Tribunal secretaries can make proceedings faster, cheaper, and, in some respects, can protect the integrity of the resulting award. They do this by lessening the tribunal's administrative burden, allowing it to concentrate on its core work of considering the dispute and coming to a decision. Despite these potential benefits, the position of tribunal secretary has attracted a degree of criticism, at the heart of which is the fear that a secretary will exercise the tribunal's decision making power. A recent [...]

8th ASIA PACIFIC MEDIATION FORUM CONFERENCE The Future of Mediation in the Asia Pacific Region Da Nang Vietnam 11th-13th November 2017 The Asia Pacific Mediation Forum (APMF) Executive and Vietnam Conference Organising Committees invite potential conference presenters to submit a 300 word biography and a 500 word abstract of a proposed conference paper, workshop or poster by July 10th, 2017. All presenters will be required to register and pay for the conference. The link to the soon to be launched [...]

Visit ACICA's Website HERE to take the survey.

The Hon T F Bathurst AC Chief Justice of New South Wales Off With The Wig: Issues That Arise For Advocates When Switching From The Courtroom To The Negotiating Table Australian Disputes Centre 30 March 2017   READ FULL SPEECH HERE     Event Wrap Up On Thursday, 30 March 2017, the Australian Disputes Centre (“ADC”) was proud to invite the Honourable Chief Justice of New South Wales, Tom F Bathurst AC to address an audience of reputed barristers, legal practitioners [...]

On 16 March 2017, the Australian Disputes Centre was delighted to host two of Australia’s leading experts in Aboriginal Land Rights and Native Title. As a follow on to the ADC’s highly successful Land Rights seminar in 2016, Ms Helen Shurven of the National Native Title Tribunal (NNTT) and Mr Stephen Wright of the Deerubbin Local Aboriginal Land Council (DLALC) returned to the ADC to conduct a seminar on the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in Land Rights disputes. [...]

The ICC publishes its report on the use of international arbitration in financial disputes. Litigation has traditionally been the forum of choice for dispute resolution in international finance. This preference for litigation prompted the International Chamber of Commerce Commission on Arbitration and ADR (the ICC) to set up a Task Force to study financial institutions' perceptions and experience of international arbitration. The report, published on 9 November 2016, is the product of interviews with approximately 50 financial institutions and banking [...]

In recent years, leading arbitral institutions have been developing innovative ways to promote efficiency and reduce costs in arbitration proceedings, especially in relation to lower value claims. The new version of the ICC Arbitration Rules ("ICC Rules") which entered into force on 1 March 2017 provides such innovations, which are discussed below. Expedited Procedure for Disputes in the Amount of USD 2 million or less The most important change in the new ICC Rules 2017 is the introduction of the Expedited [...]

In Dawood Rawat v The Republic of Mauritius (Rawat), an investment treaty tribunal was tasked with deciding competing applications for interim measures. In dealing with the parties' requests, the Tribunal addressed a number of current issues in international arbitration, including the tests for interim measures and security for costs, the link between third-party funding and access to justice and the principles that apply where a Most Favoured Nation (MFN) clause is invoked to establish jurisdiction. Read Full Article Here - Case comment [...]

WDR Delaware Corporation v Hydrox Holdings Pty Ltd  Background WDR, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lowes, a US-based home improvement company, entered into a joint venture agreement with Woolworths, an Australian-based retail company, to open hardware and home improvement stores in Australia and New Zealand. The joint venture agreement spawned Hydrox Holdings Pty Ltd, a registered Australian company. Woolworths owned two thirds of the shares in Hydrox and Lowes (through WDR) owned the other third. Hydrox has always operated at [...]

It sounds miraculous. Using the scent of lavender or lemon and serving hot drinks to parties can help them solve problems more creatively and act more reasonably. Some legal commentators claim the integration of mediation and neuroscience will revolutionise the process of settling cases. But is this touting of neuroscience research just the latest fad in the field, the phrenology of the 21st century? What does it add to practice of mediation? Read Full Article HERE  Jean Di Marino was [...]