International Arbitration

Many of our clients elect to have their disputes resolved by International Arbitration for a variety of reasons including confidentiality, the relative ease of enforcing awards abroad and party autonomy.

Burness Paull has a dedicated International Arbitration team.  We have advised clients in relation to arbitrations for and against corporations and foreign states under the rules of the world’s leading arbitral institutions (including the International Court of Arbitration (the ICC), the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) and the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC)) as well as ad hoc arbitration under the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), investor state arbitration under the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and various maritime arbitrations under a variety of rules.  We represent clients from a range of sectors including: Energy and Oil & Gas, Banking and Finance, Natural Resources and Shipping.

We work closely with our clients on strategy and representation in disputes, and frequently also work on related work streams such as:

• High Court applications to support arbitral proceedings as well as in relation to the enforcement or annulment of arbitral awards;
• Interim and conservatory measures in other jurisdictions;
• Drafting International Arbitration clauses and advice on the appropriate seat and institution;
• The selection of Arbitrators;
• Working with third party funders where appropriate (see further here);
• Working with asset tracing firms (at all stages of disputes) to establish asset location and nature for the purposes of enforcement, and also as evidence to support interim relief.

Given the cross-border nature of international arbitration, we have invested heavily in developing relationships with the leading firms across the world and work with them to deal with our clients’ most challenging cross-border disputes – that includes acting with local co-counsel where necessary and where support enforcing awards outside England is required.