Anti-suit injunctions: Proceed avec précaution

• The recent surge in decisions on anti-suit injunctions in the presence of an arbitration clause has caused the English courts to grapple with the differences between the French and English legal systems.

Since 21 August of this year the English courts have reached five separate decisions relating to applications for anti-suit injunctions on essentially the same fact pattern: overseas parties seeking to restrain proceedings commenced in Russia based on an arbitration agreement governed by English law and the ICC Rules and seated in Paris. Such a combination of jurisdictions is certainly not uncommon: Paris is frequently chosen as the arbitration seat where it is neutral for both parties due to its arbitration friendly stance and English law enjoys enduring popularity worldwide as the governing law on merits. However, such cases have not generally been seen in the context of applications for anti-suit injunctions before the English courts. In fact,