Arbitration

Year in review: ICC Arbitration and ADR in 2015

  • 21 December 2015
ICC Arbitration and ADR

With less than two weeks until 2015 officially becomes 2016, ICC takes a look at some highlights of its Dispute Resolution Services of the past 12 months.

1. 10th International Commercial Mediation Competition

Renowned as ICC’s biggest educational event of the year, the 10th International Mediation Competition was the largest and most diverse yet. 67 teams from 34 countries competed in mock mediation sessions based on actual commercial disputes over the course of five days. This year’s winners were Rose Badruddin and Brandon Schrecengost from the University of Houston Law Center. Each received an internship at the ICC International Centre for ADR and the Centre for Effective Dispute for their competitive efforts.

2. New President of the Court of Arbitration

The ICC World Council elected Alexis Mourre of France as President of the Court of Arbitration on 9 June 2015 in Turin, Italy. Also appointed were 130 members from 80 countries including 17 Vice Presidents. Mr Mourre succeeded John Beechey of the United Kingdom who was elected president in 2009.

3. 5th ICC Young Arbitrators Forum (YAF) Global Conference and the Award of Honour

The 5th edition of the ICC YAF Global Conference was hosted by the prestigious Queen Mary University in London. Held on 26-27 June 2015, the event brought together young arbitration practitioners under the age of 40 from around the world. The two-day conference provided participants the opportunity to get involved in first-class debates and included a new exciting panel entitled, “Arbitration’s Got Talent!” John Beechey , the past President of the Court of Arbitration was also granted the first ever ICC YAF Award of Honour for his role in mentoring a new generation of arbitrators.

4. Three New Sets of Rules

Officially instituted on 1 February 2015, the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR replaced the current ICC Rules for Expertise with three new sets of rules: the Proposal of Experts and Neutrals, the Appointment of Experts and Neutrals and the Administration of Expertise Proceedings. Three launch events took place in Dubai, London and New York.

The ICC Banking Commission revised its DOCDEX rules, providing international bankers and traders with a more effective and efficient solution to settling disputes relating to documentary credits.

After three years of revision, the new ICC Dispute Board Rules were implemented on 1 October 2015. The amendments outline three specific services of dispute boards: the Avoidance of Disagreements, Informal Assistance with Disagreements and Formal Referral for a Conclusion. With greater importance made on dispute avoidance, resolving disputes can be resolved more efficiently and with less costs and expenses.

5. ICC Court of Arbitration tops the charts

According to a survey conducted by the Queen Mary University of London, ICC swept the chart by 31% lead as the preferred institution for improvements and innovations in international arbitration. This is due to ICC’s high standard of administration, excellent facilities and quality of staff. Neutrality and “internationalism” coupled with global presence and the ability to administrate arbitrations internationally were also taken into account. With 1,500 cases — a record-breaking number — being handled at any given time. 2015 has been an exceptional year for the ICC Court.

6. 13th ICC Miami Conference

The acclaimed annual conference was held 1-3 November 2015 and received a record attendance of 572 participants from 41 countries. The event featured discussions on the most current developments in the field. The theme for the sold out, advanced-level training was “Production of Documents.”

7. ICC at COP21: Conference on Climate Change Related Disputes

The ICC International Court of Arbitration hosted a groundbreaking event on 7 December 2015 during the two-week landmark Paris Climate Conference (COP21 ). The full-day forum discussed the possible uses of international arbitration and ADR mechanisms to resolve climate change related disputes. Featuring presentations from some of the world’s top legal practitioners, the event demonstrated how arbitration is an effective mechanism to resolve a variety of commercial, diplomatic and political disputes. The conference was one of the first of many actions that firmly establishes ICC’s support of businesses and governments coming together in pursuit of more effective methods in settling climate change disputes.

8. ICC Advanced Arbitration Academy

The final of eight one-day training programmes for the ICC Advanced Arbitration Academy for Central and Eastern Europe concluded on 18 December 2015. The highly sought after workshops received excellent feedback from all participants over the two-year period paving the way for a programme in the MENA region and Latin America.