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…
In K.V.C. Rice Intertrade Co Ltd v Asian Mineral Resources Pte Ltd [2017] SGHC 32, the Singapore High Court enforced so-called “bare” arbitration clauses, i.e., clauses that specify neither the place of arbitration nor the means of appointing arbitrators. In Singapore, the President of the SIAC Court of Arbitration is designated as the statutory appointing…
Text books will tell you that, in its origins, the concept of arbitration as a method of resolving disputes was a simple one: two merchants, arguing over damaged merchandise, would settle their dispute by accepting the decision of a fellow merchant. And they would do so not because of any legal mandate, but because it…
It is well known that Greek public finances have been in a precarious state since the country’s debt crisis erupted in 2010. In an environment of tough fiscal consolidation, compensation awards running in millions present a significant economic and political challenge. This post discusses a case before the Greek Supreme Court that resulted in a…
One of the topics discussed by the panels at last week’s 20th Annual IBA Arbitration Day was parallel proceedings. We heard well-prepared and interesting presentations on many aspects of parallel proceedings such as confidentiality and the taking of evidence. As we all know, such parallel proceedings often also take the form of court proceedings initiated…
The 1958 United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the “New York Convention”) is a lynchpin of the international arbitration system. The New York Convention provides a means for parties in one member state to enforce judgments issued by arbitration tribunals in another member state. In the United States, Congress…
The long-standing dispute over the territory of Western Sahara has been the subject of a treaty, an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, an armed conflict, a United Nations-brokered ceasefire, and several General Assembly and Security Council resolutions. It has also recently come to the fore in several cases before the EU and…
March was a particularly busy month on the Kluwer Mediation Blog. From legislative developments in Ireland and Singapore, a report on the Berlin Global Pound Conference, and a more provocative post on whether grey hairs are needed to mediate, there is a lively assortment of posts below. In “Too much or too little”, Bill Marsh…
The answer to this question might seem simple, but consider an instance of a commercial arbitration between a Chinese company and an African state arising out of a failed railway project in Africa. Assume that all three arbitrators are European and from the civil law legal tradition. Assume further that they are experienced arbitrators of…
In TMT Co Ltd v The Royal Bank of Scotland plc [2017] SGHC 21, the Singapore High Court took the view that an arbitration clause did not meet the prima facie standard to warrant a stay of court proceedings because it designated an inapplicable arbitral institution. Commentators have suggested that the decision is “surprising” and…
Since 1 January 2017, national and international media companies can initiate arbitration proceedings with the German Media Arbitral Tribunal (Deutsches Medienschiedsgericht – “DMS”). The DMS, which was established in 2016 in Leipzig, is a specialized arbitral institution that exclusively deals with media law disputes. In addition to arbitration proceedings, the DMS offers conciliation proceedings and…
