Appeal, Arbitration Awards, Domestic arbitration, Public Policy, Set aside an arbitral award, United States

(Herbert Smith Freehills)/ /3 Comments

On April 28, 2017, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (in a majority decision) affirmed the district court’s decision to set aside an award issued by a sole arbitrator finding that the award violated public policy.  The award was rendered in the context of mandatory arbitration of statutory claims under the…

Arbitral Tribunal, Arbitrator Challenges, Arbitrators, Code of Ethics, IBA Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest, Portugal

(BCH Advogados)/ /1 Comment

In many ways, Portugal is a remarkable arbitration-friendly jurisdiction. Not only a new UNICTRAL Model based law has been enacted a few years back now, but also its courts have proved to be very supportive of arbitration. The deference that they have been showing to the validity of the arbitration clause inserted in derivatives master…

Arbitral Award, Arbitration Act, Arbitration Agreement, Arbitrators, Seat of the arbitration, Summary procedure, Switzerland

(Meyerlustenberger Lachenal Ltd.)/ /Leave a comment

On 11 January 2017, the Swiss Federal Council proposed a revised version of the Swiss International Private Law Act (“SPILA”) relating to international arbitration (art. 176 et seq.) with a view to increasing the attractiveness of Switzerland as a place of arbitration while preserving the concise, liberal and flexible traits of the SPILA. More precisely,…

Disputed Territories, Investment, Investment protection, Investor

(Meitar Law Offices)/ /Leave a comment

On March 14th the Investment Treaty Forum at The British Institute of International and Comparative Law hosted a panel of experts to discuss practical and legal aspects of investments protection in the context of territorial disputes. Territorial disputes sometimes lead to the annexation of the territory of one state by another, of which the annexation…

Arbitration, China, ICSID, Investment Arbitration, Rule 41(5)

(The George Washington University Law School)/ /Leave a comment

On March 9, 2017, a three-person ICSID Tribunal rendered an Award in Ansung Housing Co., Ltd. v. People’s Republic of China.  The case marks the second time where China appears as a Respondent before an ICSID tribunal.  The first case was brought by a Malaysian company in May 2011, but that case was discontinued on…

Anti-arbitration, Bolivia, ISDS, Latin America

(Guevara & Gutiérrez S.C.)/ /2 Comments

As reported in the excellent piece by Alejandro López Ortiz and Gustavo Fernandes in “A Year of Legal Developments for International Arbitration in Latin America”, Bolivia may have taken a step back in State arbitration with the passing of its new act on arbitration in 2015. The article remarks the limitations to arbitrability introduced by…

Ad hoc arbitration, China, Free Trade Zones, kompetenz-kompetenz

, (AnJie Law Firm)/ /Leave a comment

On December 30, 2016, the Supreme People’s Court (“SPC”) issued a set of new Opinions. It covers an array of matters relating to legal measures to expedite the development of Free Trade Zones. (Opinions on Providing Judicial Protection for the Construction of Pilot Free Trade Zones, December 30, 2016). Among other matters, the SPC sought…

Arbitration, Arbitration Act, Australia, Transparency

(University of Sydney & Williams Trade Law)/ /2 Comments

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…

Consent, Insurance, Jurisdiction, Jurisdiction Clause, United States

, (BatesCareyLLP)/ /Leave a comment

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…

Emergency Arbitrator, India, Interim measures

(Twenty Essex) and (Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas)/ /6 Comments
YSIAC

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…

Enforcement, Investment, Investor, ISDS, Permanent Court of Arbitration, Singapore, UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules

(Fangda Partners), (Holborn Law LLC (in association with CMS Singapore)), and (CMS Hong Kong)/ /1 Comment

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…

Arbitrability, Commercial Arbitration, LCIA Arbitration, Public contract disputes, Public Interest, Public Procurement, UK

(General Editor International Journal of Arbitration, Mediation and Dispute Management; Queen Mary University of London)/ /3 Comments

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…

Australia, Courts, interim relief

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

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…

Arbitral Award, Arbitral Tribunal, Deliberations, Set aside an arbitral award, Spain

(Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP) and (Mannheimer Swartling)/ /2 Comments
Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP

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…

Arbitrator Challenges, Arbitrators, arbitrators’ conduct

, , (Bullard Falla Ezcurra +)/ /12 Comments

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…

Kluwer Mediation Blog, Mediation, Third party funding

(Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London)/ /Leave a comment

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…

Arbitration, Commodity arbitration, FOSFA, GAFTA, Import duty, International arbitration

(AGA Partners Law Firm) and (Avellum)/ /Leave a comment

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…

Arbitration, Arbitration Awards, Enforcement, ICCA, International arbitration, Moldova

(Europa-Institut, Saarbrücken)/ /Leave a comment

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…

Arbitration, Arbitration Proceedings, New York Convention, Sierra Leone

(Central European University)/ /Leave a comment

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…

Journal of International Arbitration

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

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…

Investment protection, ISDS, Mexico, NAFTA, North America, Survival clauses, USMCA

(Hogan Lovells International LLP)/ /1 Comment

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,…

Arbitral Award, Energy Charter Treaty, Enforcement, State Immunity

(Linklaters) and (Fieldfisher)/ /1 Comment
Linklaters

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…