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Bit between the teeth

 MARKET VIEW – ARBITRATION 

ICSID secretary general Meg Kinnear talks annulment, case administration and the globalisation of treaty arbitration with Baker & McKenzie partners Grant Hanessian and Teddy Baldwin

That more cases were filed at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) in 2013 than during the first 24 years of its existence reflects the extent to which treaty arbitration is now arguably the fastest-growing area of international dispute resolution. Notwithstanding criticism from some NGOs that treaty arbitration is biased in favour of investors, the fact is that governments prevail in more than half of all treaty cases, and it is clear that a host state’s ability to attract foreign direct investment is diminished substantially unless it offers a system under which to enforce investors’ rights. Arbitration under the ICSID rules remains by far the most popular for investment treaty disputes because its awards may be enforced without recourse to the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the New York Convention) and because of the strength of the ICSID secretariat and the quality of the arbitrators it appoints. Some users do criticise the length of time it takes ICSID tribunals to render awards – at least 20 of which have been issued five or more years after the filing request. Continue reading “Bit between the teeth”

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The Innovator

 MARKET VIEW – ARBITRATION 

What’s next for the institution that pioneered the now-ubiquitous emergency arbitrator provision? WilmerHale partner John Pierce talks to American Arbitration Association senior vice president Richard Naimark to find out

In the context of dispute resolution, ‘US-style’ rarely denotes a positive quality. Be it for the brand of aggressive cross-examination practised in courts from New York to Nevada, or a class action system whose excesses are slammed by European legislators when introducing their own forms of collective redress, American lawyers are seen by many as having much to answer for. Such criticisms are to some extent offset by the influence such practitioners continue to exert on the global stage, with international arbitration being no exception. Indeed, London-headquartered Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer aside, the industry’s busiest players are, to a firm, American. Given this predominance, it is to be expected that US-style practices would bleed into international arbitration – the most unloved and increasingly prevalent of which remains its approach to document production.

Continue reading “The Innovator”

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Checks and balances

 MARKET VIEW – ARBITRATION 

What’s so great about scrutiny? ICC International Court of Arbitration secretary general Andrea Carlevaris discusses his institution’s calling card with White & Case partner Michael Polkinghorne

There are no bad arbitrators, only inappropriate arbitrators for specific cases. So says ICC International Court of Arbitration secretary general, Andrea Carlevaris, the man charged with registering more than 750 disputes a year at the Paris-headquartered body. Indeed, such is the demand for its services that the court now works through August – ‘a very serious consideration’ in France, John Beechey, the institution’s president, told the audience at an arbitration event in Prague last summer.

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Stockholm syndromes

 MARKET VIEW – ARBITRATION 

James Hope of Vinge talks to Annette Magnusson, secretary general at the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, about arbitrator diversity, emergency relief and sharing best institutional practices

That Sweden boasts both one of the earliest modern arbitration statutes – predating by two years the English Act of 1889 – and an enviable reputation for resolving East-West disputes as a legacy of its being the venue of choice for Cold War-era parties counts for little in the hyper-competitive world of international arbitration. Indeed, a few essentially superficial differences aside, Annette Magnusson admits that the alphabet soup of institutional rules can be largely indistinguishable. For parties, the question is always a simple one: what do I get in practice? The difference is not what an institution offers, but the way it puts its rules into practice. It is, says Magnusson, who joined the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC) in April 2010 from Swedish disputes firm Mannheimer Swartling, the ‘how’ that matters. Continue reading “Stockholm syndromes”

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Guest post: The Blind Men & Big Data – what does Big Data mean for law firms?

A few weeks ago I returned from the 37th annual ILTA education conference, which was held this year at the Gaylord Opryland hotel in Nashville.The Gaylord in Nashville is not my favorite venue. It was cobbled together from the original Opryland Hotel when the Gaylord company decided to build conference destinations. It’s difficult to easily get from one area of the structure to another, and easy to get lost, The Gaylord hotels in Dallas and Washington are purpose-built and much more ‘user friendly.’

Continue reading “Guest post: The Blind Men & Big Data – what does Big Data mean for law firms?”

