Penny Martin and Clara Florin have authored an article entitled “Towards a Harmonised Framework for Determining the Governing Law of an Arbitration Agreement” which has been published in the first issue of the ICC Dispute Resolution Bulletin for 2022.

The article focuses on the UK Supreme Court’s decision in Kabab-Ji SAL (Lebanon) v Kout Food Group (Kuwait) [2021] UKSC 48. The authors explore how the decision harmonises the framework under English law for determining the governing law of an arbitration agreement, extending the principles previously laid down in Enka Insaat Ve Sanayi AS v OOO Insurance Company Chubb [2020] UKSC 38 to the enforcement of an arbitral award in the English courts under the New York Convention. The article concludes that while the approach taken by the English courts appears now to be settled, Kabab-Ji again demonstrates the real risk of inconsistent decisions across jurisdictions, which can lead to impractical results.

The ICC Dispute Resolution Bulletin – 2022 Issue 1 is available here.

ABOUT  PENNY MARTIN

Penny is dual-qualified as a solicitor in Australia and England and Wales, and is counsel in the London office, and will shortly relocate to the firm’s Singapore office.  She has over a decade of experience in international commercial arbitration and public international law, in addition to a number of years of experience in academia and human rights. Her primary focus is on energy-related disputes, including those relating to long-term oil and gas agreements, renewables, gas pricing and LNG trading. Penny was named a “Rising Star” in The Legal 500 UK in 2021 and 2022.

ABOUT  CLARA FLORIN

Clara is a French avocat and an associate in the London office. She has experience of commercial and investment-treaty arbitrations, advising private corporations, States and State-owned entities under major institutional rules. Her practice covers a wide range of sectors, including oil and gas, renewables, and infrastructure. Clara also has litigation experience before French and international courts.

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