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The ICC International Court of Arbitration registered its record-breaking 30,000th case in 2025, and the ICC’s new 2026 rules eliminate mandatory terms of reference for the first time in more than a century. In this episode of The Arbitration Acumen Podcast, J.P. Duffy, a partner in Bracewell’s international arbitration practice, sits down with Claudia Salomon, president of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, to unpack both the 2025 statistics and the new 2026 ICC rules. J.P. and Claudia last spoke together on a podcast about the 2021 ICC rule amendments. This conversation picks up where that one left off, from a record-breaking year of cases to a wave of rule changes reshaping how ICC arbitrations run.
In this episode, they cover:
- 2025 Annual Statistics
- The Rise of “Domestic” ICC Arbitration
- Gender Diversity Among Arbitrators
- The New 2026 ICC Rules
Claudia also looks ahead to the rest of her term, including a new ICC office opening in Africa and the search for her successor.
Episode Highlights
[2:57] A Record Year: 30,000 Cases and a Truly Global Docket. Claudia unpacks the ICC’s 2025 statistics, released July 2, including the institution’s 30,000th case, more than 880 new filings, parties from 147 jurisdictions, arbitrations seated in over 120 cities in more than 70 countries and arbitrators from 93 countries.
[7:40] Why “Domestic” ICC Cases Keep Growing. J.P. and Claudia dig into the rising share of ICC cases involving parties from the same country, more than 30 percent in 2025, with US parties the top nationality for domestic filings and growing use of the mechanism in Brazil, China and the Gulf states.
[21:39] The Numbers Behind a Decade of Gender Diversity Gains. The share of women arbitrators nominated by parties has more than tripled since 2015. Nearly 45 percent of arbitrators appointed directly by the ICC court are now women.
[26:11] Terms of Reference No Longer Mandatory Under the New 2026 Rules. Claudia explains the ICC’s decision to eliminate the terms of reference as a required step after more than a hundred years as part of a broader package of 2026 rule changes that also adds express early determination and ex parte emergency relief.
[38:39] Inside HEAP: A Three-Month Track for Final Awards. The Highly Expedited Arbitration Procedure, or HEAP, is an opt-in process with no monetary threshold designed to deliver a final, binding award within three months of the case management conference.
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