Jurisdiction

Asia-Pacific, Public Policy, Set aside an international arbitral award, Settlement

(Norton Rose Fulbright)/ /Leave a comment
YSIAC

At the Herbert Smith Singapore Management University Asian Arbitration Lecture delivered by Michael Hwang SC on 4 August 2011, Hwang SC discussed incisively issues concerning the enforcement of arbitral awards concerning contracts allegedly tainted by corruption. Less than three weeks after that seminal lecture, the Singapore Court of Appeal in AJU v AJT [2011] SGCA…

Arbitration, Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), North America, Supreme Court, United States

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

In February 2011, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in Stok & Associates, P.A., v. Citibank, N.A, (No. 10-514). The question presented was whether, under the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”), a party should be “required to demonstrate prejudice after the opposing party waived its contractual right to arbitrate by participating in litigation, in order…

Dispute Resolution, Middle East, Saudi Arabia

(The Center for American and International Law)/ /1 Comment

Jerome Martin, Senior Associate at law firm Clyde & Co talks to Dubai Eye’s Business Breakfast radio show about Dispute Resolution in Saudi Arabia. I am posting this note and the link to listen to the podcast in full the for the benefit of our readers. “What chances you have if it all goes wrong…

Arbitration, Arbitration Awards, Asia-Pacific, Enforcement, New York Convention, Set aside an arbitral award

(Norton Rose Fulbright)/ /Leave a comment
YSIAC

In Galsworthy Ltd of the Republic of Liberia v Glory of Wealth Shipping Pte Ltd [2010] SGHC 304 (“Galsworthy”), the Singapore High Court held that a losing party to an arbitration seeking to challenge an arbitral award had the “alternative and not cumulative options” of applying to set aside the award, or, applying to set…

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

(MDisputes)/ /Leave a comment

Last week’s summer quiz on international arbitration and mediation provoked a happy flurry of answers from around the world from a broad range of practitioners. Before we get to the answers, here are some interesting observations from the empirical data that we unintentionally gathered. Conclusive Empirical Data about International Arbitration and Mediation Practitioners (“Practitioners”) As…

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…

Arbitration Proceedings, Commercial Arbitration, Domestic Courts, North America

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

On March 22, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held in Bechtel do Brasil Construções Ltda. v. UEG Araucária Ltda., 638 F.3d 150, that the question whether a claim subject to arbitration was time-barred was for the arbitrator, not the district court, to decide, notwithstanding a New York state law that…

Class arbitration, Supreme Court, United States

(Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP)/ /4 Comments
WilmerHale

This post addresses the U.S. Supreme Court’s misadventures with class arbitration over the past decade. Those misadventures have resulted in striking confusion and waste of resources by litigants, courts and arbitral institutions. More broadly, the Court’s conflicting and often ill-considered decisions on the subject now threaten to undermine U.S. arbitration law more generally – turning…

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…

Arbitral seat, Crown Immunity, Dispute resolution clause, Jurisdiction, Jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal, Seat of the arbitration, Sovereign Immunity

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

In a landmark provisional judgment in Democratic Republic of the Congo v. FG Hemisphere Associates FACV Nos. 5, 6 & 7 of 2010, the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal (CFA) has held by a majority of 3:2 that absolute sovereign immunity applies in Hong Kong, with no exception for purely commercial transactions or assets….

Appointment of arbitrators, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, BIT, ICSID Convention, Investment Arbitration, Venezuela

(University of Victoria Faculty of Law)/ /1 Comment

The four most recent ICSID disqualification decisions (Universal Compression v. Venezuela, OPIC Karimum v. Venezuela, Tidewater v. Venezuela and Urbaser v. Argentina) have unanimously rejected applications to disqualify arbitrators on ICSID tribunals.  This post addresses an issue raised in three of the most recent decisions—disqualification based on repeat appointments by the same party or counsel—and…

Trade, Trans-Pacific Partnership, United States

(University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law)/ /Leave a comment
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

The seventh round of TPP negotiations will take place in Vietnam the week of June 20 but caution on the part of U.S. negotiators makes it highly unlikely that after fifteen months of ongoing negotiations any of the major issues will be resolved or even fully opened to discussion. In particular, the United States Trade…

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…

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,…

Asia-Pacific

(Norton Rose Fulbright)/ /Leave a comment
YSIAC

The Singapore Court of Appeal issued a decision recently articulating a principled framework for the arbitrability of insolvency-related claims. It provides useful guidance on when an insolvency-related claim would be considered non-arbitrable under Singapore law. In seeking to strike the delicate balance between its robust pro-arbitration stance and its insolvency regime, the Court’s underlying philosophy…

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…

International arbitration, New York Convention, North America, United States

(Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP)/ /3 Comments
WilmerHale

The recent decision of the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division (an intermediate state appellate court) in Sojitz Corp. v. Prithvi Information Solutions Ltd., 2011 N.Y. Slip Op. 1741; 2011 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 1709, bolsters New York’s reputation as a jurisdiction friendly to international arbitration. In this case, which involved two non-U.S. parties in…

Arbitration Proceedings, Commercial Arbitration, Jurisdiction, National Arbitration Laws

(von Segesser Law Offices)/ /1 Comment

According to article 7 of the Swiss Private International Law (PILA), if the parties have entered into an arbitration agreement, the Swiss Court before which the action is brought shall decline its jurisdiction unless it finds that the agreement is null and void, inoperative or incapable of being performed. An initiative to amend article 7…

Inter-American Conventions, International arbitration, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, South America

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

On 11 March 2011, the UNASUR treaty entered into force. UNASUR (the Union of South American Nations) is a regional organisation that comprises all twelve South American countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela. The entry into force of the treaty is an important development for the international arbitration community given some of the proposals that UNASUR is advancing, particularly in the field of investor-State arbitration.