2018 In Review, Enforcement, Enforcement of an arbitration clause, Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), New York, New York Convention, New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, SCOTUS, technology industry, U.S. Supreme Court, United States, USA, USMCA

(Law Offices of Kiran N Gore PLLC; The George Washington University Law School)/ /Leave a comment

As we head into the new year, it is worth reflecting on major international arbitration-related developments in the United States during 2018 and their coverage on the blog.   Early in the year, our authors homed in on the U.S. Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), which embodies U.S. arbitration law, including the New York Convention.  As…

Arbitrator Intelligence, Arbitrators, Counsel, Diversity

(Nanni Advogados)/ /Leave a comment
Young ITA

The Young ITA, Arbitrator Intelligence and Pinheiro Neto Advogados joined forces to promote an edition of #YOUNGITATALKS São Paulo during the São Paulo Arbitration Week (“SPAW”) on October 24, 2018 at Pinheiro Neto Advogados’ head office.   Júlio Bueno, of Pinheiro Neto Advogados, Thiago Zanelato, of Pinheiro Neto Advogados and ambassador of Arbitrator intelligence –…

Arbitration, Arbitration Agreements, Domestic Courts, ICC, ICC Arbitration, ICC Rules, Kuwait, Third party funding, UNCITRAL, UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, UNCITRAL Model Law

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On 6 November 2018, the ICC, in collaboration with Al Tamimi & Company, hosted the first Kuwait Arbitration Day. This involved practitioners from across the Middle East and beyond coming together and discussing the latest developments and trends within arbitration. The event attracted over 100 participants who attended despite the day being announced as an…

Arbitration institution, Efficiency, ISDS, ISDS Reform, KCAB, South Korea

(Kim & Chang)/ /Leave a comment

Last month, Seoul was once again brimming with eminent arbitrators and arbitration counsel, and leading alternate dispute resolution practitioners from around the world who had come to attend the Seoul ADR Festival 2018 – a much sought-after yearly event which has grown remarkably in scope and significance since it was first organized in 2015.1)This article…

Courts, Finality, judicial review, Review on the merits

(British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL))/ /2 Comments

The finality of arbitral awards is one of the advantages which justify recourse to arbitration, in comparison to longer dispute settlement methods, such as traditional court proceedings. However, while this is the desirable outcome, it is difficult and, to a certain extent, undesirable to isolate the arbitral award from any type of judicial interference. Limited…

Appointment of arbitrators, Arbitrator Challenges, Counsel, Counsel conduct, Disclosure, Dubai, ICC, International arbitration, International Arbitration Procedures, MENA, Middle East, UAE, UAE Federal Arbitration Law, UNCITRAL Model Law, United Arab Emirates

(Dentons & Co, Dubai)/ /Leave a comment

Participants at this year’s Dubai Arbitration Week gathered for the ICC conference hosted by Al Tamimi & Co on 14 November 2018. The conference featured a lively roundtable discussion on the subject of “Arbitrator Disclosure – Local Flavour or International Standards?” chaired by Nadia Darwazeh. The panel comprised practitioners from across the MENA region and…

Arbitration, Arbitration Awards, Arbitration Proceedings, CAS arbitration, Human Rights, International arbitration, Sport arbitration

, (Schellenberg Wittmer Ltd, Switzerland)/ /Leave a comment
Schellenberg Wittmer

The applicability of the European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR”) to arbitral proceedings is a complex issue. The recent decision of the European Court for Human Rights (“ECtHR”) in the so-called Mutu/Pechstein cases brings some clarification in this regard, but also raises some new questions1)ECtHR, Mutu and Pechstein v. Switzerland, Decision of 2 October 2018,…

Africa, Arbitration, Arbitration Agreement, Arbitration clause, Arbitration institution, Dubai, UAE, UAE Federal Arbitration Law, UNCITRAL Model Law, United Arab Emirates

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Since the inaugural programme in 2014, arbitration practitioners from the MENA region and beyond have come together to share and discuss recent developments in the field of international arbitration during the Dubai Arbitration Week, an annual event that takes place in November. Dubai Arbitration Week 2018 was no exception. It was full of seminars, conferences,…

Achmea, Brexit, Energy Charter Treaty

(Clyde & Co.)/ /Leave a comment
Clyde & Co.

Perhaps the one thing that is certain about the UK’s departure from the European Union is that it is uncertain. It is not certain that the UK and the EU will strike a deal on their future trading relationship after the UK leaves the EU on 29 March 2019; it is not known whether the…

BIT, ICSID, Investment Arbitration, ISDS Reform, Latin America, USMCA

(Concepción Global, PLLC, Universidad Complutense de Madrid)/ /Leave a comment

The CERSA (CNRS-University Paris II Pantheon-Assas) organises a series of seminars on select topics in international investment law and investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). The purpose of these seminars is to discuss and debate such topics bringing together academics, practitioners and policymakers in a small international group in Paris. The conference about Topical issues in ISDS: Latin…

Arbitration, Brexit, European Union, Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements, Judgment

(Swiss International Law School (SiLS))/ /Leave a comment

In our post last month, we discussed the potential impact of Brexit on the choice of law to govern a contract and the law applicable to non-contractual claims. We also discussed that parties and party counsels should consider revisiting their choice of law strategies, but that in doing so, they should be conscious of the…

Asia, Singapore, Third party funding

(Norton Rose Fulbright)/ /Leave a comment
YSIAC

Part I For some time practitioners would have seen news alerts headlining that third-party funding is now permitted in Singapore and Hong Kong for arbitration and arbitration-related court proceedings.  Digging a little deeper beyond the shiny new labels, this article highlights three practical “pitfalls’ which practitioners would have to be mindful of when dealing with…

