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Sponsored briefing: Court intervention with respect to arbitral awards in Kenya

Oraro’s Chacha Odera, Eva Mukami and Radhika Arora look at the use of arbitration as a form of dispute resolution within Kenya.

Introduction

The use of arbitration as a form of dispute resolution within the Kenyan jurisdiction has been on an upward trajectory for a long time, more so with the promulgation of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 (the 2010 Constitution). Article 159 of the said Constitution recognises the need for courts and tribunals to promote alternative forms of dispute resolution which includes arbitration, mediation, reconciliation and traditional dispute resolution mechanisms.

Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Court intervention with respect to arbitral awards in Kenya”

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Sponsored briefing: The difficulties of pursuing foreign insolvency-related claims in Norway

Simonsen Vogt Wiig analyse how foreign insolvency claims can be pursued in Norway and the implications of Brexit on the enforcement of judgments between Norway and the UK

Insolvency-related claims in Norway

Pursuing foreign insolvency-related claims in Norway can be somewhat challenging. Except for the Nordic countries, which will not be discussed in this article, there are currently no rules or treaties governing foreign insolvency-related claims. However, new rules have been adopted and will come into effect from 1 July 2021, that will make this much easier. For bankruptcies from before 1 July 2021 and/or that falls outside the scope of the new rules, insolvency-related claims cannot be pursued in Norway. Thus the question is, what can, or cannot, businesses or bankruptcy estates do if they want to pursue insolvency-related claims against Norwegian companies or in assets situated in Norway, that fall outside the scope of the new rules? The new rules will be discussed at the end of this chapter. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: The difficulties of pursuing foreign insolvency-related claims in Norway”

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Sponsored briefing: The effect of recent English Supreme Court judgments on GCC-based arbitration

Robert Sliwinski, of counsel at Al Suwaidi & Company, explains how common law principles are transforming international arbitration proceedings in the GCC region

Over the past six months there have been two important judgments in the Supreme Court of England and Wales which are likely to influence GCC-based arbitrations where they are based on common law procedures and rules. They may also impact arbitrations seated in the Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC), the Abu Dhabi Global Markets (ADGM) and the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) which are pockets of common law jurisdiction within the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar Civil Law Structures. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: The effect of recent English Supreme Court judgments on GCC-based arbitration”

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Disputes perspectives: Claire Shaw

I was an incredibly good girl and my mother was incredibly opinionated: I basically did whatever she told me to do! For years I wanted to be a doctor but then I realised I absolutely hated chemistry and you couldn’t be one without chemistry. So I had a crisis after my O-Levels where I thought ‘Oh God what am I going to be then?’ So suddenly my mum said: ‘Right, that’s it then, you’re going to be a lawyer.’ She’s of that generation that absolutely idolised professions – she always called our family doctor by his first name. Continue reading “Disputes perspectives: Claire Shaw”

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Virtual reality

The health of the English and Welsh court system has long been a cause for genuine concern. Over the last decade, there have been anxieties over the diminishing desirability of a judicial role, not least due to a chronic lack of governmental funding that has resulted in salaries comparatively paltry to private practice positions.

This has been amplified by the introduction of the Judicial Attitudes Survey (JAS), which has given judges the platform to publicly lay out their grievances since 2014. It produced some shocking results. The 2016 edition revealed that nearly half (47%) of High Court judges were considering leaving the judiciary, alongside 41% of Court of Appeal judges and 40% of Circuit judges. A majority of judges (76%), felt they had experienced a deterioration in their working conditions since 2014, with 43% stating that the maintenance of their building was poor. Continue reading “Virtual reality”

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Disputes perspectives: Gaby Dosanjh-Pahil

I’ve always wanted to be a barrister, since before I can remember. There was no particular event or anything, I just always knew. I must have seen something on TV or the news perhaps. It was easy for me, because once you know what you want to do, it’s easy to follow that path.

