Last month, the Queen Mary University of London issued its eighth empirical survey on international arbitration. This detailed report, made in partnership with White & Case LLP for the fourth time, focuses on the evolution of international arbitration. Continue reading
Swithin J. Munyantwali, Counsel at Appleton Luff, continues our series, Arbitration in Africa.
In Part 1, Mr Munyantwali discusses his personal and professional background, including his current role. He also considers arbitral institutions and centres in Uganda. In Part 2, he examines arbitral procedure, court support for arbitration, and recognition and enforcement of awards in Uganda. He also examines investment treaty arbitration and challenges to arbitrators. Finally he offers advice for those who wish to start a career in arbitration in Uganda/Africa and discusses the difficulties for new arbitration practitioners or arbitrators. Continue reading
The Court of Appeal held in Halliburton Company v Chubb Bermuda Insurance Ltd that an arbitrator may have a legal duty to disclose circumstances relating to impartiality, even if they do not meet the test for apparent bias under section 24(1)(a) of the English Arbitration Act 1996 (AA 1996). In other words, even if the circumstances do not require, or, indeed, permit, the arbitrator to step down, they may have to be disclosed. Indeed, the arbitrator’s failure to disclose them can be a factor in deciding whether the arbitrator must be removed. Continue reading
In a ruling that sent shockwaves across Europe and beyond, the European Union’s (EU) highest court, the European Court of Justice (ECJ), struck down an arbitration agreement contained within a bilateral investment treaty (BIT) between two EU member states, the Netherlands and Slovakia. Whilst the ramifications of this decision are yet to be fully realised, it is clear that a great deal of uncertainty arises as to its impact, not only on the 200 or so other intra-EU BITs currently in force, but also on multilateral investment treaties involving the EU and its member states, most notably the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT). Continue reading
Prof. Dr. Mohamed S. Abdel Wahab, Chair of private international law and professor of international arbitration at Cairo University, and founding partner and head of international arbitration at Zulficar & Partners Law Firm, commences our new series, Arbitration in Africa.
In Part 1, Prof. Dr. Abdel Wahab discussed his personal and professional background, including his current roles. He also considered arbitral institutions and centres in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and Africa. In Part 2, he examines arbitral procedure and culture in Egypt and in Africa more generally, including the courts’ support for arbitration, recognition and enforcement of awards in Egypt, and African investment trends and investment treaty arbitration. He also reflects on the challenges facing arbitration practitioners in Africa/Egypt and offers advice to those who wish to pursue an arbitration career on the continent. Continue reading
The case of P v D, X & Y, heard in November 2017 but only recently published, concerned an application under section 68(2)(d) of the English Arbitration Act 1996 (AA 1996) in which P, the claimant in a London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) arbitration, claimed that the failure of the tribunal to deal with an issue in the arbitral reference was a serious irregularity which had resulted in substantial injustice to the claimant, justifying remission of the award to the tribunal. Continue reading
Most readers of this blog will be aware of the status and operation of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the Dubai-based financial free zone, as a seat of arbitration in its own right. The DIFC has its own, stand-alone arbitration law, the DIFC Arbitration Law, which, in turn, is modeled on the UNCITRAL Model Law. Its self-contained system of common law courts, the DIFC Courts, double as curial courts in DIFC-seated arbitrations. By virtue of their wide discretionary powers under Article 42 of the DIFC Arbitration Law, read together with Article 5A of DIFC Law No. 12 of 2004 as amended (the Judicial Authority Law), the DIFC Courts have grown into sophisticated apparatus of enforcement with respect to both domestic and foreign arbitral awards, both inside and outside the DIFC. Continue reading
Prof. Dr. Mohamed S. Abdel Wahab, Chair of private international law and professor of international arbitration at Cairo University, and founding partner and head of international arbitration at Zulficar & Partners Law Firm, commences our new series, Arbitration in Africa.
In Part 1, Prof. Dr. Abdel Wahab discusses his personal and professional background, including his current roles. He also considers arbitral institutions and centres in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and Africa. In Part 2, he examines arbitral procedure and culture in Egypt and in Africa more generally, including the courts’ support for arbitration, recognition and enforcement of awards in Egypt, and African investment trends and investment treaty arbitration. He also reflects on the challenges facing arbitration practitioners in Africa/Egypt and offers advice to those who wish to pursue an arbitration career on the continent. Continue reading
Expert “hot-tubbing” (or witness conferencing), is the practice of expert witnesses providing evidence concurrently, so that they might engage in discussion and address questions in parallel (instead of being cross-examined individually by counsel). Continue reading
The recent decision of an emergency arbitrator in Mohammed Munshi v The State of Mongolia demonstrates the careful exercise that must be undertaken by a tribunal presented with an imprisoned claimant who seeks release by way of provisional measures. The outcome in this case (that it was not necessary or proportionate to order the claimant’s release) contrasts with a number of other recent cases in which provisional measures to prevent the detention of a claimant have been ordered with the aim of preserving the integrity of arbitral proceedings. Continue reading