The line between third-party funders and law firms is blurring. Originally, there were only two traditional types of third-party funding arrangements. In the first type, the third-party funder makes an agreement to finance the legal expenses of the claimant or respondent in a case in exchange for a portion of the claimant’s awarded amount, if…
Liability in international arbitration is a recurrent yet unsettled issue. Occasionally, we hear of a fearless party that dares to sue an arbitrator and/or an arbitral institution based on allegations of a conflict of interest, procedural irregularity, error of law, or a failure to oversee the good conduct of the arbitration proceedings. The discussions prompted…
Lawyers might sometimes wish for Solomonic justice; that parties would agree to “split the difference” or that someone would do it for them. Where, however, it appears that such an approach has been taken by an arbitral panel—in substitution for a carefully reasoned decision—the lack of engagement with their arguments is likely to leave the…
On 19 September 2016, Freshfields hosted an ICC YAF event at its London offices on gender diversity in arbitration and the Pledge for Equal Representation in Arbitration (“Pledge”), a topic which has been the centre of discussions on panels organised by ArbitralWomen around the world. The Pledge initiative, orchestrated by Sylvia Noury of Freshfields and…
Two years ago, in the case of Banyan Tree v Meydan Group, an arbitral award rendered outside the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) was enforced by the DIFC courts in circumstances where neither party was based nor had assets in the DIFC. The case demonstrated the willingness of the DIFC’s courts to enforce awards rendered…
Authors: Amirhossein Tanhaei, Gheidi & Associates and Shiva Ghahremani, Konrad & Partners As all eyes are focused on the changing political scene in Iran, and notably the lifting of international sanctions in relation to economic activities, thoughts also shift to the legal environment. In particular, what is required to ensure a stable, predictable framework, and…
Iran. The country with enormous trade potential and a juicy market for many foreign companies around the globe. Following partial lifting of sanctions in Iran, it is expected that more and more businesses from different industries will enter the Iranian market. Needless to say, along with the development of international trade in Iran more disputes…
1 September 2016 marks the key date in the long-awaited Russian arbitration law reform, publicly announced by the President of the Russian Federation already in 2013. Since then, the Russian arbitration law reform has been in the public eye attracting significant publicity (previous blog posts on this can be read: here, here, here, and here)….
Following the referendum on 23 June 2016 the UK’s Prime Minister has recently indicated that the UK will invoke Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union (“TEU”) by the end of March 2017. It is expected that within two years from then the UK will withdraw from the EU. In this entry we consider…
Modern institutional arbitration rules commonly provide for emergency relief at the outset of the arbitration either through the expedited formation of a tribunal or the appointment of an emergency arbitrator, or both. This could either be viewed as a broadening of options for a party seeking immediate remedy or a constraint of the court’s powers…
Prime Minister Theresa May has repeatedly said, “Brexit means Brexit.” But what does Brexit actually mean? When is Brexit going to happen? And is Brexit going to happen at all? And if it will happen, what will be the consequences for international dispute resolution? The Kluwer Journal of International Arbitration’s Special Issue on “Brexit” analyses…
In the United States, approval prospects may appear bleak for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (“TPP”) – at least at present. The current political climate appears generally negative on trade, and even Vice President Joe Biden stated recently that he saw “less than an even chance” that TPP would be approved before the new U.S. president…
In William Lim and Another v. Hung Ka Hai Clement and Others [2016] HKCFI 1439; HCA 1282/2016 (24 August 2016), the Hong Kong Court of First Instance ordered a stay of court proceedings and referred an ongoing dispute to arbitration pursuant to s 20 (1) of the Arbitration Ordinance (Cap 609). The Court found that…
Arbitration is a creature of contract, and hence one may say that any claim or dispute submitted to arbitration must relate to a contract where the relevant arbitration clause is laid down. In contrast, tort claims do not normally arise from a prior contractual relationship. Broad arbitration clauses classically say that “any and all disputes…
One of the perceived advantages of arbitration is that it allows parties to select one or more decision makers (arbitrators) with a level of technical or scientific expertise and professional experience higher than that of the average judge. Arbitration has always been welcomed as a fitting alternative to traditional litigation, where the judges tend to…
1. In the past weeks, much ink has been spilt over the recent decision of the High Court of Justice in the Essar v. Norscot case. In his decision, J. Waksman QC confirmed the award made by Sir Philip Otto in an ICC arbitration seated in London. A broad description of this case has already…
The Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement, signed on 4 February 2016 among 12 Asia-Pacific economies, faces a rocky road to ratification. In the run-up to the US presidential election in November, both Donald Trump and (for now) Hillary Clinton say they are opposed. Yet Australian Prime Minister Turnbull urged President Obama to put the FTA to a vote in Congress…
For more than a decade, Argentina has been living in a permanent crisis, which affected all sectors of the economy and turned out in an avalanche of investment cases, many of them under the ICSID Convention. Thus, Argentina became one of the most active players in the investor-state dispute settlement system, facing almost 60 cases…
In the past two to three years the critics of investor-to-state dispute settlement (ISDS) have been tremendously successful in setting up an effective propaganda, which has managed to scare and misinform the general public, media, and politicians. This propaganda has not only turned around once pro-ISDS countries like Germany, The Netherlands and France, but has…
Introduction After recent amendments to the Polish Arbitration Law (part five of the Polish Code of Civil Procedure, Official Journal of Laws of the Republic of Poland, No 43, item 296, as amended, available in Polish here) (“CCP”) , which were a subject of my previous posts, the Polish legislator commenced in June 2016 the…
A new development in the third party funding arena prompts an increased analysis of the theoretical foundations of the nature of third party funding. At the moment, there are divergent views on its proper place and treatment, and with increased prevalence a piecemeal approach with little theoretical groundwork risks creating a minefield resulting in unpredictability…
On 28 July 2016, in a judgment of Justice Sir Jeremy Cooke (see CFI 020/2016 – Brookfield Multiplex Constructions LLC v. (1) DIFC Investments LLC (2) Dubai International Financial Centre Authority, ruling of the DIFC Court of First Instance of 28 July 2016), the DIFC Court of First Instance ruled, in principle, in favour of…
Arbitration has long been the favorite of the ADR family. Mediation, however, has established an increasingly relevant position for itself when it comes to resolving (international) commercial disputes quickly, cost-efficiently, and successfully. Efforts to render mediated settlement agreements enforceable persist and will likely further bolster mediation as an independent and, possibly, even superior alternative to…
There has been a lot of attention paid to the various innovations in the new SIAC Rules 2016 such as the possibility of an early dismissal of claims under the new Rule 29. One of the changes to the Rules which has generally been overlooked is that they now require consent of the parties and…
