We have extensive experience of representing clients in arbitrations, both internationally and at home.  We are also regularly called on to advise on the drafting of appropriate arbitration clauses in commercial agreements.

There are many advantages of arbitration, not least of which are confidentiality, flexibility of procedures which frequently make it a quicker and cheaper alternative, less formality in the process, and the advantage of being able to have the dispute determined by somebody familiar with the subject matter of the dispute.  In international disputes the advantage of being able to enforce awards in New York Convention jurisdictions (which now include most countries where our clients would expect to do business) is considerable, as is the flexibility of being able to deal with different languages, cultures and laws in any dispute.

The Arbitration Act 1996 governs all arbitrations in England and provides for very limited rights of appeal.  So quick finality is achieved. 

The appropriate choice of tribunal, a proper consideration of the right strategy for each dispute, and appropriate use of the procedures available under the 1996 Act and under the particular institutional rules that govern the arbitration, are all vital to ensure the best possible chance of success from the process and are all key to our approach.

The major arbitral institutions all have their own particular rules for the conduct of the arbitrations before them and you will find that we are very familiar with them.  In particular, we are regularly before the ICC International Court of Arbitration, the London Court of International Arbitration and the London Maritime Arbitrators Association, amongst others.

We have rights of audience before arbitral tribunals and are therefore able to deal with advocacy in appropriate cases.  Stephen Ralph is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and sits as an arbitrator in partnership matters, and has dealt with many arbitrations on behalf of clients in commercial matters.  Mathew Rea is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and regularly handles disputes before the London Court of International Arbitration and the ICC International Court Arbitration.  Sarah Radford is an Associate of the Chartered Institute.  Other members of the team regularly deal with arbitration matters, frequently involving substantial amounts and a number of different jurisdictions.

Examples of some of the arbitrations we have recently handled include:

• An LCIA arbitration in London relating to a contract for the sale of steam coal from Indonesia.
• An ICC arbitration in London relating to a $20 Million claim concerning the shipment of coal to India and issues of quality.
• An LCIA arbitration for a Swiss company in relation to the sale of electro-voltaic copper cathodes  to a Turkish company
• ICC arbitration in Zurich for a Portuguese company in relation to the sale of shares in a cement company
• LCIA arbitration for a Cypriot company in relation to the purchase of a shipment of chrome concentrates from Brazil
• ICC arbitration in Singapore for a Swiss company in relation to the purchase of a bulk shipment of coal from Indonesia
• Potential arbitration for a Cypriot company in relation to investments made into diamond exploration production projects in Africa
• LCIA arbitration for a listed English company in relation to delivery of Russian pig iron to the Czech Republic
• A high profile $1.6b multi-jurisdictional joint venture dispute in the LCIA relating to shareholdings in a metal production facility in Russia
• LCIA arbitration for a Cypriot company in relation to the sale of bulk shipments of coking coal from China to India