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Looking to the future

 MARKET VIEW – ARBITRATION

Three Crowns’ Jan Paulsson looks at how little we know about arbitration in the present and what that means for predicting the future

Speculating about the future of international arbitration is a more comfortable activity than speculating about its present, because as long as we are not talking about the near future we will not be proved wrong, or be criticised for not knowing the unknowable. But are we really entitled to assert very much about the future when we in truth know so little about the present? We are indeed reduced to speculating about the present, and it is worth reflecting on the causes and consequences of finding ourselves in such a frustrating (and humbling) predicament.

Continue reading “Looking to the future”

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‘A very satisfactory outcome’: Hill Dickinson wins payment in ‘Alexandros T’ case

The Court of Appeal has handed down judgment on the long-running litigation between Starlight Shipping versus Hill Dickinson, a host of insurance companies, and others, allowing defendants Hill Dickinson and insurance services company Charles Taylor Adjusting to recover damages of £225,000 and £100,000 respectively and giving a 60% interim payment.

Continue reading “‘A very satisfactory outcome’: Hill Dickinson wins payment in ‘Alexandros T’ case”

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82 join the club – eight new partners in City as Kirkland makes up more than Macfarlanes’ entire partnership

In one of the largest global partnership promotion rounds, Kirkland & Ellis has made up eight of its London associates to partner in a round that saw 82 lawyers join the global partnership, including one promotion from of counsel to partner.

Continue reading “82 join the club – eight new partners in City as Kirkland makes up more than Macfarlanes’ entire partnership”

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Edwards Wildman loses associate quartet to City firms as tensions mount over potential Cooley takeover

Having endured a spate of high profile partner exits during the summer, US firm Edwards Wildman has now seen four associates depart from its London office, and join the ranks of Eversheds, Travers Smith, Pinsent Masons and automobile giant Nissan in recent weeks as uncertainty over Cooley talks continues.

Continue reading “Edwards Wildman loses associate quartet to City firms as tensions mount over potential Cooley takeover”

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Offshore firms join in as Cleary and Clifford Chance lead on Rusal’s $5.15bn debt restructuring

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Clifford Chance picked up the lead roles along with a raft of offshore firms as Russian aluminum giant Rusal carried out a $5.15bn debt restructuring following a slower than expected recovery in the commodities market.

Continue reading “Offshore firms join in as Cleary and Clifford Chance lead on Rusal’s $5.15bn debt restructuring”

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‘Steven has been a tremendous force’: Proskauer turns to KWMSJB’s best-known London M&A lawyer as it shifts focus

Steven Davis, who led SJ Berwin’s City corporate team before its $1bn Sino-Australian merger, is set to leave the firm for Proskauer Rose, whose own merger plans with SJ Berwin collapsed before the City firm looked eastwards for growth.

Continue reading “‘Steven has been a tremendous force’: Proskauer turns to KWMSJB’s best-known London M&A lawyer as it shifts focus”

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Dealwatch: Linklaters, Freshfields and Travers Smith fix RAC deal with Singapore sovereign wealth fund

Linklaters’ corporate heavyweight Charlie Jacobs and private equity partner Alex Woodward advised US private equity firm Carlyle on the sale of half of its majority stake in roadside recovery service RAC after abandoning plans to exit the company through a London IPO.

Continue reading “Dealwatch: Linklaters, Freshfields and Travers Smith fix RAC deal with Singapore sovereign wealth fund”

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Guest post: Let’s avoid a huge constitutional talkfest – how devolution needs to be handled

The main constitutional business that ought to be on MPs’ minds at the moment is how to deliver the party leaders’ ‘Vow’ to grant ‘extensive new powers’ to the Scottish Parliament. The extent of powers to be transferred, and particularly the extent of power over tax that will be devolved, is far more urgent and important to the future of the UK than ‘English votes for English laws’ (the principle that MPs for English constituencies should decide on proposals only affecting England).

Continue reading “Guest post: Let’s avoid a huge constitutional talkfest – how devolution needs to be handled”

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Neutral territory

 MARKET VIEW – LITIGATION 

Lalive’s Marc Henzelin and Sandrine Giroud examine the key facts on the enforcement of foreign judgments in Switzerland

Ranked among the top five financial centres in the world and top of the Global Innovation Index 2014, with postcard landscapes and a tradition of discretion and stability, Switzerland remains a top destination for companies and wealthy individuals alike to bring their business and wealth. It is therefore unsurprising that enforcement of foreign judgments against assets held in Switzerland is an issue that comes up regularly in the day-to-day practice of international litigators.

Continue reading “Neutral territory”