Arbitration – The International Journal of Arbitration

(General Editor International Journal of Arbitration, Mediation and Dispute Management; Queen Mary University of London), (Queen Mary University of London), (Chartered Institute of Arbitrators), and (Three Crowns)/ /Leave a comment

The selected submissions for the current issue deal with a range of diverse dispute resolution topics. Specifically, the issue includes articles on international commercial arbitration, investment treaty arbitration, construction arbitration, and articles on conflicts of laws. Further, the issue includes not only topics of practical importance, for example the proposal on the appropriate remedies against…

Australia, COVID-19, Force majeure, Korea, UAE, UK

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

As countries continue to grapple with the ongoing effects of COVID-19, the effects of the ongoing waves on parties vary widely. There have been recent discussions on force majeure and international arbitration on the Blog: see here, here, and here. This article will address the following points in relation to four key jurisdictions, being the…

Consumer disputes, Employment arbitration, SCOTUS, Section 1782 Discovery, United States, United States Courts, USA

(Musick, Peeler & Garrett LLP), , and (Law Offices of Kiran N Gore PLLC; The George Washington University Law School)/ /Leave a comment

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-2020), known only as “RBG” in many circles, was a native of Brooklyn, New York and only the second woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court bench. Her passing in September 2020, at the age of 87, left a gaping hole in the international community. She was widely…

Investment Arbitration, Investment Disputes, Investment law, United States

(Allen & Overy)/ /2 Comments

With the results of the U.S. presidential election announced last week, international lawyers are now looking closely at how the incoming Biden Administration will handle the many challenges facing the global legal order.  President-elect Biden has promised to turn away from the unilateralism that marked the Trump presidency and instead focus on multilateral reengagement.1)See, e.g.,…

Adjournment, Arbitration Award, Enforcement, Netherlands, New York Convention

(De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek N.V. )/ /Leave a comment

The issue of adjournment of enforcement proceedings relating to foreign arbitral awards that are subject to setting aside proceedings has featured prominently before national courts in recent years and has been the subject of other contributions on this blog (see here and here). This topic is especially significant in the Netherlands, an important jurisdiction for…

Bankruptcy, Bankruptcy and arbitration, COVID-19, Insolvency, Latin America

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

One of the many consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and the world-wide economic crisis has been the sharp increase of insolvency filings before national courts. Latin America is no stranger to this situation, having been part of the surge in business insolvencies. Brazil, in particular, has been a recent insolvency hotspot within Latin America. This…

European Union, Intra-EU BITs, Intra-EU ISDS, Investment, Investment Arbitration, Investment protection, ISDS, ISDS Reform, Multilateral Investment Court

(Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP) and , (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer)/ /Leave a comment

Much has been written – on this page and elsewhere – about the future viability of investor-state arbitration based on intra-EU BITs in the aftermath of the CJEU’s Achmea decision. In the authors’ view, the May 2020 Termination Agreement concluded between 23 of the 27 EU Member States with the intention to terminate existing intra-EU…

Arbitral Award, e-signatures, Foreign arbitral awards, LCIA Rules, New York Convention

(Busse Disputes)/ /Leave a comment

Electronic signatures (e-signatures) may affect in some cases arbitration’s most valuable characteristic: the enforceability of the arbitral award. In most jurisdictions, and in particular pursuant to Article 31(1) of the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration, arbitral awards must be rendered in writing and contain the arbitrators’ signatures. The enforceability risks of authenticating an arbitral…

Antitrust arbitration, Arbitration, Competition Law, Witness Conferencing

(Richard Levin Arbitration)/ /Leave a comment

The intersection of competition law and arbitration has been around for thirty-five (35) years. Competition disputes are likely to be seen more frequently in arbitration today, given its flexibility, speed and cost savings potential. Notably, the recent and extraordinary US government antitrust suit in the Novelis merger highlighted just that point, as the parties agreed…

Arbitration, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, Arbitration Proceedings, BIT, Enforcement, International arbitration, Investment Arbitration

(De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek) and (Georgetown University Law Center)/ /Leave a comment

On 5 May 2020, 23 Member States of the European Union (“EU”) signed an Agreement for the Termination of all Intra-EU Bilateral Investment Treaties (“Agreement”). Following ratification by the Kingdom of Denmark (6 May 2020) and Hungary (30 July 2020), the Agreement entered into force on 29 August 2020 (Article 16). The Agreement comes in…

National Courts, New York Convention, New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, Pakistan

/ /1 Comment

The obligation of contracting states to recognize arbitration agreements and refer the parties to arbitration is provided in Article II of the New York Convention 1958 (the ‘Convention’). This post will endeavor to evaluate the meaning of the phrase ‘refer the parties to arbitration’ used in Article II(3) of the Convention and whether this phrase…

Infra and Ultra Petita Challenges, Set aside an arbitral award, UNCITRAL Model Law

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Readers of this blog are well familiar with the sharp criticism international arbitration faces on account of the quality of legal reasoning in arbitral awards. Traditionally, much of the prolific debate has revolved around the arbitrators’ duty to give reasons. Recent cases (here and here), however, have sparked a discussion on the arbitrators’ failure to…

Arbitrators, Code of Conduct, ISDS, ISDS Reform, UNCITRAL

(Claro & Cia), (Reed Smith LLP), (Three Crowns LLP), and (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer US LLP)/ /Leave a comment
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)

