Coronavirus (COVID-19): We are closely monitoring advice from the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health departments for their latest updates and guidelines.
The well-being of our delegates, speakers and staff are our paramount priority and we will take all necessary and recommended action for each of our events
Start Date: Mon 11 Oct 2021
Timings: 8.15am – 6.00pm BST (9am-5pm for online attendees)
Event format: Hybrid (online tickets will only be available to those based outside of the United Kingdom)
Cost: Free for in-house legal teams, private practice and barristers
Venue: Queen Elizabeth II Centre, Broad Sanctuary, Westminster, London SW1P 3EE
Our sixth annual Legal Business International Arbitration Summit will take place on 11 October 2021 and will see senior figures from the world of arbitration debate key issues in the field.
This year’s summit, which will as ever attract a blend of private practitioners and in-house counsel, will see a focus on the development of arbitration in the Covid era, including the opportunities and challenges facing arbitration centres to adapt to new ways of working; the types of disputes most likely to arise from the pandemic; and the emergence of new jurisdictions as seats.
Between comprehensive panel discussions and the opportunity to meet and engage with fellow counsel, the International Arbitration Summit 2021 promises to be a practical and forward-looking event, bringing together the world’s leading experts.
Agenda
8.15am – Registration
9.00am – Opening remarks
9.10am – Caveat emptor? M&A and company law claims in arbitration
The global lockdown in 2020 gave rise to conditions that encouraged disputes relating to M&A. Asset values adjusted materially, leaving buyers unable to complete and disputes around earn out mechanisms and purchase price adjustments. As economic activity surged back, so has the volume of M&A deals. This panel considers factors that dealmakers and lawyers might consider when deciding whether to commit to arbitration to resolve any future disputes.
- Will Hooker, Boies Schiller Flexner
9.55am – Hybrid minds – the future of virtual hearings
The pandemic has forced us to be flexible and adaptable and has opened up new possibilities for the use of technology to run virtual proceedings. This session will assess how virtual and hybrid arbitrations have been run so far and look at the future direction of travel and how it will affect cost management.
- Ken Beale, King & Spalding (moderator)
10.45am – Coffee Break
11.05am – Dealing with fraud and corruption in international arbitration
‘You only discover who has been swimming naked when the tide goes out…‘ (Warren Buffet). Continuing economic instability in the wake of the pandemic will almost certainly expose and, also fuel, a rise in fraud and corruption as businesses in many sectors struggle. In an international arbitration context, examples of fraud have ranged from the payment of bribes to secure the contract to ‘fake arbitrations’. In this session we will explore and discuss how such issues have been addressed as part of the international arbitration process – from the perspective of the parties, their counsel, and the arbitrators – and practical lessons that may be drawn by in-house counsel and others.
- Jonathan Leach, Eversheds Sutherland
- Greg Falkof, Eversheds Sutherland
11.50am – Not over yet – challenges to arbitration awards
Historical data suggests a high degree of voluntary compliance with arbitral awards. One of the attractions of international arbitration is the finality of awards. However, panellists in this session will debate the latest developments and prospects for success in challenging an arbitration award.
- Charles Kimmins QC, Twenty Essex
- Kate Parlett, Twenty Essex
- Nigel Rawding QC, Twenty Essex
12.35pm – Lunch
1.30pm – Business interruption claims and the pandemic – what have we learned?
Following Lloyd’s of London insurer Hiscox recently agreeing an arbitration settlement with the Hiscox Action Group over business interruption losses precipitated by the government’s Covid-19 lockdown last year, this panel will examine the fallout from the case and how arbitration will be used to run these claims in future.
- Paul Reed, Gatehouse Chambers
2.15pm – All eyes on you – ethics in arbitration
With a renewed focus on ESG principles in the modern corporate world, attention has turned towards lack of uniformity in how the rules of ethical conduct are applied during arbitral proceedings. This panel will discuss the possibility of a universal code of conduct in international arbitration.
- Tatiana Minaeva, RPC
- Jonathan Wood, RPC
3.00pm – Coffee Break
3.20pm – To be confirmed
4.05pm – Arbitration post-pandemic – the client’s perspective
Reflecting on the day’s discussions, this panel sees leading GCs give their take on the key issues facing companies in arbitration and outline what advisers need to learn from clients.
