CIArb’s New Guidelines: Safe Ports for Arbitral Storms III

Members and non-members of the Institute came together on 26 April 2018 for an informative panel discussion on the new Chartered Institute of Arbitrators’ Guidelines which offer international arbitration practitioners an authoritative guide for dealing with the challenging scenarios that often arise in practice.

Kindly hosted by Maitland Chambers, the three-arbitrator discussion panel consisting of Paul Klaas FCIArb (captain arbitrator), Simon Nesbitt QC, FCIArb (barrister arbitrator) and chaired by Tim Hardy FCIArb (CIArb dignitary arbitrator) began with a welcome for all participants.

Simon Nesbitt QC started with a brief introduction of himself, his role in the former events focussing on of the CIArb International Arbitration Practise Guidelines and an explanation of the evening’s format and ‘illustrative scenario’ which was based upon a real case. 

Tim Hardy discusses the guidelines in further detail, divulging specifically what went into the formulation, the team’s thought processes and overview of each specific guideline such as ‘Jurisdiction and Challenges’, ‘Managing Arbitrations and Procedural Orders’, ‘Documents-Only Arbitration’ and ‘Drafting Arbitral Awards: ‘General’, ‘Interest and Costs’.

Tim ends with a charming analogy of some satisfying feedback he had received for the existing guidelines, from his son, who relied upon them while practising in Singapore. 

The evening then moved onto the actual scenario which concerned a GPS malfunction that allegedly grounded a crew-ship called ‘Royal Majesty’.

The unfortunate event took place within the area of Erewhon (which is explained to be an anagram of ‘nowhere’), the relevance of which was to ensure participants and those privy would not rely on their specific jurisdictional background, promoting them to use their intrinsic sense of right or wrong, which ultimately showed that the CIArb Guidelines are intended to be applied internationally. 

Finally, the audience was thanked for their participation and interest which ended with a networking drinks reception, all leading to yet another successful edition of this event. Register your interest if you wish to attend next year’s debate.

For those reading online, the CIArb Guidelines are accessible by clicking here.