
ADR Professionals as Both Mediators and Arbitrators in the Same Matter
This article describes the virtues and pitfalls of a neutral party serving as both the mediator and as the arbitrator in the same matter, where the disputing parties have adopted a two-step Med-Arb or an Arb-Med process.

Arbitration in the Age of Covid: Examining Arbitration's Move Online
This article discusses how recent jurisprudence and institutional promulgations may impact Online Arbitration ('OArb'), and offers considerations for courts, policymakers, and practitioners shepherding OArb development.

2020 Survey of TMT Sector Investor-State Arbitration
This article aims to consider any new trends in the Technology, media, and telecommunications (“TMT”) area, and to offer some thoughts on the potential implications for investors and states.

New 2021 ICC Arbitration Rules
As it continues to enjoy record caseloads during the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce sets out its vision for the future of dispute resolution with newly updated arbitration rules.

FINRA DRS Postpones In-Person Hearings through Beginning of April
FINRA’s Office of Dispute Resolution Services (“DRS”) has again administratively postponed all in-person arbitration and mediation hearings.

Arbitration Tips-N-Tools (TNT): Round 2
In this round of Arbitration Tips-N-Tools, Professor Amy Schmitz asks some of the leading arbitration practitioners about planning and executing a preliminary arbitration hearing, especially in a digital world and faced with the complexities of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Canada – Mediator Appointed as Arbitrator for Disputes Involving Settlement Negotiated During Later Arbitration
In the Corporation of the Township of South Stormont v. The Kraft Heinz Company following an unsuccessful mediation phase regarding disputes under a 2011 agreement, the parties engaged in arbitration during which they negotiated a 2017 settlement and agreed to arbitrate disputes before the mediator.

Introducing Arbitral Courts—Part Arbitration, Part Court
In recent years, governments from the state of Delaware to the Emirate of Dubai have created institutions specially designed to adjudicate transnational commercial disputes, which are hybrids between courts and arbitration, or “arbitral courts.”

Halliburton v Chubb: UK Supreme Court Clarifies Position on Arbitrators’ Duties of Impartiality and Disclosure in London-seated Arbitrations
In Halliburton Company v Chubb Bermuda Insurance Ltd, the UK Supreme Court dismissed Halliburton’s appeal regarding its application to remove an arbitrator for apparent bias on the facts and emphasised the importance of arbitrator impartiality in London-seated arbitrations.

Arbitrator Awards Nearly $20 Million in ‘Egregious’ Discrimination Cases
An arbitrator awarded nearly $20 million to two former employees of a St. Louis-area janitorial company in what he said were some of the most egregious employment-discrimination cases he’d ever seen.

Canada – Trial Judge and Appeal Court Rely on Litigants’ Agreement to Repurpose Arbitral Award Findings of Fact
The Court of Appeal in Sky Clean Energy Ltd. v. Economical Mutual Insurance Company noted that the litigants had agreed that findings of fact made in an arbitration award would bind the trial judge and dismissed the appellant’s claims alleging interpretative error in an insurance contract.

Eleventh Circuit Upholds $3 Million Sanction FINRA Award Against Morgan Stanley
In an unpublished per curiam Opinion, the Eleventh Circuit, has affirmed unanimously a Southern District of Florida decision confirming a FINRA Award of over $3 million in sanctions against Morgan Stanley.

A Firmer View on Conflicts of Interest (Part 2)
This article discusses the differences between the Brazilian and English disclosure regimes, such as there is no codified duty to disclose in England and secondly, the exclusion of the word 'independence' from the English Arbitration Act, 1996 which appears in Article 14(1) of the Brazilian Arbitration Act 1996.

Arbitration Conversation No. 42: Prof. Victoria Sahani of Arizona State University
In this episode of the Arbitration Conversation Amy interviews Prof. Victoria Shannon Sahani, Associate Dean of Faculty Development and Professor of Law at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University.

Arbitration Tips-N-Tools (TNT): Round 1
In this round of Arbitration Tips-N-Tools, Professor Amy Schmitz asks some of the leading arbitration practitioners about filing arbitration claims, especially in a digital world and faced with the complexities of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Vodafone v. India Award: Risky Business of Retroactive Taxation
In a recent, still unpublished award, India lost an arbitration dispute initiated by Vodafone because India had imposed a hefty tax bill of several billion dollars retroactively.

Arbitration Conversation No. 41: George Friedman, Editor-in-Chief of Securities Arbitration Alert
In this episode of the Arbitration Conversation Amy interviews George H. Friedman, publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the Securities Arbitration Alert and principal of George H. Friedman Consulting, LLC, providing expert advice on arbitration and mediation in general and the FINRA dispute resolution forum in particular.

California Court of Appeal Extends the Reach of Section 16600 to Upset Arbitration Award Because of Alleged Overly Broad Confidentiality Provisions
In an expansive recent ruling, the California Court of Appeal in Brown v. TGS Management Co., LLC reversed a judgment confirming an arbitration award, examining the arbitrator’s findings, and ultimately invalidating confidentiality provisions in an employment agreement under Business and Professions Code section 16600.

Recent Developments in India-Related Arbitration
This article considers the recent Arbitration related developments in India such as the court decisions covering the limitation period for enforcement of foreign awards, the bilateral investment treaty updates, amendments to the Indian Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996, etc.

'Tis the Season to Mediate or Arbitrate?
As an extraordinary year draws to a close and a brighter one (hopefully) beckons, we consider whether the compromises and sacrifices everyone has had to make to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 will inspire a greater willingness to rely on non-contentious means to resolve international commercial disputes.

Canada – Protracted Costly Litigation Highlights “Perils Of Not Having A Dispute Resolution Mechanism Built Into A Contract"
In North Pacific Properties Ltd v. Bethel United Churches, Justice Anna Loparco determined that the parties to an existing contract had not entered into a binding agreement to arbitrate disagreements and therefore had lost the opportunity to engage in less costly, less protracted dispute resolution.

SEC Approves FINRA Chair Honoraria Increases
FINRA’s Board of Governors in December 2019 authorized staff to submit a rule filing with the SEC increasing certain Chairperson honoraria and the SEC has now approved the proposal.

The Launch of the 2021 ICC Rules of Arbitration
On 1 January 2021, nine years after the last major overhaul of the ICC Rules of Arbitration and less than four years after a very limited revision of these Rules in 2017, a new version of the ICC Rules of Arbitration will come into force.

Supreme Court Asked to Resolve Circuit Split Over Discovery in Aid of Private Commercial Arbitration Seated Outside the United States
On December 7, 2020, Servotronics, Inc. filed a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether parties may seek discovery in the U.S. for use in commercial arbitration proceedings seated outside the U.S. under 28 U.S.C. Section 1782, a vigorously debated question that has increasingly divided lower courts.

Arbitration Conversation No. 40: Prof. Nicolas Vermeys of the University of Montreal Law School
In this episode of the Arbitration Conversation Amy interviews Prof. Nicolas Vermeys, Dean of Programs at the Université de Montréal’s Faculté de droit, a researcher at the Centre de recherche en droit public (CRDP), and the associate director of the Cyberjustice Laboratory.