London Calling - International Commercial Arbitration

The judgment by the Court of Appeal in Fiona Trust and Holding Corporation v Yuri Privalov (2007) is being hailed as a decision that will help maintain London's reputation as one of the leading centres for international commercial arbitration.

In many disputes, one party is keen to achieve a decision on its claims while the opponent wishes to delay and frustrate the dispute resolution process. Companies increasingly provide for disputes to be settled by arbitration when they make international agreements because of the relative ease of enforcing arbitration awards throughout the world and the possibility of agreeing to hold arbitrations in a neutral venue. However, when a dispute does arise, they may still try to resort to delaying tactics, including challenges to the arbitration process itself.