2023 – the centenary of the Geneva Protocol
Next year marks the centenary of an event largely ignored at the time and almost forgotten about now: the Geneva Protocol on Arbitration Clauses. The Protocol, though, has a significance far beyond the shallow memories of the 21st Century. It was the first ratified international treaty on the enforcement of private arbitration agreements. It laid […]
Include a choice of law to govern the arbitration clause – after the UK Supreme Court’s decisions in Kabab-Ji and Chubb
The Supreme Court in its Kabab-Ji decision emphasised the importance of lawyers agreeing on the law to govern the arbitration clause as distinct from that to apply to the substance of the contract. It declined to enforce an award rendered in France against which an application to set aside the award has already failed in […]
Insolvency and English arbitration law – a quick reminder
Financial Conduct Authority v Carillion Plc [2021] EWHC 2871 (Ch) reminds arbitration lawyers that section 130(2) of the Insolvency Act requires the claimant to seek the leave of the insolvency court to start an arbitration against a company where a winding-up order has been made or a provisional liquidator appointed. Section 130(2) says: When a […]
The US Supreme Court and the minimalist interpretation of Article II of the New York Arbitration Convention
In an unusual sighting in 2020, Justice Thomas wrote a pretty good judgement for the whole court, explaining that waiver or notions of estoppel could be applied bya court to disable a ground for refusing enforcement of an arbitration agreement under Article II(3) of the New York Convention: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/18-1048_8ok0.pdf. This is all about the disabling […]