Hastened by the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, on 28 December 2018, the UK deposited its Instrument of Accession to the 2005 Hague Convention on choice of courts agreements (due to take effect in the UK two days after Brexit on 1 April 2019). The Convention does a similar thing for court judgments backed by an exclusive jurisdiction clause as the New York Convention does for arbitral awards; it mandates enforcement subject to limited exceptions. Given that the EU is another major contracting party to the Hague Convention, accession is an obvious way to preserve some of the ease of enforcement of UK judgments in the EU. But the Hague Convention, which also boasts the US and China as contracting parties although yet to ratify, is part of a broader movement to transform the role that national courts play in international disputes.
In this podcast we explore whether developments, such as the wide-spread adoption of the Hague Convention, could have a transformative effect on international dispute resolution.
Singapore has been at the vanguard of these developments, establishing the Singapore International Commercial Court with flexible procedures and access to international advocates as well as recruiting highly respected judges. One of those highly respected judges, Sir Bernard Eder, tells us about its plans for the future. We also ask Sir Bernard for an update on the work of the Standing Committee of International Courts, and their plans for future collaboration including the development of common procedures and technology.
We then ask Sophie Lamb QC what clients are likely to make of these developments, and whether a reformed international court structure could pose an attractive alternative for clients.
Download on iTunes here.
Download on SoundCloud here.
This podcast was recorded in July 2018.
Sir Bernard Eder is an arbitrator, mediator and judge of the Singapore International Commercial Court. Formally a judge in the English High Court, he appeared as counsel in over 100 reported cases and in over 200 arbitrations.
Sophie Lamb QC is a litigation partner in the London office of Latham & Watkins and Global Co-Chair of the firm’s International Arbitration Practice. She is widely acknowledged as one of the leading arbitration practitioners of her generation.
No Comments