Choosing The BVI As The Seat Of Arbitration

Until recently Russian and CIS clients would often, without hesitation, choose London as the seat of arbitration and the London Court of International Arbitration Rules as the rules governing the arbitral procedure. Today, parties now opt for more non-traditional alternatives, and in so doing recognise that there is no strict correlation between the choice of the seat and the arbitration rules adopted by the parties.

The arbitration rules set out the parties' agreement about the procedural framework of the arbitration. In the absence of the parties' agreement, the arbitration act of the relevant seat provides the statutory framework for the arbitral procedure. The "seat" in actuality is a legal fiction of sorts. It is not the geographical location of the arbitration proceedings that is its venue; it is the law governing the arbitration procedure. This can be significant, as it will also determine the degree of involvement or intervention which the courts