An arbitrator’s authority to rely on a law that was not pleaded by the parties has been the subject of extensive discussions in the literature. Anecdotal evidence suggests that civil law jurisdictions broadly tend to adopt a more liberal approach to recognizing such authority in international arbitration, while common law jurisdictions, on the other hand,…
The epic finale of the Kabab-Ji saga has arrived. On 28 September 2022, the French Court of Cassation has delivered its long-awaited decision in Kabab-Ji SAL (Lebanon) v Kout Food Group (Kuwait) (Court of Cassation, Appeal No. 20-20.260) less than a year following the United Kingdom Supreme Court’s (UK SC) final say in the case’s…
On the second day of the 11th Asia-Pacific ADR Virtual Conference, the KCAB, the South Korean Ministry of Justice, the ICC Court of Arbitration and UNCITRAL hosted a panel on the state of the energy markets in 2022. The panel was moderated by Dr. Wolfgang Peter (Senior Partner, Peter & Kim) and the panelists included…
The Seoul ADR Festival (“SAF”) 2022, conducted by the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board, was held between 7-11 November 2022. The 11th Asia-Pacific ADR Virtual Conference, the flagship conference of SAF 2022, took place on 9-10 November 2022 and was attended by more than 400 participants. It covered a broad range of topics over four sessions….
On 29-30 September 2022, the second annual Balkan Arbitration Conference (“BAC 22”) – was held in Tirana, Albania. The Conference is the first arbitration conference for the Balkan region as a whole. Its purpose is to provide a forum to help build cooperation and develop the use and practice of arbitration in the Balkan region….
The COVID-19 pandemic made us realize that a lot of business can be conducted remotely, and that drafting contracts does not have to involve physical signatures on the same documents by all the parties involved. This progress, of course, has not bypassed arbitration. In this post, we will look at how to effectively conclude an…
The annual “Great Debate” took place on the fourth day of Australian Arbitration Week. This event, organised with the support of hosting sponsor Corrs Chambers Westgarth, has now become a mainstay of Australian Arbitration Week, and involves a lively comedic debate between Team Arbitration and Team Litigation about which method of dispute resolution should reign…
One of the great advantages of arbitration is that it is a “one-shot” dispute resolution mechanism that does not allow for a series of appeals. Indeed, many users stress the finality of awards and the lack of an appeals mechanism as a valuable characteristic of arbitration. However, there may be situations where the “one shot”…
On the second day of Australian Arbitration Week, DLA Piper’s office in Melbourne, Australia, hosted a panel addressing “Hot Issues Involving Technology Arbitration”. The panel comprised: Gowri Kangeson (Partner in DLA Piper’s Litigation and Regulatory, and Arbitration Groups); Tim Lyons (Partner in DLA Piper’s Intellectual Property and Technology Group); and Jason Choi (Senior Associate in…
Caroline Kenny KC is a barrister, mediator, and arbitrator. She has over 30 years’ experience in commercial disputes. In 2008 she was appointed as King’s Counsel and has since been recognised as a Chartered Arbitrator – the only female Chartered Arbitrator in Australia. Caroline’s arbitration experience therefore spans across various roles within international commercial arbitration…
The theme of this year’s ICCA Congress was “Arbitration’s Age of Enlightenment?”, a reference to the Scottish Enlightenment, an age in which the old order was challenged, and new ideas led to innovation in several fields. The ICCA Programme Committee’s formulation of the Congress theme as a question rather than a statement is telling: its…
When determining what matters fall within the scope of submission to arbitration, five sources are relevant: the parties’ pleadings, the agreed list of issues, opening statements, evidence adduced, and closing submissions: CDM v CDP [2021] 2 SLR 235 at [18]. If a court, on an analysis of these five sources, finds that an award should…
The Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) has long been subject to debate focusing on its perceived chilling effect on energy transition, the compatibility of intra‑EU disputes under the ECT with EU law, and the cost-efficiency of investment arbitration. On 24 June 2022, after five years of negotiations, the Energy Charter Conference Member States reached an agreement…
The international arbitration community has made progress on improving diversity across the field, but continues to fall short on appointing diverse international arbitration tribunals. Experts point to a range of reasons for the lack of diversity in international arbitration tribunals, chief among which is the lack of an experienced pool, coupled with the reluctance of…
In November this year, the Energy Charter Conference will meet to adopt amendments to the ECT in accordance with the agreement in principle on the modernised ECT. However, the text of the modernised ECT has received much criticism in recent weeks (see e.g., here). Despite the fact that the modernised text of the ECT largely…
On 1 September 2022, the Higher Regional Court of Cologne (“HRC Cologne”) issued two much-awaited decisions granting the Netherlands’ requests (see our report here) to have the German claimants’, RWE and Uniper, ECT-based ICSID arbitrations declared inadmissible pursuant to section 1032(2) of the German Code of Civil Procedure (“ZPO”) due to their intra-EU nature. As we reported,…
Between 17-23 October 2022, the São Paulo Arbitration Week (“SPAW”) was held with multiple events in different parts of the biggest city of Latin America. The SPAW is a collaborative event, organized by Center for Arbitration and Mediation of the Chamber of Commerce Brazil-Canada (“CAM-CCBC”), and is conceived as a calendar for law firms, universities,…
The IXth Edition of the CAM-CCBC Arbitration Congress took place on 17 – 18 October 2022, in São Paulo, Brazil. The congress brought together practitioners to discuss “the today and the tomorrow” of the arbitration market. After two years of pandemic, the convention provided a unique forum to debate a wide range of topics, including…
On 17 and 18 October 2022, the Center for Arbitration and Mediation of the Chamber of Commerce Brazil-Canada held its IXth Arbitration Congress (“IX CAM-CCBC Congress” or “Congress”) in São Paulo. The Congress is the opening event of what became the Sao Paulo Arbitration Week (“SPAW”): a collaborative calendar for law firms, universities, associations, and…
Over the past few weeks, Russia has announced a “partial mobilisation,” has illegally annexed the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions of Ukraine, and has repeatedly threatened to use weapons of mass destruction, thereby ruthlessly escalating its war of aggression against Ukraine. In response, the EU has imposed its eighth package of sanctions against Russia…
Professor Vladimir Pavić is one of the leading scholars and practitioners in the area of international arbitration in Southeast Europe (SEE). He is Full Professor at the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Law where he teaches an array of courses, including among others, Arbitration Law, Competition Law, and Private International Law. He holds an SJD…
This year’s ITA-ALARB Americas Workshop took place in early September and focused on the intersection between domestic environmental protections and international investment law. The workshop was co-chaired by Gabriela Álvarez Ávila (Partner, DLA Piper) and Miguel López Forastier (Partner, Covington & Burling). The aim of the workshop was to address, from the perspective of states…
The Institute of Transnational Arbitration (ITA), in collaboration with the ITA Board of Reporters, is happy to inform you that the latest ITA Arbitration Report was published: a free email subscription service available at KluwerArbitration.com delivering timely reports on awards, cases, legislation and current developments from over 60 countries and 12 institutions. To get your free subscription to the ITA…
The Editorial Board of Kluwer Arbitration Blog announces the opening of the following position with Kluwer Arbitration Blog: Assistant Editor for Technology. The Assistant Editor reports directly to the coordinating Associate Editor and is expected to (1) collect, edit and review guest submissions on technology-related issues for posting on the Blog, while actively being involved in the…
