and themes resonate with the tribunal. Having served as both mock arbitrator and counsel in mock arbitrations, I have seen first-hand the positive impact that mock arbitrations can have on…

Arbitration, Hearing protocol, Hearings, Remote hearings

(Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP), (Fountain Court Chambers), and (Delos Dispute Resolution, Virjee Arbitration)/ /Leave a comment

In June 2020, we ran a survey of users’ experiences with remote hearings.  Our preliminary findings, which we published in International Arbitration and the COVID-19 Revolution (edited by Maxi Scherer, Niuscha Bassiri, Mohamed S. Abdel Wahab) showed that over ten times more fully remote hearings appeared to have taken place on an annualised basis in…

Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Hearings, Queen Mary- White & Case Survey, Surveys

, (White & Case)/ /2 Comments

The results of the 2021 QMUL-White & Case International Arbitration Survey were launched on 6 May 2021. The survey explores the theme of “Adapting Arbitration to a Changing World”: how international arbitration has adapted to changing demands and circumstances including the COVID-19 pandemic, and opportunities for the international arbitration community to adapt more and better….

COVID-19, Due process, Enforcement, Hearings, India, Virtual hearings, Witness

/ /Leave a comment
Young ICCA

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, virtual witness testimonies were prevalent in specific instances, such as when witnesses could not reach the venue because of illness. Article 8.1 of IBA Rules on Taking of Evidence in International Arbitration permits virtual testimony only at the discretion of the tribunal. The Commentary on the Rules establishes that the tribunal’s…

Austria, COVID-19, Due process, Hearings

(WilmerHale & Queen Mary University of London) and , , (WilmerHale)/ /4 Comments

On 23 July 2020, the Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) rendered a decision examining whether conducting an arbitration hearing by videoconference over the objection of a party may violate due process (Case No. 18 ONc 3/20s). To the authors’ knowledge, this decision, rendered in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, is the first national supreme court’s…

COVID-19, Hearings, Opening Statements, Witness

(WilmerHale & Queen Mary University of London)/ /1 Comment

Once one gets past the fact that the word “asynchronous” is impossible to pronounce or spell, it is an interesting concept, including for international arbitration. The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as “not existing or occurring at the same time, not coinciding in time.” If you think about TV shows, for instance, some are broadcast…

Conference, COVID-19, Hearings, Virtual hearings

(Reed Smith LLP)/ /Leave a comment
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

In normal times, the 32nd Annual ITA Workshop and Annual Meeting would have been an in-person summer event held in Austin, Texas. In this brave new world, the Workshop was completely reimagined to be held virtually via Zoom on 17 – 19 June 2020. Introduced by Joseph E. Neuhaus (ITA Chair, Sullivan & Cromwell), and…

COVID-19, Hearing protocol, Hearings, Videoconferencing, Virtual hearings

(Kirkland & Ellis)/ /Leave a comment

Virtual hearings are not a new idea. The arbitration community only started to seriously discuss the benefits and the logistics of having virtual hearings in lieu of physical hearings when the world was put on pause by COVID-19 in around February 2020. It is not easy to organize a virtual hearing, let alone all the…

COVID-19, Hearings, New York Convention, Procedural Fairness, Videoconferencing, Virtual hearings

(Kim & Chang) and (Nishimura & Asahi)/ /Leave a comment

Conducting all or parts of a hearing in the form of a virtual hearing has become a daily reality for many arbitrators, parties, and witnesses as the COVID pandemic continues to disrupt the legal practice. But as countries gradually ease out of lockdown and find their way into a “new” normal, it may be worth…

Hearings, Videoconferencing, Virtual hearings

(Africa Arbitration Academy )/ /1 Comment

In response to a query “whether an arbitral tribunal can order virtual proceedings where any of the parties to the arbitration does not consent?” posed during the drafting of the Africa Arbitration Academy Protocol on Virtual Arbitral Hearings in Africa, Professor Mohamed Abdel Wahab has now published a 6-point pathway (“Abdel Wahab’s Pathway”) that may…

Evidence, Expert evidence, Experts, Hearings, Technology

, , (StoneTurn)/ /Leave a comment

In today’s busy and increasingly digitized world, pictures are the new words. The average human attention span has grown shorter and become more selective. In every facet of society, from the consumer landscape to business meetings, visual storytelling has emerged as key to delivering captivating content that commands a person’s undivided attention. This trend can…

