Topic: Arbitrator challenges

A full recording of our GAR Connect Moscow Workshop can be found here.

14 May 2021

LINK TO DECISION ADDED: The ICC Court has disqualified German arbitrator Klaus Sachs from hearing a port developer’s claim against Georgia in light of his appointment by the state in an overlapping ICSID case – citing the risk he could prejudge issues and have access to information denied to his co-panellists.

12 March 2021

The ICC has refused to disqualify three arbitrators who issued a US$265 million award in favour of the Panama Canal Authority, ruling that their alleged failure to disclose certain professional relationships did not call their impartiality into question.

19 February 2021

A Swiss court has overturned a CAS award that handed a Chinese swimmer an eight-year doping ban – finding that the tribunal chair, former Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini, had shown bias in tweets criticising Chinese dog meat eating practices and referencing skin colour.

15 January 2021

Spain has failed to disqualify an ICSID tribunal over its refusal to hold an in-person hearing during the covid-19 pandemic – and the failure of two of the arbitrators to disclose their participation in the Frankfurt Moot.

16 December 2020

In the 35th Freshfields Arbitration Lecture – the first to be held virtually – LCIA director general Jacomijn van Haersolte-van Hof explored the impartiality and independence of arbitrators and the requirements of disclosure in light of the recent UK Supreme Court judgment in Halliburton v Chubb.

07 December 2020

A Spanish court has confirmed that an arbitrator must pay damages after he continued to act as legal adviser to two funeral service companies at the same time as he was arbitrating disputes between their shareholders.

04 December 2020

The consortium that oversaw the expansion of the Panama Canal has applied to set aside a US$265 million ICC award in favour of the canal authority, alleging that the arbitrators failed to disclose “multiple cross-appointments and inter-relationships”.

27 November 2020

UPDATED: The long-awaited UK Supreme Court ruling in Halliburton v Chubb is out, unanimously dismissing the appeal over apparent bias and naming the arbitrator at the centre of the controversy as Kenneth Rokison QC.

27 November 2020

Counsel who took part in the Halliburton v Chubb appeal before the UK Supreme Court, representing the parties and interveners, have shared their views on the judgment.

27 November 2020