Despite the increasing popularity of arbitration, a significant number of clients have been disappointed by the performance of an arbitrator. LB asks what can be done to improve faith in the system
When something gets a mention in the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Budget speech, it is usually important. So when George Osborne spoke of the government’s intention to ‘promote the UK as the global centre of legal arbitration’ in March, the global arbitration community sat up and took note.
Trends in international commercial litigation were to the fore in the second Legal Business round table in conjunction with McCann FitzGerald. From the globalisation of disputes to rising levels of disclosure and tougher regulators there was plenty on the agenda
There has arguably never been a better time to be a litigator. Although the much-anticipated tsunami of litigation has not hit the market, there has been a discernible rise in disputes, which more often than not require a litigator to keep them out of the courts.
Disputes from Russia and the CIS are an increasingly profitable area for Western firms, even for those without offices in the region. LB looks at how long the trend can continue
It’s a time bomb,’ says Dimitry Afanasiev, chairman of the Russian law firm Egorov, Puginsky, Afanasiev & Partners. ‘Given the fact that at some point some of these commercial contracts are going to blow up into a dispute then I think the English legal market is going to see Russian business for a long, long time.’ Continue reading “Russian cases for Russian lawyers”
As the number of international arbitrations has grown, so too have calls for a speedier and more cost-effective process. However, the apparatus of international arbitration remains strong in the face of criticism
International arbitration, with the twin props of the New York Convention and the Panama Convention, is the safety net above which the daredevils of cross-border business perform. Its integrity and proper functioning are fundamental. But as international arbitration has grown and evolved, so too have a few of its imperfections.
