K&L Gates’ Arbitration World, Spring 2008

By K&L Gates attorneys Peter R. Morton, Ian Meredith, John L. Boos, Joanna A. Diakos.

Arbitration World is an update for clients and contacts on recent development in international arbitration law and practice.

Welcome to the Fifth Edition of Arbitration World, a publication from K&L Gates’ Arbitration Group which aims to highlight significant developments and issues in international arbitration for executives and in-house counsel with responsibility for dispute resolution.

In this edition, in terms of U.S. developments, we look at the growth of “class arbitration” in the U.S. and Canada, review the case law on challenging the scope of submission to an arbitrator in the U.S. and take an early look at an important Supreme Court case regarding the scope for Federal Courts to review arbitral awards as well as the proposed “Arbitration Fairness Act.”

We consider two aspects of the continuing development of the ethical framework for arbitrators:  guidelines from the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators on the interviewing of prospective arbitrators and a U.S. Court of Appeal case on the duty to investigate potential conflicts of interest.

We report on a key English House of Lords case on the construction and separability of arbitration clauses, review an interesting English tribunal decision in the sports arbitration field, and assess the evolution of Germany as a forum for international arbitration.

Contributors from our Hong Kong and London offices discuss multi-cultural influences affecting international arbitration, with an Asian element.  We also look back at our International Arbitration Symposium hosted at the City Club in San Francisco, October 2007.

Finally, we include our usual round-up of developments from around the world.

View the Spring 2008 edition here.