On 22 March 2017, with minimal fanfare, the Civil Law and Justice Amendment Legislation Bill 2017 (“2017 Bill”) was introduced into the upper house of the federal Parliament. Buried within this omnibus Bill were four proposed reforms to the International Arbitration Act (IAA), renamed as such in 1989 when Australia was one of the first…
The question of whether the jurisdictional grant in a “service of suit” clause overrides an otherwise valid and enforceable arbitration clause in the same agreement has been addressed by several courts in the United States. See McDermott Int’l, Inc. v. Lloyds Underwriters of London, 944 F.2d 1199 (5th Cir. 1991); Neca Ins., Ltd. v. Nat’l…
Here in London, it seems there is no end to the number of Brexit conferences one may attend. But as far as I know, there has yet to be one addressing the question of whether Brexit may give rise to viable investment arbitration claims against the United Kingdom. So on May 30, 2017 the University…
The ability of a party to obtain urgent interim relief is central to the efficacy of any method of dispute resolution. In case of disputes that are subject to an arbitration agreement, until recently parties had only two options: either approach national courts for interim relief in support of the arbitration, or wait for the…
In early March 2017, the Singapore High Court released a judgment in which it considered an important question of enforcement of investor-state awards. In Josias Van Zyl v Kingdom of Lesotho [2017] SGHCR 2, AR Pereira was asked to decide whether an order to enforce a final award in a treaty dispute administered by the…
In international arbitration, as in other fields of law, the divide between private and public—commercial arbitration and public international (including investment) arbitration—traditionally has been the generally, if uncritically, accepted belief. When public bodies are involved in commercial contracts, the traditional point of distinction has been whether the state operated jure imperii or jure gestionis. Apart…
It is hard to put into words the sheer magnitude of the Vis Moot, let alone how it feels to win such a prestigious and challenging competition. While we cannot begin to describe the emotions experienced during the six months leading up to the University of Ottawa’s victory, nor the feelings we continue to experience…
Introduction Western Australia has many of the hallmarks of an arbitral hub: from a stable liberal democracy, a reliable and predictable judiciary, and very low rates of corruption, to offices of numerous national and international law firms, world-standard business hotels (albeit only a recent arrival), and an efficient international airport (again, only of late, but…
The obligation for an arbitral tribunal to deliberate before rendering an award is at the heart of the arbitral process. In fact, parties typically agree to submit their disputes to a panel of three arbitrators for the purpose of ensuring objectivity, well thought decisions and equal treatment. Deliberation is so fundamental to the arbitral procedure…
A group of lawyers has been coveted in recent years by the most prestigious law firms. They are supposed to predict results more accurately than Gary Born, create more persuasive stories than Stanimir Alexandrov and even issue better awards than Gabrielle Kauffman-Kohler. Their names are Watson, Ross, Lex Machina and Compas – they are Machine…
From conciliation applications in Germany, the use of mediation for companies under judicial reorganization in Brazil, the recent INADR International Law Student Mediation Tournament at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland, to transformative teaching in Shanghai, the broad coverage of topics continues on the Kluwer Mediation Blog. Why not have a look at the summary…
Throughout the modern history of mankind, trade wars accompanied almost every military or political conflict between hostile states, ready to take the most radical actions for the sake of the victory. This is not surprising as trade directly affects the economy and, accordingly, the ability of the country to fight and resist successfully. Unfortunately, in…
One of the goals of “ICCA’s Guide to the Interpretation of the 1958 New York Convention: A Handbook for Judges” – as stated by Neil Kaplan in the Guide’s introduction – is to assist judges around the world in “using the Convention in a way consistent with its letter and spirit”. It seems that the…
Sierra Leone’s inaugural Commercial Law Summit was held this March (2017) on the theme of facilitating responsible private sector development through improvements in commercial law justice (Hebert Smith Freehill and UK-Sierra Leone Pro-Bono Network, ‘Conference Pack’, 2017). The summit provided a distinctive opportunity for the main stakeholders in commercial law and justice to map out…
Issue 34, Volume 2 contains: Michael W. Bühler & Pierre R. Heitzmann, The 2017 ICC Expedited Rules: From Softball to Hardball? Abstract: The 2017 ICC Rules of Arbitration, in force since 1 March 2017, have adopted new provisions for expedited procedures with the objective of having final awards issued by sole arbitrators six months after…
NAFTA on the tightrope One of President Donald Trump’s most frequent campaign promises was to “eliminate” the North American Free Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”), which he described as “the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere, but certainly ever signed in this country.” He then softened his tone and stated that he would renegotiate the treaty,…
In the context of investor-state dispute resolution in The Netherlands, the Yukos case has recently captured the spotlight in the global arbitration arena and beyond. While much of the attention has been focused on the setting-aside proceedings and the issue of jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal, the case also raises interesting questions regarding the enforcement…
The recent decision in P v Q [2017] EWHC 148 (Comm) provided, for the first time, guidance on how a Court will approach an application for disclosure in support of an application to remove Arbitral Tribunal members under s.24 Arbitration Act 1996. Background The Claimant had brought an application to remove two wing members (the…
In his 2014 Assenting Opinion on a security for costs motion in RSM v. Saint-Lucia, arbitrator Dr. Gavin Griffith Q.C. described third-party funders as “mercantile adventurers” and associated their activities with “gambling” and the “gambler’s Nirvana: Heads I win and Tails I do not lose.” This was no voice in the wilderness. The increasingly prevalent…
White & Case’s recent research should provide some comfort to the arbitral community by showing that arbitral institutions are becoming increasingly flexible and responsive to users’ needs. Flexibility was in fact a characteristic which the 2015 survey conducted by White & Case with Queen Mary University of London established as being one of the most…
The use of tribunal secretaries in arbitration is a hotly debated topic. For some time now, the use of a secretary has been increasing in the interests of cost and time efficiency. For some however, there is a fear that arbitrators delegate their duties and for a ‘second’ or ‘fourth’ arbitrator to be involved in…
Over the past few decades, alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) has become the preferred method of conflict management in the commercial world. Contemporary trends in dispute resolution aim at consolidating ADR in this position by finding an appropriate way to enforce settlement agreements resulting from mediation/conciliation or in the course of judicial or arbitral proceedings. A…
Savvy litigators often tell their clients that “a bad settlement always beats a good litigation”. That may be partly because there is embarrassingly scant guidance in the literature, or even in the world’s law schools, on how lawyers can help their clients settle well rather than badly. I recently had the honor of writing the…
Three decades, two wars, one occupation, and multiple democratic elections later, I found myself back in my country of birth, Iraq, in April 2017. I was invited to Baghdad by the Iraq Energy Institute (IEI) as a speaker at the 2017 Iraq Energy Forum (IEF), under the patronage of the Iraq government and the Iraq…