I’ve never been an outgoing, loud person. Although I have married my complete opposite! I was the youngest of three children, and a girl with two older brothers, so I was always wrapped up in cotton wool. But I’m quietly confident. Continue reading “Disputes perspectives: Gaby Dosanjh-Pahil”

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Disputes perspectives: Tony Singla QC

I’m the youngest of three children. My brother and sister both read law at university, and have become lawyers themselves. My sister is a general counsel, and my brother is a silk. They’re both older than me, and when it came to applying to university, there wasn’t much choice on my part! I benefited a lot from their revision notes…

I briefly contemplated a career in the City, and I did an internship at Goldman Sachs in 2005. It was useful in the sense that it confirmed that I did want to pursue a career in the law. Continue reading “Disputes perspectives: Tony Singla QC”

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Disputes perspectives: Tracey Dovaston

I’d like to say becoming a lawyer was a very well-thought-out decision in my teenage years, but it wasn’t. I recall taking a career aptitude test at school, and it was one of the few professions I’d actually heard of. Law sounded interesting, and I’ve always enjoyed the legal wrangling in various TV shows. Showing my age, it included the less esoteric ones at the time, like LA Law in the late 80s and early 90s.

I picked Herbert Smith. I applied to a number of places, but I had heard partner Lawrence Collins, now Lord Collins of Mapesbury, speak at a careers event at university. Herbert Smith was well-known as a preeminent litigation firm and so I thought that was where I wanted to go. I wrote to him directly. I didn’t think it would make any difference, but it did. When I started, I was a trainee in his litigation department. I had an opportunity to work with him first hand, and he supported me in the early stages of my career. Continue reading “Disputes perspectives: Tracey Dovaston”

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Sponsored foreword: Litigation amid a pandemic – 2021 and beyond

Clive Zietman

One of the strangest features of Covid-19 is that it manifests itself in the human body in a random and unpredictable manner. The same can be said of its effect on the world of commercial disputes. My view is that nothing ever quite pans out in a way many commentators assume.

If one thinks back to the financial crisis of 2008, the only racing certainty was an economic downtown. To that extent, the same might be said of 2021. The prediction 13 years ago was that we would see the usual raft of fraud and insolvency work that typically accompanies a recession. It was anticipated that events would mirror those of the early 1990s, which gave rise to a boom in white collar crime cases and resultant professional negligence claims arising from corporate failures. It did not play out in that way. The scale of the frauds made them almost beyond the scope of litigation. The banks did not rush to insolvency proceedings since they themselves were on the brink of collapse and had no appetite for repossessing worthless assets. Continue reading “Sponsored foreword: Litigation amid a pandemic – 2021 and beyond”

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Hot topics

SFO in the spotlight once again after stuttering investigations

Now a few years into the Lisa Osofsky era of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), the jury is still out on the agency’s performance.

There have been successes: white-collar crime lawyers agree that the SFO’s near-€1bn deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with Airbus in January 2020 was a solid achievement, with Stewarts’ fraud partner David Savage praising the international co-operation involved in securing the plea deal. Continue reading “Hot topics”

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UK’s robust disputes framework holds firm amid the crisis

I have always very much enjoyed talking to the City’s disputes practitioners, and after two years away from covering my beat, I was curious to know what had changed. The answer: everything and nothing.

True, face-to-face meetings and the whistle-stop tours of London’s leading disputes practices have been replaced by Zoom and Teams. It seems that even the most momentous of disputes last year were fought and adjudicated by very intelligent people wearing very comfortable clothing; long may that continue. Continue reading “UK’s robust disputes framework holds firm amid the crisis”

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Sponsored briefing: The antitrust challenge to Big Tech

MoloLamken

Eric Posner discusses the US antitrust law challenges for Big Tech companies

After a long period of stagnation, United States antitrust law has experienced a jolt of adrenaline, thanks in large part to public anxiety about the enormous economic and cultural power of Big Tech. Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet (which owns Google), and Facebook are the five largest companies in the US by market capitalisation. All of these firms are ubiquitous presences in people’s lives. And all of them (except Microsoft, which has tended its operating system monopoly but not tried to extend it) have been subject to a torrent of criticism about their allegedly anticompetitive practices, now the subject of a spate of lawsuits by the US government, the state governments, and private parties. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: The antitrust challenge to Big Tech”

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Sponsored briefing: Prosecuting corporations in Romania

