ICC Court announces new operations in Brazil

The project was formally approved by ICC Executive Board in October 2016, paving the way for the Court to establish a team responsible for the administration of Brazilian domestic cases, or cases which present a strong connection with Brazil.

Efforts to establish a Court presence in Sao Paulo follow the opening of ICC Brazil in 2014 and established presences of the Court in New York, Singapore and Shanghai.

The new office will run in conjunction with the ICC Court Secretariat’s Iberian/Latin American team that will remain based at ICC Headquarters in Paris.

According to ICC Dispute Resolution Statistics, Brazil ranks third in the top-ten list of countries with most the parties involved in ICC Arbitrations, accounting for close to 30% of all parties in the Latin American and Caribbean region in 2016.

ICC Court President Alexis Mourre said: “The augmented presence of the Court Secretariat in Sao Paulo is a direct response to an ever expanding Latin American arbitration market and a continuation of our efforts to bring ICC Arbitration services even closer to users in Latin America and beyond.”

ICC will mark the presence of the Court in Brazil, at its upcoming 2017 ICC Brazilian Arbitration Day in Sao Paulo on 4 May.

Mr Mourre will feature as a keynote speaker at the event, proffering his views on the arbitration landscape in the region as well as other developments pertaining to ICC dispute resolution.

Taking place in English and Portuguese, this annual event gathers lawyers, corporate counsel, arbitrators and academics from across Brazil and other countries who come together to keep pace with domestic and international arbitration developments in Brazil and Latin America.

An ICC Young Arbitrators Forum is also scheduled to take place on the eve of Brazilian Arbitration Day, to engage and inform young arbitration practitioners and users.