Arbitration, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, Construction, Construction arbitration, Dispute Resolution, Document Production, Expert evidence, Hearings, IBA, IBA Rules of Evidence, International arbitration, Prague Rules

(Hogan Lovells)/ /Leave a comment

The main concerns of parties when considering arbitration are the costs and length of arbitration proceedings (see, e.g., Queen Mary University of London 2018 International Arbitration Survey). The popularity of arbitration as a method of resolving construction disputes thus depends largely on whether costs can be reduced and efficiency maintained. This is particularly the case…

CIArb, Evidence, Hearings, Witness

, (Fangda Partners)/ /Leave a comment

On Tuesday 22 April 2019, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (Singapore) issued their Guidelines for Witness Conferencing in International Arbitration (the “Guidelines”),1) Guidelines to be soon made available. See here the latest draft. providing tribunals, witnesses and parties with guidance in the conduct of witness conferencing.   Witness Conferencing Witness conferencing is the process by…

Evidence, Hearings, Teaching Session

(University of Cologne, Center for Transnational Law (CENTRAL)), (Bracewell LLP), (20 Essex Street and Queen Mary University of London), (MDisputes), and (JAMS International)/ /2 Comments

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…

Arbitration, Hearings, Settlement, Statistics

(Illustrategy, LLC and University of South Carolina Beaufort) and , (Dispute Resolution Data, LLC)/ /Leave a comment

In this continuing series of blog posts, we have been using Dispute Resolution Data (DRD)’s growing repository of international arbitration case data to analyze the extent to which such cases reach various outcomes, whether it be an award being rendered, administrative closure, dismissal, impasse, or settlement/withdrawal (which we treat as a single, distinct outcome). Our…

Arbitration Proceedings, Evidence, Hearings, Post-hearing brief

, (Schoenherr)/ /Leave a comment
Schoenherr

Following up on Efficient Arbitration – Part 2: Launching an Efficient Arbitration, where we addressed efficiency tools available at the early stages, we now provide an overview of options to save time and costs up until the award. As we continue our efficiency series, we will zone in on a selection of efficiency tools and…

Hearings, Investment Arbitration, Supreme Court, Transparency, Transparency in investment arbitrations

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

[I]t is not merely of some importance but is of fundamental importance that justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done.1) R v Sussex Justices, ex parte McCarthy [1924] 1 KB 256, 259 (Lord Hewart C.J.) If you sought to distil [the connection between ISDS’s transparency and…

Arbitral Tribunal, Hearings, Investment Arbitration, New York Convention, Trans-Pacific Partnership, Transparency in investment arbitrations

(Trinity College Dublin, School of Law)/ /2 Comments

by Sonja Heppner, Trinity College Dublin, School of Law The text of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (‘TPP’) as agreed upon between the United States and Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam on 5 October 2015 provides for public arbitral hearings. The approach taken by the prospective signatories of…

Hearings, Investment Arbitration, NAFTA, Non-Disputing NAFTA Parties

(Wayne State University)/ /Leave a comment
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

Procedural orders rarely become the subject of blog posts, much less the impetus for concerted action among states anxious to control the strategic space on which investment treaty arbitrations unfold. However, a series of orders in Detroit International Bridge Company v. Canada generated controversy when the tribunal steadfastly excluded representatives of the United States from…

Annulment, Arbitral Tribunal, Hearings, LCIA Arbitration, Witness

(Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP)/ /Leave a comment
Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP

An English court recently ruled on important questions relating to arbitration due process. In Interprods Ltd v De La Rue International Ltd, [2014] EWHC 68 (Comm), the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court dismissed an application to annul an arbitral award rendered by a sole arbitrator sitting in London. The circumstances that gave rise…

Hearings, International arbitration

(Investment Arbitration Reporter)/ /1 Comment

I spent some time earlier this month covering the Chevron-Ecuador hearings that took place in the Federal District Court in New York City. Much has been written about the outcome of those proceedings – and the denial of a request by Ecuador for an injunction against a bilateral investment treaty arbitration started some months ago…