This is the first in a series of articles by Schoenherr focusing on efficiency in arbitration. In our series, we will explore various tools which serve to improve the efficiency of any given arbitration and so achieve a favourable outcome without wasting resources. But before exploring those tools we need to determine what efficient arbitration…

The panel on Arbitration Challenged II: The Realities of Arbitration Economics: Who Gets to Play, and What are the Implications, at ICCA Sydney 2018 Conference, was moderated by Susan Franck, American University, Washington College of Law (United States) and had contributions from Mohamed Abdel Wahab, Zulficar & Partners Law Firm (Egypt); John Beechey, BeechyArbitration Ltd…

Since their inception in 1975, the Vienna Rules (Rules of Arbitration and Mediation of the Vienna International Arbitral Centre) have undergone a number of major reforms keeping them abreast of the fast-moving tides of legal development in international arbitration. The latest revision of the Rules as from 1 January 2018 (previously covered in this blog)…

When ABBA launched “The Winner Takes It All” in 1980, modern arbitration was still in its infancy. The ICC case numbers were just about to become four-digit, while the cases administered by ICSID could still be counted on two hands. Yet already at that time, “The Winner Takes It All” exemplified one of the two…

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent those of Luther Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft. Third-Party Funding (TPF) has certainly captured the attention of the arbitration community in the last few years. This has led to an interesting debate on its implications and potential need for regulation that has, however, failed…

Helsinki International Arbitration Day (HIAD) is an annual arbitration conference organized by the Arbitration Institute of the Finland Chamber of Commerce (FAI). It was held for the sixth time in Helsinki on 18 May 2017. Is There a Simple Solution to Arbitration Costs Allocation? The afternoon of the conference was dedicated to the topic of…

Helsinki International Arbitration Day (HIAD) is an annual arbitration conference organized by the Arbitration Institute of the Finland Chamber of Commerce (FAI). It was held for the sixth time in Helsinki on 18 May 2017. This year, the event was organized with the support of the ICC International Court of Arbitration and the ICC Finland,…

White & Case’s recent research should provide some comfort to the arbitral community by showing that arbitral institutions are becoming increasingly flexible and responsive to users’ needs. Flexibility was in fact a characteristic which the 2015 survey conducted by White & Case with Queen Mary University of London established as being one of the most…

SIAC released new rules of procedure (“SIAC Rules”) for the management of its arbitration practice, effective 1 August, 2016. Some of the new provisions are ground-breaking. New provisions include a consolidation procedure, a joinder procedure, and even rules providing for early dismissal of baseless claims. The SIAC Rules have drawn great attention to its numerous…

A new development in the third party funding arena prompts an increased analysis of the theoretical foundations of the nature of third party funding. At the moment, there are divergent views on its proper place and treatment, and with increased prevalence a piecemeal approach with little theoretical groundwork risks creating a minefield resulting in unpredictability…

When allocating costs, investment arbitration tribunals apply two principles: a “pay your own way” principle which provides that each party pays its own legal costs and they effectively share the costs of the proceedings, and secondly a “costs follow the event” or “loser pays” principle which provides that the losing party bears the costs of…

In my last post, I pointed out the inconsistencies of the Italian judicial system. Italy has a court system that is indisputedly overloaded (and, as a consequence, inefficient); yet the most obvious solution to this problem, International Arbitration, is rarely used by companies or private individuals to resolve their disputes. In my view this happens…

The Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce began the new year by announcing two interesting and even bold innovations. The ICC Court will now, according to the ICC’s own press release, “publish on its website the names of the arbitrators sitting in ICC cases, their nationality, as well as whether the appointment…

This is Part II of a previous blog, discussing a recent Award dated 27 October 2015 rendered in ICSID Case No. ARB/11/33 – Adel A Hamadi Al Tamimi v. Sultanate of Oman and dismissing all claims against Oman (see Part I of the blog). By way of reminder, the claims brought in these ICSID proceedings…

By a Final Award dated 27 October 2015 (see ICSID Case No. ARB/11/33 – Adel A Hamadi Al Tamimi v. Sultanate of Oman), an international tribunal constituted under the International Convention for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), also commonly referred to as the Washington Convention, dismissed all claims brought by a US national against the…

Co-authored with William Kenny, Intern at HKIAC A View from Inside A foreword by Victor Dumler, Dumler and Partners Law Offices, St Petersburg. Over the last two decades, Russia-related disputes have become a considerable part of “Russia’s export” into Western Europe. Yet, after more than a year living under the sanctions regime, the situation is…

After the fall of communism, Hungary embraced modern arbitration law. Act LXXI of 1994 (“the Arbitration Law”) created a comprehensive legal regime for both domestic and international arbitration, based on the UNCITRAL Model Law. State courts generally exercised a liberal approach in connection with arbitral proceedings and awards. However, some recent developments in Hungarian law…

and Oleg Temnikov Purpose of security for costs Security for costs falls into the category of provisional measures and is regulated by Article 47 of the ICSID Convention and Arbitration Rule 39. Its purpose is, inter alia to preserve the effectiveness of the award and the integrity of the proceeding by protecting the requesting party’s…

co-authored by Georg von Segesser and Mirina Grosz, Schellenberg Wittmer Ltd. In a recent decision, the Swiss Federal Tribunal rejected an appeal to set aside a final award of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (“CAS”) (Decision of the Swiss Federal Tribunal (“DFT”) of 11 June 2014, 4A_178/2014). The appellant, a professional cyclist who faced…

and Oleg Temnikov 1. Approaches to cost allocation There are, generally, two approaches to costs allocation (“CA”), namely: (1) pay your own way (“PYOWA”) whereby the parties share the costs of the proceedings and bear their own legal costs; (2) loser pays or also called “costs follow the event” approach (“CFTEA”) under which the losing…

Has the number of bad faith challenges against arbitral awards increased? Is there a need to better control parties and their counsel, and to sanction them should they not play by the rules? The topic was discussed earlier this year at a seminar organized in Stockholm by the Swedish Arbitration Association.1)Seminar of the Swedish Arbitration…

The Austrian Supreme Court (OGH) confirmed that an arbitrator who is dismissed during the arbitration by a state court because of conflict of interest before the award is rendered may recover compensation for (useful) services rendered until dismissal (Austrian Supreme Court, Der Oberste Gerichtshof, OGH, 17 February 2014, 4 Ob 197/13v). The president of an…

2013 saw the establishment of Serbia’s first arbitration institution which is not affiliated to the State – Belgrade Arbitration Center (BAC), created under the auspices of the Serbian Arbitration Association, a non-governmental and non-profit association of legal professionals and other individuals interested in arbitration law and promotion of arbitration. BAC is the third arbitral institution…