Arbitration Agreement, Arbitration institution, Courts, SIAC, Singapore

(Schellenberg Wittmer )/ /Leave a comment
YSIAC

Introduction On 10 October 2018, the Singapore Court of Appeal (“Court of Appeal”) issued its decision on the case of Marty Ltd v Hualon Corporation (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd [2018] SGCA 63 (“Marty v Hualon“) which concerned a dispute over the repudiation of an arbitration agreement. While the case contained a number of interesting issues, this…

Belt Road Initiative, China, Hague Choice of Court Convention, ICC, Latin America, Mexico, Peru

(Souto, Correa, Cesa, Lummertz & Amaral Advogados)/ /1 Comment

Introduction In October 1865, Sir Robert Hart, a former British diplomat and by then an official in the Qing Chinese Government, wrote to Empress Dowager Cixi expressing his opinion that China should desperately seek progress through investments in mining, the telegraph, the telephone and especially in railways. The reaction of Empress Cixi’s closest advisors was…

Construction, Latin America, Lava Jato, Peru, Public Procurement Contracts

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The recent Petrobras – Lava Jato government fraud scandal that hit Brazil hard and swept through other Latin American countries has also greatly affected Perú. According to Marcelo Odebrecht (a Brazilian businessman and the former CEO of Latin America’s largest construction company), more than US$29m was paid in bribes between 2005 and 2014 in Perú…

Achmea, Croatia, Energy Charter Treaty, Germany, Hungary, Investment Arbitration, Investment Treaties, Slovakia, Spain

(Linklaters LLP) and (Linklaters)/ /Leave a comment

The Court of Justice of the European Union’s (CJEU) judgment in Slovak Republic v. Achmea B.V. (Achmea) on arbitration under intra-EU BITs has been broadly discussed (on this blog, see e.g. here, here, here, here, here, here and here). Nine months after the Court’s ruling, some tribunals have had the opportunity to react. Food for…

Discovery, Evidence, IBA Rules of Evidence, Prague Rules

(MDisputes)/ /2 Comments

The Prague Rules on the Efficient Conduct of Proceedings in International Arbitration will be officially launched this week (December 14). This set of rules of evidence and procedure formulated from civil law practices has already generated a substantial and healthy debate within the international arbitration community, including here on the Kluwer blog, on whether they…

Human Rights, ICSID, ICSID Arbitration, Investment, Investment Arbitration, Investment law, Investment protection, Investment Treaties, Investor, Investor duties, Investor-State arbitration, ISDS

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Introduction The assessment of human rights within an investment arbitration framework, typical for the investor-state dispute resolution (ISDS) mechanism, is one of the topics which has gained significant momentum in the past years, and has led even to the establishment of a Working Group on International Arbitration of Business and Human Rights. Arbitral tribunals often…

Ad hoc arbitration, Arbitration, Estoppel, Jurisdiction

(Stout Street Chambers)/ /1 Comment

In a conventional investment dispute, the claimant seeks compensation for the impairment of its substantive investment in the territory of the host state. Swissbourgh Diamond Mines (Pty) Ltd v Lesotho arose out of mining investments made by the claimants in Lesotho in the 1990s. However, this arbitral proceeding was not concerned directly with the impairment…

Journal of International Arbitration

(WilmerHale & Queen Mary University of London)/ /Leave a comment

We are happy to inform you that the latest issue of the journal is now available and includes the following contributions: Gordon Blanke, Free Zone Arbitration in the United Arab Emirates: DIFC v. ADGM (Part II) This is Part II of a two-part article that deals with the phenomenon of free zone arbitration in the…

Criminal law and arbitration, Expert evidence, Experts, Party appointed arbitrator, party-appointed, UAE

(Blanke Arbitration LLC)/ /Leave a comment

With 2018 drawing to a close, the UAE legislature has ushered in a long-awaited amendment to Art. 257 of the UAE Penal Code (see Decree issuing Federal Law No. (24) of 2018 amending certain provisions of the Federal Law no. (3) of 1987 issuing the Penal Code). Readers of Kluwer Blog will remember that that…

Arbitration, Arbitration Proceedings, Document Exchange, Document Production, IBA Rules of Evidence, Prague Rules

, (Baysal & Demir Law Firm)/ /1 Comment

Document production is one of the most important and controversial topics in international arbitration. Some practitioners consider the document production as “an essential element of justice”, whereas some others consider it as “a waste of time and money”. So, where does the truth lie? Does Common Law Provide Better Justice than Civil Law or Vice…

Adhesion Contracts, Arbitration Agreement, Brazil, Brazilian Arbitration Act, Franchising Contracts, kompetenz-kompetenz

(Demarest Advogados)/ /Leave a comment

I. Introduction Despite the fact that commercial arbitration has experienced a huge development in Brazil in the last years and a general favorable approach by Brazilian courts, there are fields in which arbitration is still incipient, with complex discussions about its enforceability and to what extent consumer, labor or adhesion contracts can be discussed via…

Enforcement, Ethics, ICC, Saudi Arabia, UAE

(Galadari Advocates & Legal Consultants)/ /1 Comment

Introduction On 8 October 2018, the Ministry of Justice (the “MoJ”) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (“Saudi Arabia”) announced that in the last 12 months its enforcement courts received a record-breaking 257 applications for enforcement of judgments and arbitral awards rendered outside Saudi Arabia, which were appraised at SAR 3.6 billion or “nearly one…