DRS Thought Leadership

ICC Court goes digital with record-breaking live broadcast

  • 29 June 2018

More than 225,000 participants from all over the world tuned in to watch the International Court of Arbitration’s first ever live-broadcast from a major event.

Broadcast online direct from ICC’s 4th Asia Conference on International Arbitration on 27 June, the live streaming from Hong Kong covered keynote speeches by ICC Court President Alexis Mourre, ICC Court Secretary General Alexander G. Fessas and Hong Kong Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng as well as the conference’s opening session looking at arbitration opportunities arising from China’s Belt and Road initiative.

The broadcast marked the largest audience that media company Lawyers Talk had ever received for an English-speaking broadcast.

The conference itself was attended by 200 participants from more than 30 countries, whose in person attendance allowed them to benefit from the event’s networking and engagement opportunities, and covered a range of topics impacting today’s arbitration landscape. As well as issues relating to “Belt and Road: Infrastructure and risk on an unprecedented scale”, conference session were also held on “Arbitral Tribunals & Courts: the Eve of a New Era?”, “Conflict of Interests: Beyond the IBA Guidelines?” and “60 Years of the New York Convention – Still in its Infancy?”

Half an hour into the conference at 9.30 am local time, the number of online participants had reached 80,000. By the time the broadcast ended at 11.40am, viewing figures had reached 169,000. The online video has now received over 280,000 views, demonstrating ICC’s leading role and position in international arbitration and the importance of the conference to arbitration and business communities worldwide. The live-stream also marked a digital shift for ICC, to be followed by the ICC Court’s first paperless conferences in New York and in Miami later this year.

Celebrating 10 years of ICC presence in Asia in 2018, a number of other events also took place in Hong Kong this week. On Tuesday 26 June, the ICC Institute of World Business Law held its Advanced Training on Oral Advocacy in International Arbitration under the theme The Good, the Bad and the in between. More than 70 participants attended the training.

On the afternoon of Thursday 28 June, a plenary session was held at the conference hall of Department of Justice of HKSAR. Around 50 ICC Court Members attended the session to consider cases submitted by the Secretariat. That evening, 200 local and international practitioners joined ICC to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the ICC Court’s Hong Kong case management office. The celebration of ICC’s continuing strong presence in Asia took place at the Bankers Club. With established presence in Hong Kong and Singapore, the Court will continue providing its flagship arbitration services to clients throughout Asia in the years to come.

ICC’s Advanced Arbitration Academy for Asia also kicked off the first of its eight workshops. The workshop examined the appointment of arbitrators and was attended by 40 selected participants from 13 jurisdictions.