Practical Law

One of the many uncertainties of Brexit is the impact it will have on the enforcement of English court jurisdiction clauses and English court judgments across the EU. Despite the hopes of the legal community, the Trade and Cooperation Agreement does not contain any provisions on civil judicial cooperation, so there remains uncertainty over what … Continue reading Drafting arbitration clauses: lessons learned in 2020 →

There is no shortage of (mostly?) apocryphal stories about clauses that are put into draft agreements as a joke at an early stage of negotiations and, due to oversight, are never removed. My personal favourite is the so-called “End of the World” clause which goes something like this:

When parties decide to arbitrate, one of the key decisions they have to make is choosing a seat of arbitration. But what factors should parties take into account when choosing a seat of arbitration and are these factors actually reflected in the choices that are made?

The issue The debate over whether there should be a systematic publication of arbitral awards is not new, but it has received increased attention over the last couple of years.

In investment treaty arbitration there is a perceived public interest due to the involvement of states and state entities, so openness (including as to party names, publication of decisions, and even pleadings) is the norm. This approach extends to publishing awards on the merits. This is not the case in international commercial arbitration (a dispute … Continue reading Through the looking glass: where will the current drive for transparency in international commercial arbitration end? →