Have you heard of the arbitration guidelines of the Law Institute of Victoria? Neither had Justice Croft when, in Robotunits Pty Ltd v Mennel, he had to consider an arbitration agreement that referred disputes to arbitration in accordance with these fictitious guidelines. This case demonstrates that Australian courts will uphold arbitration agreements where there is clear intention to refer disputes to arbitration even if the arbitration clause is poorly drafted. Background Mr Mennel and Robotunits Pty…
“Would you, dear arbitrator candidate, be prepared to meet with my client? They really want to know beforehand…
The Court of Appeal of Singapore has confirmed that minority shareholder claims under s. 216 of the Singapore…
The much awaited text of the TPP has been released. As anticipated, the Investment Chapter (Chapter 9) sets out protections for investors of each TPP State and the mechanism for investors to bring claims in the event a TPP State fails to comply with these protections. A summary of those protections and the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism is set out below. What is protected? The TPP Investment Chapter protects investments made by investors of…
Most major international arbitration rules require that an award rendered by a tribunal include the reasons upon which…
Confidentiality is now “opt-out” As of 14 October 2015, international arbitrations seated in Australia are confidential unless the…
Agreement has been reached on the long-awaited Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP is a free trade agreement between 12 Pacific Rim nations, including Australia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and the United States, which represent around 40% of global GDP and one third of world trade. The text of the TPP is still being finalised by the TPP States and is not yet available. Reports indicate that the TPP includes an Investment Chapter with a…
In the Hong Kong Court of First Instance case of KB v S (HCCT 13/2015), Justice Mimmie Chan,…
Nowadays high value M&A transactions and project structures can be very complex, in particular involving a number of…
Arbitral tribunals have the power under Singapore law to rule on their own jurisdiction, consistent with the widely recognised principle of Kompetenz-Kompetenz. In a recent decision, the Singapore High Court has confirmed that this power extends not only to questions concerning the validity or scope of any arbitration agreement under which the tribunal has been constituted, but also questions concerning the very existence of an arbitration agreement. This includes situations where a party to the…