Cutting Up The Cake: Dividing Awards And Second-Guessing Foreign Courts

Cutting Up The Cake: Dividing Awards And Second-Guessing Foreign Courts

Winning a big court case or arbitration will be the culmination of many years work, but a new battle may soon thereafter ensue as the winning party chases defendants and their assets across the world in an attempt to convert a paper award handed down by the tribunal into hard cash.

A judgment or award which holds a party liable is of no value if that party's assets are located, and that party's affairs are conducted, in a State which will not enforce it. Whether a court in one country will enforce a judgment handed down in another is a complex question. In some cases countries will be party to reciprocal agreements about when one another's judgments will be recognised and enforced. In other cases there will be no such agreements and so the grounds on which enforcement may be declined vary both according to where a judgment is