This article was originally published in IFC Review, June
2020.
The optimists among us look for "silver-linings" in
these challenging times. One of these is affirmation of our
capacity for innovation and adaptation as individuals and
businesses, and our societies have adjusted, and innovated in
response to the dramatic restrictions imposed on our way of
life.
However, adaptation is not possible without the flexibility to
achieve it. And flexibility is the hallmark of dispute resolution
through arbitration. By contrast, courts are innately conservative
and inflexible, with byzantine procedural rules and outdated
traditions.
With the leading offshore financial centres (OFCs) promoting
themselves as international arbitration centres, the COVID-19
pandemic provided an opportunity to showcase the advantages of
arbitration as a form of dispute resolution.
