On 15 June 2021, the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes released its latest working paper as part of its Rules Amendment Project. In addition to proposing changes to the ICSID Convention and ICSID Additional Facility arbitration and conciliation, as covered in our earlier blog post, Working Paper 5 also refines the proposed … Read more

On Sunday, 20 June 2021, the Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC) launched its new International Arbitration Rules for public comment following extensive consultations with an international External Advisory Committee for the Revision of the AIAC Arbitration Rules (including Peter Godwin, Partner, HSF Kuala Lumpur). A copy of the draft rules can be found here. The … Read more

From 28 June 2021, Singapore will permit third-party funding of domestic arbitration proceedings, proceedings in the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) and related mediation proceedings. Before this, Singapore permitted third-party funding for international arbitration proceedings and related court and mediation proceedings only (as reported in our blog post of January 2017). In making these changes, … Read more

Herbert Smith Freehills has secured an important victory in Hong Kong proceedings with far-reaching consequences for arbitration disputes around the world. Many commercial contracts contain “escalation clauses” requiring parties to take certain steps before formal arbitration begins – such as a requirement to “negotiate in good faith” before starting arbitration. Previously, failure to comply with … Read more

In a previous post, we reported the Supplemental Arrangement Concerning Mutual Enforcement of Arbitral Awards between the Mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, which was concluded on 27 November 2020. The Supplemental Arrangement was a welcome development that clarified and removed certain restrictions in the mutual enforcement regime between Hong Kong and Mainland … Read more

There is no hiding from the fact that technology is changing the landscape of dispute resolution. Our latest podcast series “Revolution or evolution?” explores where, how and why this is happening. The first episode “Fences and ambulances”, which is in three parts and can be accessed here, talks about IT contracts and key themes encountered … Read more

A recent judgment of the Supreme Court of Queensland is a useful reminder of the willingness of Australian Courts to enforce broadly drafted arbitration agreements. The judgment also demonstrates the expansive view taken by Australian Courts with respect to arbitrating non-contractual claims. Whereas often in such cases the issue relates to whether the arbitration agreement … Read more

Herbert Smith Freehills has promoted eleven disputes lawyers to its partnership out of a total of 23 worldwide. The promotions in the disputes practice, which take effect on 1 May 2021, span across the firm’s international network. Of these new partners, four are arbitration specialists, reflecting the strength and importance of the practice area to … Read more