Arbitration Agreements

The decision and reasoning of the Court of Appeal was upheld by the House of Lords: see Legal update, Fiona Trust - Lords dismiss appeal In Fiona Trust & Holding Corp v Yuri Privalov & Ors [2007] EWCA Civ 20, the Court of Appeal overturned the first instance decision of Morison J and held that claims to rescind charterparties on the grounds of bribery fell within the scope of valid arbitration clauses contained in those charterparties. The case is significant in a number of respects. As regards construction of arbitration clauses, the Court of Appeal indicated that it was "drawing a line" under the old authorities, and starting afresh with a new and robustly liberal approach to construction. The Court of Appeal also gave helpful guidance on the separability of arbitration agreements, indicating in strong terms that an arbitration agreement will only be held to be invalid if invalidating factors specific to the arbitration agreement are identified. Finally, the court addressed the relationship between sections 9 and 72 of the Arbitration Act 1996, and gave guidance as to how these sections should work in practice.

In Stellar Shipping Co LLC v Hudson Shipping Lines [2010] EWHC 2985 (Comm), the Commercial Court considered an application under section 67 of the Arbitration Act 1996 challenging an arbitration award on the basis that the tribunal lacked substantive jurisdiction because no arbitration agreement had been entered into between the parties.

This article is part of the PLC multi-jurisdictional guide to outsourcing. For a full list of contents, please visit www.practicallaw.com/outsourcinghandbook. This article outlines some key issues companies should consider regarding the processing of personal information in UK outsourcing transactions. In particular, it explains: The principles of the Data Protection 1998 Act concerning the processing of personal data, the key rights that the Data Protection Act gives to data subjects, the consequences for companies of breaching the Data Protection Act and the key issues that arise in outsourcing transactions as a result of the Data Protection Act's requirements.

A boilerplate clause for an ad hoc arbitration in England and Wales in which the parties determine the rules most appropriate for the arbitration. The clause includes integrated drafting notes.

This practice note considers the different forms that so-called "hybrid", "multi-tiered" (or "escalation") and "carve-out" dispute resolution clauses may take. Although a short form, standard arbitration or jurisdiction clause will suffice in the majority of contracts, certain complex projects may require more complicated dispute resolution provisions. This note focuses on the issues that may arise in using complex clauses and highlights the potential pitfalls a lawyer may face in drafting these types of clauses.

The London Court of International Arbitration's (LCIA) standard recommended arbitration clauses, with integrated drafting notes.

Publication of a new Practice note, When does an arbitration agreement bind a third party in English law?

PLC has recently undertaken a review of all its general contract and boilerplate clauses, and the accompanying drafting notes. Those clauses which may be of particular interest to Dispute Resolution lawyers are: Governing law and jurisdiction Governing law and jurisdiction Governing law and jurisdiction (reciprocal: exclusive or non-exclusive) Governing law and jurisdiction (reciprocal: defendant's home country) Governing law and jurisdiction (for the benefit of one party - EU and Lugano Convention countries (Iceland, Norway and Switzerland)) Governing law and jurisdiction: drafting note International arbitration International arbitration: ad hoc International arbitration: LICA administered International arbitration: drafting note Alternative Dispute Resolution Alternative Dispute Resolution Alternative Dispute Resolution: drafting note All general contract and boiler plate clauses can be easily accessed through the Dispute Resolution home page, via the link entitled "General contract and boilerplate clauses" which can be found after the ADR topics on the lower right hand side of the "Core topics" box.

More and more companies have begun to source related functions to multiple providers. This practice, know as "multi-sourcing", or "best-in-breed sourcing", has become popular with companies in their second or third generation of outsourcing. This article describes single and multi-sourcing models, looking at the advantages and disadvantages of each, reviews governance issues, describes methods of risk mitigation, and explores the impact of cloud computing on outsourcing. This article is part of the PLC multi-jurisdictional guide to outsourcing. For a full list of contents visit www.practicallaw.com/outsourcinghandbook.

Arbitration depends on the consent of both parties, expressed in the arbitration agreement. However, there are circumstances in which third parties, who were not parties to the original agreement, may either be bound by, or take the benefit of, an arbitration agreement. This note considers the situations in which a third party may invoke, or be bound by, an arbitration agreement as a matter of English law, including assignment, novation and statutory provisions.