The Bar Council of India (“BCI”) recently notified (i.e. entered into effect) the Bar Council of India Rules for Registration and Regulation of Foreign Lawyers or Foreign Law Firms in India, 2022 (“Rules”). It is a pivotal moment for the Indian legal industry as it signals the transformative change allowing the entry of foreign law…
Columbia Arbitration Day (CAD), held on April 14, 2023, enjoyed record attendance levels this year and was held in the historic Low Memorial Library, a fitting venue for the first in-person CAD since before the COVID-19 pandemic. The Judiciary in International Arbitration Proceedings The morning began with a panel moderated by Professor Alejandro Garro…
The UAE acceded to the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Award 1958 (“NYC”) in 2006 by virtue of Federal Decree No. 43 of 2006. In recent years, the approach taken by the onshore UAE courts towards the enforcement and recognition of awards under the NYC, including the challenges of…
In recent years, there has been a drive in the international arbitration community to further diversify the pool of professionals who work in international arbitration (arbitrators and counsel alike). Most recently, this has taken form in the publication of gender diversity statistics (see, e.g., the ICC’s dispute resolution statistics 2020 or the ICCA’s 2022 Gender…
In recent years, international investment law and the investor-state dispute settlement (‘ISDS’) system have arguably reached their melting point, with an increasing number of participants having diverging interests and perspectives. Many of these issues have come to the surface through the discussions ongoing at UNCITRAL Working Group III. In this context, the experiences of the…
On March 7, 2023, the virtual conference organized by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), as well as the Latin American Arbitration Association (ALARB) titled “Dispute Resolution in the Digital Economy” took place, within the context of UNCITRAL’s Working Group II works on dispute resolution and digital economy. During this conference, arbitration…
The energy sector has long been one of the major users of international arbitration, and the field has always been a fertile ground for disputes, whether they be price reviews, construction claims, sale and delivery disagreements or disputes over the decommissioning of assets. This has certainly been the case in recent years, including for arbitrations…
In recent decades, third-party funding in arbitration and litigation has grown exponentially in many jurisdictions and has become a matter of continuing debate in academia and practice. (See, for example, here and here for previous blog posts.) Currently, People’s Republic of China (“PRC” or “China”) legislation does not prohibit third-party funding, but it fails to…
Although the COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted almost everywhere and in-person events have returned to full swing, Kyiv Arbitration Days 2022 (KAD), the most famous Ukrainian arbitration event, was still held online. The title of the conference – “After the war: The legal battles” – speaks for itself. While the war is still ongoing and…
Typically, when a country is labelled as an “arbitration-friendly jurisdiction”, contracting parties are assured that the Judiciary of that country will respect their autonomy and choice to resolve their disputes privately. Usually, courts in a pro-arbitration jurisdictions will likely adopt a hands-off approach and decline to interfere with the outcome of a decision to arbitrate….
On 3 February 2023, Colombia and Venezuela entered into an Agreement for the Reciprocal Promotion and Protection of Investments (“Treaty”), with the objective of “incrementing the flow of transborder direct investment.” Both states are still to complete the ratification procedure for the Treaty to enter into force. This is an interesting development, especially considering the…
This post addresses the recognition and enforcement of foreign awards in Colombia and summarizes two important cases decided in 2022 by the Civil Chamber of the Colombian Supreme Court of Justice (“Court”) on the matter. These cases illustrate the process of analysis undertaken by the Court to decide requests for recognition and enforcement of foreign…
In an important decision upholding the finality of awards and party autonomy in international commercial arbitration, a divided three-member panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit recently held in Compañía de Inversiones Mercantiles SA v. Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua SAB de CV (58 F.4th 429 (10th Cir. 2023)) that recognition of…
The issue of the governing law of the arbitration agreement was brought into the spotlight with the U.K. Supreme Court decision in Enka v. Chubb (discussed on the Blog here and here), and it became a hotly debated topic following the conflicting decisions from French and English courts on Kabab-Ji SAL (Lebanon) v. Kout Food…
The first-ever Delhi Arbitration Weekend (DAW) was held between February 16-19, 2023 and attracted a sizable number of participants including delegates from 14 countries. The DAW, which was conceptualized by the Delhi High Court and the Delhi International Arbitration Centre, also attracted the participation of senior members of the judiciary and government alike, including the…
On 9 March 2023, the International Chamber of Commerce (“ICC”), the National Committee (“ICC Brasil”) and the ICC Court of Arbitration (“ICC Court”) held the 11th ICC Brazilian Arbitration Day (“ICC BAD” or “Conference”) in São Paulo. This Conference has been organized since 2015, aiming at enhancing practical and theoretical discussions on trend topics related…
Under the UNCITRAL Model Law and the laws of many ‘arbitration friendly’ jurisdictions, courts must refer a matter subject to a valid and operative arbitration agreement to arbitration if requested by a party within the relevant time period. The principle of kompetenz-kompetenz prescribes that an arbitral tribunal may determine its own jurisdiction (which necessarily includes…
In 2022, Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre’s (HKIAC) arbitration caseload reached its highest level in over a decade. The statistics demonstrate the steady strength of Hong Kong (“HK”) as a seat for arbitration. As the global economy turns towards Asia, increased commercial and investment activity will lead to increased disputes and demand for effective dispute…
Since 2020 insolvency activity in Spain slowed down because of the moratorium declared by the Spanish government in the wake of Covid-19, under which the obligation to file for insolvency was suspended until 30 June 2022. Perhaps unsurprisingly, official statistics for the third quarter of 2022 showed a dramatic increase in the insolvency declarations within…
Giorgio Sassine is an Associate in the Los Angeles office of Musick, Peeler & Garrett, where he is a member of the International Arbitration and Litigation and Construction Practice Groups. He has extensive experience in complex, high-value international and domestic disputes. He is also an active member of the California arbitration community, serving as a…
On 15 March 2023, as part of California International Arbitration Week, California Arbitration and California Lawyers Association ADR Subcommittee organized an interactive event titled ‘Opportunities and New Trends in the US to Asia-Pacific Practice,’ hosted by King & Spalding. The session was moderated by Cedric Chao (Principal, Chao ADR, PC), and featured as speakers Gloria…
As part of the second annual California International Arbitration Week, KCAB and LimNexus hosted an expert panel on the arbitration of international patent disputes. This post presents some highlights from the panel. The panel was moderated by Steve Kim who currently serves as Secretary-General of KCAB International and included as speakers Conna Weiner (Arbitrator &…
The second annual California International Arbitration Week took place in Los Angeles from March 13 to 17, 2023 with a weeklong series of free in-person and hybrid programs focused on innovation in international arbitration and alternative dispute resolution in California. The Silicon Valley Arbitration & Mediation Center and White & Case jointly presented one of…
On February 24, 2023, the Latvian Constitutional Court issued a long-awaited Judgement in case 2022-03-01 confirming that the current control mechanism over arbitration in Latvia is incomplete and unconstitutional. This means that the government will now be required to introduce a procedure for setting aside arbitral awards made by tribunals seated in Latvia. Background…
