REUTERS | Aly Song
March 22, 2021

BRI Initiative in Africa

The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road Initiative (BRI) was first raised by Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China, in September 2013. The BRI is inspired by the ancient Silk Road, which is the world’s oldest and longest trade route from Asia to Europe, stretching some 4350 miles. Aside from the primary purpose of trade and commerce, it also has immense historical significance as an important facilitator of the exchange of ideas, culture and religion. Continue reading →

REUTERS | Tim Wimborne
March 15, 2021

DIFC v Dubai court: first antisuit offshore-onshore

In a ruling of November 2020, which, to date, has remained unpublished (albeit not unreported), the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Court of First Instance (DIFCCFI) pronounced the first ever anti-suit injunction over competing proceedings commenced in violation of an arbitration agreement before the onshore Dubai courts.

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REUTERS | Max Rossi
March 11, 2021

Protecting precautionary attachments in UAE: how far can you go without breaching an arbitration agreement?

Security, required by employers and funders in the form of bonds or guarantees to secure a contractor’s performance, are a common feature of international construction projects. If a dispute arises under the construction contracts, it is common to see applications for interim injunctive relief to restrain demands  being made on bonds or to restrain the issuing banks from paying out if one is made.

In cases where parties have agreed to arbitrate disputes, this raises the question as to the extent to which they may apply to the court for interim relief without breaching the arbitration agreement.

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REUTERS | Andrew Winning
March 4, 2021

Article 12(9) of new ICC Rules: is party autonomy really being eroded?

The principle of party autonomy is expressed and enshrined in section 34(1) of the English Arbitration Act 1996: the right of the parties to ultimately decide on all procedural and evidential matters. It allows parties to an arbitration agreement the freedom to choose how their arbitration is conducted as well as how their arbitral panel is appointed. In relation to the latter, in two-party arbitrations that require a three-person tribunal, each party often agrees that they can choose and appoint their own arbitrator with those arbitrators then appointing the third.

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REUTERS | Piroschka van de Wouw
February 26, 2021

From genesis to apocalypse: As Belgium heralds the end of the uncertainty on intra-EU BITs, has the UK missed an opportunity in a post-Brexit world?

The saga of the intra-EU bilateral investment treaties (intra-EU BITs) has taken many forms on different battlegrounds and its relevance goes beyond the borders of the European Union. From its genesis in Achmea v Slovak Republic, passing through many enforcement attempts outside the EU (as previously covered here and here), to its potential apocalypse with the termination of all intra-EU BITs (and an unlikely but not impossible withdrawal of the EU member states from the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT)), the legal discourse on this topic looks far from over.

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REUTERS | David W Cerny
February 25, 2021

English Court of Appeal provides novel guidance on experts’ duties to clients

On 11 January 2021, the English Court of Appeal handed down its decision in Secretariat Consulting PTE Ltd v A Company, which considered the novel issue of whether expert witnesses owe fiduciary duties to their clients. Although this case stemmed from a construction arbitration, it is of general application to the users of experts in any type of dispute. Following a brief summary of the case, this post notes the practical points that arbitration practitioners can takeaway from the decision.

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REUTERS | John Sibley
February 22, 2021

Clifford Chance Unilateral Option Clauses Survey 2021

Unilateral option clauses are a common feature in many transaction documents. A unilateral option clause grants one party (or a group of parties, but not all parties to the agreement) the exclusive right to decide between arbitration or litigation to resolve a dispute. This means one side can choose the forum for their dispute at the time the dispute arises, rather than at the time of negotiating the agreement.

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REUTERS | Ints Kalnins
February 16, 2021

Rethinking arbitration hearings: A shift towards asynchronous hearing timetables?

Arbitration is favoured for flexibility of process, and the seamless transition to virtual hearings in the otherwise disruptive COVID-19 era has proved testament to such. A year on, with a significant number of arbitration users having participated in virtual hearings held over videoconference, it is timely to reflect on the way we conduct arbitration hearings and the possibilities for transformation.

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REUTERS | John Sibley
February 9, 2021

M/T Prestige litigation and arbitration: key takeaways

The latest two decisions arising out of the aftermath of the Prestige oil spill in 2002 have shed some light on three major areas of the English law of arbitration. The Commercial Court’s two decisions in London Steam-Ship Owners’ Mutual Insurance Association Ltd v  The Kingdom of Spain ([2020] (EWHC 1582) and The London Steam-Ship Owners’ Mutual Insurance Association Ltd v The Kingdom of Spain [2020] (EWHC 1920)  provide an insightful analysis into the scope of the so-called “conditional benefit” principle, the powers of an arbitrator to grant injunctive relief and the court’s interpretation of the arbitration exception in the Brussels Recast Regulation.

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