International Commercial Arbitration Practice: 21st Century Perspectives

The scope and importance of International Commercial Arbitration (ICA) has expanded exponentially in the last few decades and has become the natural and logical method to resolve international business and economic disputes. This collective work captures the development of ICA from different perspectives and uniquely brings together the ideas, suggestions and perspectives of in-house counsel as the most important users of ICA, along with outside counsel, arbitrators themselves, and major arbitration organizations who all help provide the service. Most, if not all, of the contributing authors have served as counsel or arbitrator in arbitrations and have further contributed, through their writings, teachings or activities in arbitral and other institutions, to the evolution of ICA covered by this collective work. Accordingly, International Commercial Arbitration Practice: 21st Century Perspectives is an indispensable tool for the reader–practitioner, arbitrator, academic, magistrate or student–not only to obtain useful general information on ICA practice today but to gain insightful views as to the influence of this institution in the settlement of international commercial disputes in specific economic areas, industries and commercial activities. International Commercial Arbitration Practice: 21st Century Perspectives brings the process alive and provides the reader with a useful practice guide whether he or she represents a client participating in an international commercial arbitration, is in-house counsel for a company considering arbitration as a possible method of dispute resolution, or is an arbitrator with cases at hand.

The book is organized by Parts which contain thematically related chapters. Part I deals with an overview of key elements in ICA practice and includes chapters on how arbitration is conducted under different legal systems such as common law, civil law, and shari'a law, as well as a chapter on cultural issues in international arbitration. Part II contains geographical regional overviews covering most regions of the world (Western Europe, Russia/NIS countries, Asia (particularly China & Hong Kong and the Indian Subcontinent), Middle East & North Africa, Latin America, the U.S., Canada, and Australia & New Zealand. Part III includes individual industry sector views of how ICA is conducted in individual industry and business sectors such as oil & gas, LNG, mining, construction, telecommunications, satellite communications, intellectual property, sports, banking & finance, insurance & reinsurance, securities, shipping & maritime, corporate shareholder and bankruptcy settings. These chapters are highly instructive because many of them were written by current or former in-house counsel in these industries or, in some cases, by outside counsel who focus on these industries. Part IV of the book describes recent trends at several major global commercial arbitration institutions such as the ICC, ICDR, LCIA, CPR and WIPO. Part V deals with questions of how technology has been changing ICA practice in recent years, including chapters relating to the use of technology by some major arbitral institutions, videoconferencing in ICA, and online arbitration of internet domain name and e-commerce cases.