Update – What Is The Requisite Experience For An Arbitrator?

On 13 March 2018, the Court of Appeal reversed the Commercial Court decision in Tonicstar Limited v (1) Allianz Insurance PLC; (2) Sirius International Insurance Corporation. Legatt LJ gave the leading judgment in which it was held that a QC with more than ten years' experience in insurance legal practice is eligible for the appointment as arbitrator for the purposes of a clause requiring arbitrators to have "not less than ten year's experience of insurance or reinsurance". Therefore, the term is not restricted only to experience obtained in the insurance or reinsurance industry "itself" which the Commercial Judge considered to be separate and distinct from the experience of insurance or reinsurance law (although it should be noted that the judge at first instance said that, uninhibited by authority, he may well have decided that the QC satisfied the requirements of the clause, but he considered himself bound by the decision of the Commercial Court in Company X v