The Delos webinar, which was organised with the support of the Association for the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot (Vis Moot), on “The Seat of the Arbitration: Towards a Uniform Approach?” took place on 10 March 2022.

The event began with an historical perspective of the question, with reference to the New York Convention, and continued with a short debate between the speakers confronting the classical seat approach, the English approach and the French approach. This was followed by a moderated discussion, and concluded with a Q&A. The event featured the following speakers (short bios below):

• Ricky Diwan QC (Essex Court Chambers), who appeared before the UK Supreme Court in Kabab-Ji SAL (Lebanon) v Kout Food Group (Kuwait) [2021] UKSC 48
• Thomas Granier (ASAFO & Co, Delos GAP Co-General Editor – Panel Moderator)
• Prof. Florian Grisel (Oxford University)
• Prof. Joongi Kim (Yonsei Law School, Delos GAP Co-Chair)
• Prof. Maxi Scherer (Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, Delos GAP Co-Chair)

This live event was part of the GAP Symposium 2022, a series of events related to Delos’s flagship publication: the Guide to Arbitration Places (GAP). Find out more about the GAP here and sign up here for news relating to the jurisdictions covered in the GAP.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Ricky Diwan QC has a wide-ranging practice in the fields of international commercial and domestic litigation, international commercial arbitration, international investment arbitration, and public international law. His practice frequently involves multi-jurisdictional disputes across the globe involving jurisdiction battles that give rise to both court and arbitration related aspects involving both interlocutory applications whether under the Arbitration Act 1996 or the CPR, arbitrations and trials and frequently require overall strategic co-ordination. He appears both before the English Courts (at first instance and appellate level), foreign Courts and in international arbitrations in London and abroad under a wide variety of rules (including HKIAC, ICC, ICSID, LCIA, SCC, SIAC, UNCITRAL and VIAC). His advocacy practice is complemented by his extensive experience sitting as an international arbitrator in addition to which Ricky is a member of the HKIAC and SIAC panel of arbitrators, sits on the advisory board of the Mauritian International Arbitration Centre and sits on the UK ICC Arbitration Committee. Prior to practicing at the English Bar, Ricky was admitted to the New York Bar and practiced in New York at the leading international law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton.

Thomas Granier is a co-founder of Delos and member of its Arbitration Consultative Committee, and Counsel at ASAFO & Co. Mr Granier acts as counsel and arbitrator in a wide array of disputes relating in particular to new technologies, IT, energy, M&A, joint-ventures, construction and distribution. Mr Granier has acted in a number of commercial and investment arbitrations, both ad hoc and under the rules of leading institutions, including the HKIAC, the ICC, the LCIA, and ICSID. Prior to joining ASAFO &Co., Mr Granier was an attorney at McDermott Will & Emery, and previously served as counsel for the Africa, Middle-East and Europe Team at the ICC International Court of Arbitration in Paris, after having acted as deputy counsel for the Germany, Switzerland, and Austria Team. At the ICC, Mr Granier supervised more than 300 arbitrations and reviewed a number of arbitration awards. Mr Granier holds degrees from the Université Paris I – Panthéon-Sorbonne (Master 2), the Ludwig-Maximilians Universität in Munich (LL.M.) and the Université Paris II – Panthéon-Assas (Maîtrise). Mr Granier is listed among the Future Leaders of Arbitration by Who’s Who Legal.

Florian Grisel is a co-Founder of Delos and a member of the Delos Arbitration Consultative Committee. He is also an Associate Professor at the University of Oxford. A national of France, Florian has gained extensive experience in international business law in the last ten years, focusing on commercial and investment arbitration both as an academic and as a practitioner. He is an attorney at the New York Bar and the Paris Bar, and holds degrees from Sciences po Paris (M.A.), Columbia University (M.P.A.), Yale Law School (LL.M.) and the Sorbonne (LL.M., Ph.D). He has practiced international arbitration in leading law firms based in Geneva (Levy Kaufmann-Kohler) and Paris (Dechert LLP), and has worked for the World Bank (International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes) in Washington, DC. In these different capacities, he has been involved in arbitration cases arising in various industries (oil & gas, military procurement, telecommunications, luxury, construction, mining, etc…) and many jurisdictions all over the world (Europe, Americas, Asia, Middle East, Africa). He has authored two books (L’arbitrage international ou le droit contre l’ordre juridique (LGDJ), The Evolution of International Arbitration (Oxford University Press)) and many articles on international business law. He is listed among the Future Leaders of Arbitration by Who’s Who Legal and also sits as a board member of a major robotics fund.

Professor Joongi Kim is Professor of Law at Yonsei Law School in Seoul, Korea. His research focuses on international dispute resolution, international trade and investment, corporate governance and good governance. His treatise International Arbitration in Korea (Oxford University Press 2017) received the 11th Simdang International Trade and Business Research Award. He has acted as a presiding arbitrator, sole arbitrator, and co-arbitrator in institutional and ad hoc proceedings under the rules of the GGGI, HKIAC, ICC, ICSID, JCAA, KCAB, LMAA, SIAC and UNCITRAL and was selected as International Arbitrator of the Year by KCAB International in 2019 and as one of the Top 10 Arbitrators in Asia Pacific in 2019 by the Bali International Arbitration and Mediation Center. He sits on the editorial board of International Investment Law and Arbitration (Brill), Asian Journal of Comparative Law (Cambridge University Press), Dispute Resolution International (IBA) and Korean Arbitration Review. He has been a visiting professor at ESADE, Georgetown, Keio, the National University of Singapore, National Law School of India University (Bangalore), University of Florida and University of Hong Kong.

Professor Maxi Scherer is Special Counsel at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP and regularly sits as arbitrator. She also holds the Chair for International Arbitration, Dispute Resolution and Energy Law at Queen Mary, University of London, and is Queen Mary’s Director of the Centre for Commercial Law Studies in Paris and of the LLM in Paris programme. Prof. Scherer further serves on the Delos Board of Advisors and acts as the General Editor of the Kluwer Journal of International Arbitration. She was previously Global Professor of Law at NYU Law School, Visiting Professor at SciencesPo Law School Paris and Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown Centre of Transnational Legal Studies.