The Arbitration Brief

The FAIR Act: Bringing Consent Back to Arbitration

The House of Representatives passed the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act (“The FAIR Act”) on September 20, 2019, and the legislation has been introduced into the Senate. The FAIR Act’s purpose is to “prohibit pre-dispute arbitration agreements that force arbitration of future employment, consumer, antitrust, or civil rights disputes.” This opens up judicial system access…

Las Reglas De Praga y la Eficiencia de los Procedimientos

English Language Summary: Traditionally, international arbitration proceedings have been conducted under the influence of the common law and its adversarial system. Some factors identified as contributing to the increasing cost of arbitration proceedings include document production, fact witnesses and party-appointed experts. As a solution, a group of arbitration practitioners from civil law countries drafted The…

Arbitration Council of India: A Step Forward or Backward?

Significant changes have come this year to the Indian arbitration regime. A primary source of these changes can be seen through the insertion of Part 1A in the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (“ACA”) which prescribes for the establishment of the Arbitration Council of India (“ACI”). These amendments were based on the report of the…

The Achmea Judgment and its Repercussions

On January 15, 2019, a group of distinguished arbitrators, practitioners, and academics got together at American University Washington College of Law to discuss the most important decisions involving States in 2018. While the event consisted of two panels — one on disputes between States and the other on investor-State disputes — there was a decision…

Chinese Africa Joint Arbitration Center: A Solution to Trade Disputes between Africa and China

The increasing trade and investment cooperation between China and Africa, as well as the diversity of individual legal systems across African countries, create a growing need for neutral and cost-effective mechanisms for resolving commercial disputes between African and Chinese parties. These factors prompted the establishment of the Chinese Africa Joint Arbitration Center (CAJAC), which aims…