By Ahmed Abaza In 2016, the Egyptian Court of Cassation (the “Court of Cassation”) ruled, in a landmark decision, that the prosecuting attorney has the right to set aside an arbitral award despite not being a party to the arbitration agreement. For context, prosecuting attorneys in Egypt may intervene in civil proceedings addressing public policy violations, in addition to criminal proceedings, as further discussed below. In 2018, the Court of Cassation upheld this position in two additional decisions. In each of these cases, the Court of Cassation held that, while the Egyptian Arbitration Act ..read more

By Veronica Leokadia Dunlop, Brooklyn Law School In the final months of 2020, Singapore and India each passed key amendments to their respective arbitration acts. In doing so, the countries reinforced their individual commitment to arbitration and taken together this is a testament to the increasing popularity and endorsement of arbitration internationally. Singapore New disputes filed with the Singapore International Arbitration Centre hit a record high in 2020. In fact, since Covid-19 was classified as a pandemic in March of 2020, there has been an increase in cross-border disputes around th ..read more

By Zena Prodromou, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP/ Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Exceptional times call for exceptional measures. We have all been experiencing a global pandemic for almost a year now. In an era where the legal exception tends to become the mainstream rule, one is left to wonder how far can this reversal of odds go. Is the global public health crisis susceptible to calling into question standard principles of international arbitration such as the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards under the New York Convention (“NYC”)? Faced with this question, t ..read more

Cemre Cise Kadioglu (Ph.D. Candidate, Ankara University Graduate School of Social Sciences) & Sadaff Habib (Beale & Company Solicitors LLP) During the COVID-19 pandemic, travel disruptions and other restrictions have led to postponed arbitration hearings. For this reason, parties are increasingly demanding virtual hearings. This requires arbitral  institutions to have the necessary technology to conduct virtual hearings and to be prepared with a plan concerning the conduct of online hearings, particularly with regard to issues such as due process, cybersecurity and confidentiality ..read more

By Saniya Mirani, Advocate of the Bombay High Court Before the Covid-19 pandemic, virtual witness testimonies were prevalent in specific instances, such as when witnesses could not reach the venue because of illness. Article 8.1 of IBA Rules on Taking of Evidence in International Arbitration permits virtual testimony only at the discretion of the tribunal. The Commentary on the Rules establishes that the tribunal’s decision to allow video-conference should depend upon the “sufficiency” of the reasons given. The uncertainty of the return of normalcy has forced the parties to adapt to a new norm ..read more

Matthias Schrader and Dr. Johannes Schmidt (Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP) A one paragraph obiter dictum in an annulment decision rendered by the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court (the “Court”) on 16 January 2020 (26 Sch 14/18) reignited an old debate: are dissenting opinions in German arbitration proceedings permissible?  From an international perspective, dissenting opinions in arbitral awards are by no means unusual.  That is why it came as a surprise to many that the Court took a strong stance against written dissenting opinions in arbitral awards in German-seated arbitrations ..read more

By Caio de Faro Nunes, Attorney at Salusse, Marangoni, Parente e Jabur Advogados and Victoria Kromann Romero, Case Manager at CAM-CCMC Brazil’s new Franchising Law (Law No. 13.966/19) was published on December 27th, 2019 and became effective as of March 27th, 2020. One of the innovations (more of a confirmation) set forth by the new legislation is the provision contained in article 7, paragraph 1, which states that “the parties may resort to arbitration to resolve any disputes related to the franchise agreement” (free translation). At first glance, such disposition does not seem ..read more

By Wendy Gonzales Lozano (Legal Counsel ASUS and Board Member MAA) and Naimeh Masumy (ITA) The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in the interest in alternative dispute resolution, especially arbitrations conducted online. The greater utilization of online platforms and digitization has coincided with the growing frequency and sophistication of cyber-attacks. Reportedly, by 2021 a business will fall victim to cyber-attacks every 11 seconds. Therefore, it is critical for these platforms to provide secure digital environments where the exchange of communications, storage of evidence and fi ..read more

By Nakul Sachdeva and Mohit Mahla* The metaphor once used by Justice Burrough in 1824 – public policy is an ‘unruly horse’ (Richardson v. Mellish) still stands apt in the context of arbitration in India. Over the years, reliance on public policy to challenge an arbitral award or to resist its enforcement has become one of the main arrows in the quiver of the party challenging an arbitral award or resisting its enforcement. With time, however, the odds of the arrow hitting the target – especially in the enforcement of foreign awards proceedings – seems to have declined. What can be called as t ..read more

By Megan Betts and Evanthia Kasiora (Squire Patton Boggs) The COVID-19 pandemic has already created market volatility and adversely affected the financial position of companies and individuals around the world. This post explores two main ideas: (1) whether the pandemic is likely to result in an upturn in recourse to third party funding arrangements; and (2) whether arbitrating parties should anticipate increased exposure to applications for security for costs in international commercial arbitrations. Will Interest in Third Party Funding Increase Following the Impact of COVID-19? According to ..read more