Capacity arguments are time consuming, tricky and, usually for one side, a little tedious. It’s tempting to “park” them. That’s a mistake, thinks David Owen QC (of 20 Essex Street Chambers). He explains the value of addressing them early, and offers a step-by-step method to doing so

Green Paper rountable.  It may not be as existential as the Prince of Denmark’s, but a dilemma facing the EU is also profound. Should it delete article 1.2(d) of the Brussels I regulation, which creates a barrier between arbitration and the EU’s single justice area?

Green Paper roundtable. Critics of the proposals say New York and Geneva will benefit if these ideas proceed – but the Swiss lawyer present cast doubt on that hypothesis.

Green Paper Roundtable. Article 27A, it appears, would fail to achieve its goal, in the present form. How could it be redrafted more successfully, so that it will, on the one hand, "torpedo the torpedoes" but won't disturb the balance of kompetenz-kompetenz in any particular member state? A couple of ideas were proposed. 

Green Paper Roundtable. Burkhard Hess and Karen Vandekerckhove were the centrepieces of the roundtable, but how valuable did they find the occasion?

Green Paper Roundtable. Participants in the roundtable proposed other ways that the European authorities could tackle current concerns with the operation of arbitration and Brussels I.

Green Paper Roundtable. The portion of the roundtable on Article 27A proved bittersweet for the article's inventor, professor Burkhard Hess, as he rectified a major misconception about the operation of his ‘anti-torpedo torpedo' while discovering his own role in causing the confusion with imperfect drafting.

Green Paper roundtable. Supporters of a plan to bring arbitration into Europe's single justice area and their opponents went head-to-head in Brussels, recently, in the presence of the key official from the European Commission - to see if either could talk the other around.

Green Paper Roundtable. As well engaging on the detail, participants in the roundtable left wiser on the policy backdrop that's going to shape who carries the day.

In a troubling step, a court of appeal may have created a simple way for recalcitrant parties to avoid arbitration. By Federico Godoy and Juan Sonoda of Beretta Godoy in Buenos Aires

Is the re-opening of agreed contractual terms pursuant to Middle Eastern civil codes – a possible issue for credit crunch-related arbitrations? John Bellhouse (partner, London) and Luke Robottom (associate, Abu Dhabi) of White & Case explain

A pair of recent decisions shows lower courts looking too deeply into questions around an arbitration agreement – and the French Supreme Court’s determined response when they overstep the line. By Isabelle Michou, partner at Herbert Smith

Singapore’s highest court has upheld a clause that provided for ICC arbitration at the SIAC in a decision that offers more proof that some Asian courts are clamping down on strategic behaviour by losing sides. Richard Hill (partner) and Jessica Fei (counsel) of Fulbright & Jaworski LLP in Hong Kong report and offer comment

In a shift that could have far-reaching consequences for public services, Mexico is to allow arbitration between government entities and commercial contractors. By Salvador Fonseca of Chadbourne & Parke in Mexico City

Three recent cases should give encouragement to those who would police arbitral proceedings using costs awards. By Mark Kantor, Washington, DC attorney and member of Global Arbitration Review’s editorial board

A tribunal has modified and expanded the Salini criteria in a decision whose precise effect is intriguing but uncertain. By Matthew Weiniger (partner) and Matthew Page (associate) of Herbert Smith in London

The government has proposed regulating access to arbitration, to the concern of some. By Hernando Díaz-Candia (partner) of Squire Sanders & Dempsey SC in Caracas

Lawyers gathered at the offices of Gas de France Suez in Brussels recently for an event on how arbitration and mediation may evolve in the energy sector, with its complex and intricate commercial relations. Rosalie Daneels of the Association for International Arbitration, which organised the event, reports

A CIETAC delegation corrected some out-of-date impressions at an event in Germany recently. Christian Borris (partner) of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Cologne reports.

Forthcoming conferences September to December 2009

A recent event at the Peace Palace in The Hague looked at how different cultural attitudes inform information exchange and evidence in international commercial and investment arbitration. Kevin O’Gorman (partner, Fulbright & Jaworski LLP, Houston) reports

Polish lawyers had a crash course in the art of international arbitration advocacy recently, thanks to a local group and the Queen Mary University of London School of International Arbitration. Ania Farren (a Polish-English senior associate in the international arbitration team at Baker Botts LLP) reports

The Spanish Arbitration Club (CEA) let the economy dictate the theme its main annual meeting. Margarita Soto (associate) and Victor Bonnin Reynes (associate) from Garrigues reports

In this year’s Lalive lecture, Jan Paulsson encouraged tribunals to look to droit, the underlying principles of a legal order, when faced with dicatators and their loi. Nicolas Leroux (associate) of Lalive reports

Practitioners at a conference in Bern in June shared their experience of applying the Swiss Rules of International Arbitration over the last five years and considered how to further increase their visibility. Philippe Bärtsch of Schellenberg Wittmer reports

Jennifer Price (partner, King & Spalding) reports on this year’s event in Dallas, Texas on 18 June – including the outcome of audience voting on ethical issues

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