In the recent decision of MVV Environment Devonport Ltd v NTO Shipping GmbH & Co KG and others, the English High Court set aside an arbitral award issued by the London Maritime Arbitrators Association under section 67 of the Arbitration Act 1996 (AA 1996) on the basis that the arbitral tribunal lacked substantive jurisdiction over the dispute.
In these troubling times, there is some good news for arbitration practitioners: according to its annual report, the International Court of Arbitration has experienced its second highest caseload of newly registered cases in 2019, with 869 new cases filed in a record breaking 147 countries and independent territories worldwide.
It began with the wallpaper, or, rather, trying to find a camera angle that didn’t feature our feature wall. When that failed (the only other spot providing a clear view of our staircase where my non-A level studying son was likely to emerge at any point post 1.00 pm wearing very little), I then realised that I had to “curate the bookcase”. Should I try to balance up the politics books? What does a section on magic realism suggest about the merits of our case? Where do I put all the Leeds United books? These were not questions I ever anticipated having to address as part of my professional life. Yes, I know I could use a virtual background, but I find them distracting, especially when, like me, you wear glasses, and the real world seems to peak out through the corners. Continue reading
A recent investment dispute referred by a consortium of multi-national investors from Jordan and the UAE to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in Washington (see Itisaluna Iraq LLC and others v Republic of Iraq) has raised the question of the proper scope of the most favoured nation (MFN) clause contained in article 8 of the OIC Agreement (see Agreement on Promotion and Protection and Guarantee of Investments among Member States of the Islamic Conference), and more specifically whether it allows reliance on ICSID arbitration on the basis of the dispute resolution provision contained in article 17(4) of the Iraq-Japan bilateral investment treaty (BIT).
On 23 March 2020, the Supreme Court of India issued, by way of a suo motu writ petition, an order extending limitation periods by a period of 15 days or until further orders were made. The order was issued pursuant to article 142, read with article 141, of the Constitution of India. Article 142 of the constitution confers upon the Supreme Court the power to make such orders as is necessary to do complete justice in a matter before it. Further, article 141 provides that such orders shall be binding on all courts within India. Continue reading
Paris Arbitration Week 2020, originally scheduled for 30 March to 3 April, was one of the first major conference series to be postponed due to COVID-19, with new dates arranged for 6 to 10 July. At the time of postponement, the intention was very much for the event to take place as normal, as an in-person event, some three months later. Unfortunately, at that time, no one knew just how severe the COVID-19 crisis would become. Faced with a decision of what to do, having already postponed once, the organisers took the innovative decision to hold Paris Arbitration Week as an entirely virtual conference. Continue reading
Almost a decade after the first directly opposing decisions in the case of Dallah, the French and English courts have, once again, rendered contrary decisions in the case of Kabab-Ji v Kout Food Group. Continue reading
Since governments started imposing lockdowns and stay-at-home orders in countries around the world, remote working has become the “new normal”. Boardrooms, power suits and (thankfully) the commute to work are a thing of the past; we’re now in the era of the business-casual and “virtually” brilliant. Could this shift in mindset be used as a springboard to bring much-needed diversity to international arbitration? Continue reading
Where the impact of restructuring and insolvency on arbitration is concerned, we have identified three distinct stages:
Part 1 of this blog examined the first two of these stages. This part 2 will consider the third stage, as well as the new standalone moratorium under the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020. Continue reading