As part of the proceedings for the Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration‘s (ACICA) Australian Arbitration Week 2019, Corrs Chambers Westgarth and Level Twenty Seven Chambers will host a seminar on “Best Practice International Arbitration in Australia: an Australian view on current issues affecting the arbitral mandate“.
The seminar will be chaired by Joshua Paffey (Corrs Chambers Westgarth). The panel will consist of Stewart Webster, Bianca Kabel, Dr Jason Mitchenson (Level Twenty Seven Chambers) and Prof. Richard Garnett (University of Melbourne). Commentary will be provided by The Honourable Justice Greenwood of the Federal Court of Australia.
In theory the arbitral mandate is easily defined. It is conferred by the parties’ arbitration agreement and terminates with the delivery of the final award. The arbitrator is then said to be functus officio. But in practice, things are often more complicated.
In this seminar, panellists will address significant practical issues liable to arise in connection with the arbitral mandate including:
- What is the effect on the arbitral mandate of “interim” or “partial” awards and the operation of the doctrine of res judicata?
- Is a purported award rendered without mandate “void”, and can a party ever seek Court intervention to obtain a declaration to this effect?
- If in the course of rendering an award, an arbitral tribunal wrongly decides that a particular argument or claim has not been raised or pressed, is this an error within jurisdiction, or a failure by the arbitral tribunal to fully discharge its mandate?
- Can a challenge to the validity of an award in one jurisdiction preclude resolution of the same issues in another country? What strategies should parties employ when challenging awards where multiple jurisdictions are involved?
Panellists will deal jointly with these issues by reference to the UNCITRAL Model Law, the New York Convention, current international jurisprudence and a recent challenge in the Supreme
Court of Queensland, with a focus on practical application for both practitioners and arbitrators. Panellists will welcome questions from the audience.
Date & Time: Tuesday 19 November 2019, 10 am – 12 pm
Venue: Corrs Chambers Westgarth, L42, 111 Eagle Street, Brisbane, QLD, 4000
If you would like to attend please RSVP to Tamara McCombe on +61 7 3008 3927 or tamara.mccombe@qldbar.asn.au
