Choosing The Right Seat

On 27 January 2016, Nassif BouMalhab and John Lewis presented at the Kluwer Law Conference for In-house Counsel on the seat of arbitration.

A summary of the key take-away points from that presentation is set out below together with a quick reference guide highlighting the differences between the procedural framework applicable to arbitration seated in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and arbitration seated in Dubai (onshore).

The benefits of electing a DIFC seat and the enforcement of DIFC seated awards internationally

The seat of the arbitration is a fundamental element of any arbitration agreement.

There are at least three reasons why this is the case:

1. The seat determines the legal framework that will apply to the proceedings