The Institute for Transnational Arbitration (“ITA”) hosted a four-part webinar discussing the Draft Code of Conduct for Adjudicators in Investor-State Dispute Settlement, between 21-25 September 2020. Each part addressed specific practical considerations raised by the matters addressed in the Draft Code of Conduct: issue conflict, double hatting, repeat appointments, and implementation and enforcement of the…

Investment Arbitration, ISDS, Space Arbitration, Territory

(The Australian National University)/ /Leave a comment

Ever looked up at the night sky and wondered…what is the regulatory and dispute settlement regime that governs commercial activities out there? Well, it might be about time you did. This post celebrates October’s World Space Week by looking at the developments in the legal framework regulating commercial space activities and how the investor-state dispute…

Australia, Australian Arbitration Week, Diversity

and , (Corrs Chambers Westgarth)/ /Leave a comment

On 15 October 2020, Corrs Chambers Westgarth hosted a panel on ‘Diversity in Arbitral Proceedings – Opportunities and Challenges in the Wake of Remote Work and Virtual Hearings’ as part of Australian Arbitration Week. The panel was moderated by Rachael King and Nastasja Suhadolnik of Corrs Chambers Westgarth, with Kate Hay (Corrs Chambers Westgarth), Lucy…

Australian Arbitration Week, International Commercial Arbitration, Investment Arbitration, Reform, Treaty drafting

and (The Australian National University)/ /1 Comment

On 14 October 2020, Professor Zachary Douglas QC delivered the 19th annual Clayton Utz and University of Sydney International Arbitration Lecture as part of Australian Arbitration Week. This year’s topic was a response to Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s (DFAT) review of its bilateral investment treaties (BITs). This blog post provides an overview…

Cost allocation mechanisms, Costs in arbitral proceedings, DIAC, UAE, UAE Federal Arbitration Law

(Al Owais Advocates & Legal Consultants)/ /Leave a comment

There has been a lot of debate in recent years on whether attorneys’ fees, or in other words counsels’ fees, can be awarded under the applicable laws in the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”). This post examines a recent decision, Cassation No. 990/2019 Commercial, issued by the Dubai Court which deals with attorneys’ fees. Prior court…

Brazilian Arbitration Journal

(Lee Taube Gabardo; Editor in Chief, Brazilian Arbitration Journal)/ /Leave a comment

In this 67th edition of the Brazilian Arbitration Journal, the National Doctrine section introduces Tatiana Dratovsky Sister and Thiago Del Pozzo Zanelato’s analysis about the recent modifications to the legal framework applied to the franchise system and the use of arbitration in franchise contracts. Cristina M. Wagner Mastrobuono explores the legislative and regulatory landscape on…

Arbitration, Arbitration institution, Arbitration Institutions and Rules, ICC, ICC Arbitration, ICC Rules

(ICC International Court of Arbitration) and (Peter & Kim)/ /Leave a comment

On 6 October 2020, the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) approved and released its 2021 Rules of Arbitration (2021 Rules), in draft. These Rules are subject to editorial changes and the final version is to be officially launched in December 2020. The 2021 Rules of Arbitration will then come…

Court of Arbitration for Sport, Malaysia

, (Asian International Arbitration Centre)/ /Leave a comment
Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC)

As two young female practitioners with barely any experience in sports, both, on and off-the field, the idea of getting involved in the practice of sports law and arbitration was certainly not par for the course. Yet, it was everything about sports law and arbitration – ranging from the concept of strict liability in doping,…

Court of Arbitration for Sport, Malaysia, Sport arbitration

, (Asian International Arbitration Centre)/ /Leave a comment

Ask any person on the street, and one would often find that sports has, in one way or another, played a role in or had an impact on their life. Commercially, the global sports industry has been one of the fastest growing industries. Like other growing industries where disputes are expected, the legal framework surrounding…

Arbitration Awards, Arbitrators, BIT, International arbitration, Interpretation, Investment Arbitration

and (University of Naples "Federico II")/ /Leave a comment

On 15 July 2020, an UNCITRAL Tribunal rendered a Partial Award on Jurisdiction in a dispute between Mr. Lee-Chin ­­and the Dominican Republic (DR) concerning the alleged expropriation of a landfill in Santo Domingo. The arbitrators had to decide whether the arbitration clause – enshrined in Article XIII, Annex III, of the Caribbean Community-Dominican Republic…

Consent, Investment Arbitration, Latin America, Treaty drafting, Treaty Interpretation

(Esguerra Asesores Jurídicos)/ /Leave a comment

A recent partial award on jurisdiction in Michael Lee-Chin v. the Dominican Republic debated the interpretation of dispute resolution clauses and State consent to investment arbitration. While interpreting the Free Trade Agreement between the Caribbean Community and the Dominican Republic (“CARICOM-DR FTA”), the majority concluded that Respondent gave advance consent to submit disputes to one…

Arbitrability, kompetenz-kompetenz, United States, United States Courts, USA

(Musick, Peeler & Garrett LLP)/ /Leave a comment

Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (the “Third Circuit” or the “Court”) addressed what it referred to as a “mind-bending” and “seemingly circular” question “dubbed ‘the queen of all threshold issues’ in arbitration law:” whether a court or arbitrator(s) decides if an agreement exists when the alleged agreement itself “includes an…