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Dispute resolution, like so many aspects of our working and daily lives, has been impacted by the unprecedented and unforeseeable events of the last 12 months.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has fundamentally changed the paradigm for parties and dispute resolution professionals alike. In the ‘new normal’, arbitration has remained a popular process for resolving commercial disputes, given its key advantages as an effective, customisable and efficient mechanism.

Indeed, flexibility has become critical for the international arbitration community. Circumstances have forced arbitration practitioners to pivot quickly and adapt to changing global circumstances. For their part, arbitral institutions have responded with updates and new practice guides to clarify and streamline rules and procedures, in order to better suit the new, ‘virtual’ reality of dispute resolution and remote proceedings.

Technology has become central, bringing dispute resolution firmly into the 21st century. While some arrangements were in place giving tribunals discretion to conduct virtual hearings, new rules have been refined and clarified in the wake of COVID-19. For example, after consulting with parties, and based on the circumstances and facts of the case, an arbitrator can decide whether a hearing will be held remotely or in-person. To that end, it is important for companies to consider recent changes when drafting arbitration clauses in their commercial contracts.

Against this backdrop, Financier Worldwide turns to some of the leading lights in their field, who share their stories…

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