header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us
21 January 2022 / Donny Surtani
Issue: 7963 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , ADR , Arbitration
printer mail-detail

Arbitration: 2021 in review

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.
69153
Reasons (for claimants) to be cheerful: Donny Surtani assesses the past year in international arbitration
  • The past 12 months have offered some positive developments for claimants in international arbitration cases, with key decisions providing greater certainty on governing law, enforcement and evasive debtors.

There have been some significant developments in (or relevant to) English law as it pertains to international arbitration in the past 12 months or so. In three key respects, the developments have been positive for claimants with strong claims that they wish to progress and monetise.

Greater certainty over governing law

Perhaps the most heralded decisions in English arbitration law in recent months were the Supreme Court’s rulings in Enka Insaat Ve Sanayi AS v OOO Insurance Company Chubb [2020] UKSC 38, [2020] All ER (D) 36 (Oct), and Kabab-Ji SAL (Lebanon) v Kout Food Group (Kuwait) [2021] UKSC 48, [2021] All ER (D) 89 (Oct).

Prior to these decisions, there had been some considerable uncertainty about how to ascertain the law governing an arbitration agreement

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All
Sponsored by
Slater Heelis—Charlotte Beck

Slater Heelis—Charlotte Beck

Partner and Manchester office lead appointed head of family

Civil Justice Council—Nigel Teasdale

Civil Justice Council—Nigel Teasdale

DWF insurance services director appointed to Civil Justice Council

R3—Jodie Wildridge

R3—Jodie Wildridge

Kings Chambers barrister appointed chair of R3 Yorkshire

NEWS
Read All
NLJ this week: Renters’ Rights revolution begins—brace for tribunal chaos

The abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 evictions marks the beginning of a ‘brave new world’ for England’s rental sector, writes Daniel Bacon of Seddons GSC

NLJ this week: Civil procedure gets a spring overhaul
Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation
NLJ this week: Why GP complaints are going nowhere
Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group
NLJ this week: Prenups meet a jurisdictional brick wall
A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision
NLJ this week: Has Rylands v Fletcher come back from the dead?
An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll