Principles for an effective seat in international commercial arbitration

To mark the 100th anniversary of its foundation, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) held the London Centenary Conference from 1 to 3 July, which unveiled and debated the highly anticipated draft principles for an effective seat in international commercial arbitration.

The draft covers the law, judiciary, legal expertise, education, right of representation, accessibility and safety, facilities, ethics, enforceability, and immunity. It will be finalised in the coming weeks for wider publication along with the discussion from contributions made at the conference.

The principles were developed by an eminent group of 14 arbitration practitioners from around the world. The working group includes the Rt Hon Lord Goldsmith QC, PC; Professor Doug Jones AO; Judith Gill QC; Julian Lew QC; Constantine Partasides QC; Toby Landau QC; Karyl Nairn QC; Audley Sheppard QC; Wendy Miles QC; Peter Rees QC; the Hon Sir Vivian Ramsey; Dr Maxi Scherer; Lise Boseman, and CIArb's director general, Anthony Abrahams.

Professor Doug Jones AO, the chairman of the Centenary, previously stated: 'The aim of the Principles is to have a point of reference for development, debate and judgement in the future. They will set the scene for the next 100 years of the contribution of the Institute to learning and development of alternative dispute resolution around the world.'

The conference heard from many distinguished speakers, including CIArb patron the Hon Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon; the Rt Hon Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, PC; Neil Kaplan CBE, QC, SBS; the Rt Hon Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers KG, PC; the Hon Chief Justice Allsop AO; the Rt Hon Lord Goldsmith QC, PC; Toby Landau QC; the Rt Hon Baroness Kennedy QC, and Wendy Miles QC.

Lord Phillips led the conference with an elegant tribute to his brother-in-law, the late Lord Mustill, a former president of CIArb. Subsequently, Lord Neuberger, the president of the UK Supreme Court, considered the important responsibility of arbitrators in upholding the rule of law internationally. Chief Justice Menon moved on to examine Singapore as a safe seat for international arbitration. He observed that a mere 27 years ago, this was not the case. The amendment of the Legal Profession Act and the liberalisation of the legal sector in 2004 opened up Singapore as a more arbitration-friendly jurisdiction. In 2015, it is now considered by critics as one of the safest seats worldwide. Chief Justice Menon concluded that having principles in place could have avoided past mistakes.

Client's perspective

The rest of the conference was divided into five sessions. Session 1 scrutinised the client's perspective. Wolf von Kumberg advocated that arbitration is essential to doing business worldwide and upholding the international rule of law. Sapfo Constantanos of the Standard Chartered Bank highlighted the fact that enforcement is a key consideration to those involved in the process. She clarified the need for arbitrators to be willing and able to engage in the substance of the dispute as well as to understand the parties. Andrew Clarke of ExxonMobil made a plea for certainty and predictability.

Model law

Session 2 looked at the question: 'To model law or not to model law?' Professor George A Bermann concluded that there was good reason for the US to adopt the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) model law, but the 'home-grown' model law put it at a disadvantage. Harish Salve SA promoted the need for a model law as a neutral template to reassure international investors. The Rt Hon Lady Justice Gloster DBE remarked that there was no need to adopt the model law to replace the 1996 Arbitration Act. Consequently, Session 3 studied the relationship between national courts and arbitration.

Baroness Kennedy endorsed international arbitration as the preferred method of handling climate change justice. She made reference to the report 'Achieving justice and human rights in an era of climate disruption'.

Challenges ahead

Session 4 examined the role of the state in protecting the system of arbitration. Finally, Session 5 inspected challenges in the road ahead. While Susan Dunn called for certainty regarding security for costs and adverse costs, Toby Landau QC concluded that the biggest challenge ahead was to change collective mindsets.

Anthony Abrahams said: 'The Conference was organised to both celebrate the inception and development of CIArb over the last 100 years and set the scene for the development of ADR over the next Century. Taking on this task the London Conference has successfully explored the requirements of a "safe" seat to satisfy the needs of the parties, their advisors and witnesses, to achieve a resolution to their dispute that is enforceable, certain, binding and at a reasonable cost.'

Subsequently, in his closing speech, the president of CIArb, Charles Brown, highlighted the success of the ArbitralWomen and CIArb joint networking event, which focused on the role of young women in international arbitration. He emphasised the need for CIArb's policy to focus on addressing gender imbalance in the field.

CIArb is the world's leading professional membership body for arbitration and alternative dispute resolution