- Michael Darowski, McDermott, Will & Emery
- Andrew Savage , McDermott, Will & Emery(moderator)
4.50pm – Closing remarks
5.00pm – Drinks and canapes
6.00pm – Event concludes
In association with
McDermott Will & Emery partners with leaders around the world to fuel missions, knock down barriers and shape markets. With more than 20 office locations, our team works seamlessly across practices, industries and geographies to deliver highly effective–and often unexpected–solutions that propel success. More than 1,200 lawyers strong, we bring our personal passion and legal prowess to bear in every matter for our clients and the people they serve.
For McDermott, international arbitration is not just about scoring points against an opposing legal team on an inevitable march to a final hearing. Rather, it is about partnering with our clients to achieve results that are consistent with their business goals and objectives. As soon as a dispute arises, obtaining counsel with demonstrated success and knowledge of the arbitration framework and process is critical.
At McDermott, we work side-by-side with our clients to analyse the strength of their claims and defences in conjunction with their economic imperatives. We provide our clients with creative and practical advice, tailoring an arbitration strategy that is determined by reality and to our client’s business objectives.
A leading commercial set of chambers, the barristers of Twenty Essex offer outstanding legal minds combined with a modern and commercial disputes experience.
Our clients include major global companies, institutions, governments and their advisers from around the world and our barristers advise and appear as advocates in court or arbitration in relation to a broad range of company and commercial, EU, competition, and public international law disputes. Practices involve the preparation and conduct of litigation before a wide range of courts and tribunals, in the UK, in foreign jurisdictions as well as on the international stage.
The vast majority of the work is international in nature and we have well-established links to many overseas markets, including through our Asian hub in Singapore servicing clients throughout Asia Pacific and beyond.
The set is also home to a number of highly respected domestic and international arbitrators and mediators, some of whom were previously judges either in the UK or overseas.
Gatehouse Chambers is a leading commercial chambers which specialises in arbitration and all forms of ADR, commercial dispute resolution, construction and engineering, insolvency, restructuring and company, insurance, professional liability and property disputes. It also has niche specialisms in clinical negligence and personal injury as well as private client work. We are recommended as a set by the legal directories in all our key practice areas. Handling both domestic and international work, Gatehouse Chambers is known for the quality of its members and client service as well as its innovative approach to issues such as funding. We are also a market leader in promoting equality, diversity and inclusion, winning awards for our work in these areas. In July 2021 we took on its current name having discovered its predecessor name (Hardwicke) was associated with a former Lord Chancellor who supported slavery.
RPC is a modern, progressive and commercially focused law firm. Our market-leading, multidisciplinary teams advise clients on a wide range of legal areas and are consistently ranked highly by both Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners.
Litigation is at the heart of our business and we know it inside out. At any one time, more than half our lawyers are handling complex, large-scale global disputes. Hailed by the directories as “top-notch performers”, our International Arbitration team works from our offices in London, Hong Kong and Singapore, handling arbitration cases across the world.
With this global perspective, we’re ideally placed to help clients resolve disputes through bodies such as the LCIA, ICC, ICSID, SIAC, CIETAC, HKIAC, DIFC, trade associations such as FOSFA, GAFTA, LMAA , SICOM and WIPO, as well as ad hoc arbitrations including ARIAS, CIArb and UNCITRAL rules.
Where we need to work alongside lawyers in other jurisdictions, we are part of the TerraLex network and have access to over 150 law firms in 100 jurisdictions across the globe.
Over two decades, Boies Schiller Flexner has established a record of taking on and winning complex, ground-breaking, and cross-border matters in diverse circumstances and industries for many of the world’s most sophisticated companies. Our litigators are recognised for prevailing when the odds are longest and the stakes highest.
We regularly take cases to trial, and we prepare each one accordingly from the start. We have the experience, judgment, and vision to develop the arguments that achieve favourable outcomes, whether those arguments are needed inside or outside of the courtroom. We build deep relationships with our core clients that allow us to represent them in any matter, in any forum, anywhere in the world.
Members of our team have sat as arbitrator for most leadings institutions, including the ICC, ICSID, PCA, AAA and others, as well as in ad hoc proceedings. We also have held leadership roles with prominent arbitration bodies, including the IBA Arbitration Committee and the ICC Court of Arbitration.
With offices located throughout the United States and in London, we operate as one firm with a seamless approach to building the most skillful and cost-effective team possible for every matter.
11/10/2021
London, United Kingdom