Ovidiu Budusan discusses corporate prosecutions in Romania

As early as 2006, the Romanian legislators adopted the view that, similar to individuals, corporations have a distinct, if collective state of mind that is similarly capable of committing crimes, and regulated the criminal liability of corporations. Since then, corporate prosecutions are nothing new to the country, but remain a matter of controversy, as the metaphorical gun is held by the government to the head of businesses, shareholders, board members, CEOs, CFOs – and the list of acronyms may go on and on. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Prosecuting corporations in Romania”

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Sponsored briefing: Civil mediation before litigation

R&T Asia (Thailand) assesses how recent amendments to Thailand’s Civil Procedure Code have impacted litigation practice in the jurisdiction

Thailand has recently enabled a party to a dispute to request in-court civil mediation even before a complaint is filed with the court, with a view to saving time and resources which would otherwise be used in civil proceedings. This new form of civil mediation before litigation became effective on
7 November 2020 and was introduced by way of an amendment to the Civil Procedure Code, which is the law setting out the general procedure for the conduct of civil proceedings in Thailand. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Civil mediation before litigation”

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Sponsored briefing: Virtual hearings: for here or to go?

Yulchon on virtual international arbitration hearings in South Korea during the Covid-19 pandemic

With no end in sight in the foreseeable future, we are all adapting to life in the Covid-19 world that has become the new normal. International arbitration is no different. Once governmental lockdowns along with social distancing regulations and norms had made in-person arbitration hearings impractical if not downright impossible, it was clear that parties and arbitral institutions would have to derive alternative solutions. This became especially necessary once disputing parties had realised that simply postponing in-person hearings scheduled to take place in 2020 to later dates could not be a permanent solution. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Virtual hearings: for here or to go?”

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Sponsored briefing: Unilateral adaptation of commercial contracts

Koutalidis’ Gregory Logothetis discusses the impact of Covid-19 on Greek commercial obligations

The Covid-19 pandemic has inevitably monopolised legal discourse over the last year, as commercial arrangements and entire businesses have been stressed and often crushed under the burden of extended illiquidity. The pressure of meeting outstanding obligations as a going concern has been one of the catalysts in this direction. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Unilateral adaptation of commercial contracts”

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Sponsored briefing: Malaysia’s intellectual property regime in the new normal

Gan Partnership’s Alex Choo, Lim Zhi Jian and Bahari Yeow assess how well Malaysia is equipped to deal with intellectual property infringements

As Malaysia (and the world) continue to combat Covid-19, the turn of the new decade promises to be a better year as stakeholders are gradually acclimatising to the new normal. The embrace of the technological wave has become an inevitability, with industries digitalising and moving their products and services online. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Malaysia’s intellectual property regime in the new normal”

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Sponsored briefing: Technical expertise in intellectual property litigation in Portugal

António Magalhães Cardoso and Marta Alves Vieira discuss technical expertise in IP litigation matters

Complex intellectual property (IP) litigation matters often require specialised knowledge that the assigned judges and the parties’ counsels generally do not possess.

The facts and the matters at stake in many IP litigation cases – particularly, in patent, utility model or design cases – frequently require experts to participate in the proceedings actively with their specific technical knowledge. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Technical expertise in intellectual property litigation in Portugal”

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Sponsored briefing: Implications of the FCA test case for contractual interpretation and broker claims

The Supreme Court judgment in the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) test case was a resounding victory for policyholders. Two potential unintended consequences of that judgment are considered here

Contractual interpretation

So-called ‘disease clauses’ provide cover for business interruption caused by the occurrence of a notifiable disease within (say) 25 miles of the insured premises. To many, the Supreme Court’s conclusion that such clauses cover losses from the Covid-19 pandemic is obviously correct. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Implications of the FCA test case for contractual interpretation and broker claims”

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Sponsored briefing: 2021 – a year of change

Stewarts’ Sean Upson considers how the upcoming year will define and influence new working practices

Certain years define and influence our practices for years to come, and 2021 will likely be one of those. If anything, it will eclipse the 2007-2008 financial crisis, where the market disruption played out in the courts for well over the following decade. Unlike 2007–2008, we are not now simply seeing market disruption but also seeing new working practices caused by Covid-19 and the disruptor that is Brexit. These themes are likely to define the disputes landscape for the next decade. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: 2021 – a year of change”