NRF Covid Resolve operates on a single online platform, has a fixed price, aims to achieve an outcome within four to six weeks, and can be used for disputes between companies or disputes between businesses within the same group.
Parties may opt for a mediation process only, a mediation process followed by documents only arbitration or an arbitration only. The mediators and arbitrators are selected from a pre-agreed panel of independent sector specialists available through the platform.
The launch of NRF Covid Resolve is a response to the rise in corporate disputes as companies struggle to fulfil contractual obligations during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the fact commercial contracts generally prescribe formal, lengthy and costly mechanisms for dispute resolution.
Meanwhile, the financial impact of the pandemic means companies are keen to get back to business as quickly as possible and in-house legal departments are under pressure to conserve legal spend, particularly in the energy sector due to the oil price crash.
Anne Lapierre, Norton Rose Fulbright’s global head of energy and developer of NRF Covid Resolve, said: ‘The energy industry faces unprecedented challenges from COVID-19, compounded by the wider transformation of the sector as it undertakes the essential transition away from fossil fuels.
‘As such, we feel it our duty to come up with practical solutions to help clients get back to what they do best as quickly as possible. Our unique solution to managing the influx of disputes will do exactly that. Taking this product from conception to launch in under two months is an achievement in which our energy and disputes lawyers should take great pride.’
The service uses a documents-only procedure (save for the option of a one-day virtual mediation hearing, if selected), with a limit on the length of submissions in a prescribed form and number of supporting precedent documents (which are loaded through the platform). This allows in-house counsel to conduct the process themselves rather than instruct external lawyers.
Neil Q Miller, energy disputes partner, said: ‘Businesses, governments, judiciary and commentators have all emphasised the need for a different approach to resolve the volume of potential claims arising from COVID-19.
‘Many such disputes are not suited to lengthy, procedurally burdensome and costly traditional dispute resolution methods, with businesses being damaged by the impasse created from managing many live disputes with no way of efficiently resolving them. NRF Covid Resolve allows clients through their legal departments to adopt a fast track process and effectively plan, manage and resolve these claims whilst controlling external legal spend, which is a priority now more than ever.’
