International arbitration perhaps crosses more practical and theoretical boundaries than any other area of law. A practitioner must approach the field prepared to deal with aspects of national, international and conflicts laws, public and private law, and substantive and procedural law. Crucial issues involve policy matters as well as the layers of national and international regulation of the arbitral process. There are also special considerations to be taken into account in the presence of state parties and of third parties. In a three-day symposium held at the School of International Arbitration, Centre for Commercial Law Studies (CCLS), Queen Mary University of London, on the occasion of its twentieth anniversary in April 2005, a stellar array of practitioners and academics undertook the task of taking a fresh look at some of the persistent legal and practice issues of international arbitration. The conference - and this book derived from it - illustrate the combination of the scholarly and the highly practical which has characterised the mission of the School of International Arbitration since its establishment in 1985. These insightful papers demonstrate not only the increasing breadth and scope of the subject, but also the way in which many of its themes and issues cross legal and disciplinary boundaries and pose questions for the future of the law and arbitration practice in an internationalised world. These include: public policy; mandatory rules; confidentiality; provisional measures; res judicata; costs; amicus briefs; groups of companies; parallel proceedings; and anti-suit injunctions. Contributors focus on topics and countries with which they have particular expertise or experience. Both international commercial and international investment arbitration are covered. This important book will be of great interest to arbitration lawyers, international lawyers and business people, as well as to academics, libraries, and students of dispute resolution.

Since its establishment in 1986, the annual "Freshfields Arbitration Lecture" (as it has come to be known) has given both practitioners and academics a unique and extraordinary opportunity to explore new insights and frontiers in the theory and practice of international arbitration. Hosted by the School of International Arbitration, Queen Mary University of London, each lecture provides an eminent figure in international arbitration a platform on which to investigate problems of interest on aspects and trends in the field. Bringing together all the published (and some unpublished) lectures in this important series, this valuable book confirms the interaction between theory and practice that the School has pursued since its inauguration, and provides in addition a remarkable testament of the School's policy of ensuring a comparative and international approach to international arbitration research and study. Twenty-one leading academics and practitioners explore the issues of States and state enterprises in arbitration, including the following topics: international investment arbitration; national regulation of arbitration with particular focus on the English Arbitration Act, the UNCITRAL Model Law, and Latin America; arbitration proceedings (including the problem of delays and control of the arbitral process); availability of remedies (Farnsworth 1990); efficiency of arbitration process; and the impact of rules of law and national law on arbitration tribunals and the arbitration process. The book also includes substantial coverage of such fundamental and more recent themes as default procedural rules, autonomy of the arbitration process, regulation of arbitration in national laws, validity of arbitral awards, and dissenting opinions. Several of the lectures have been augmented with updates and endnotes, and an in-depth introduction supplies a welcome overview. With contributions by some of today's leading academics and practitioners in the field, this book will be of great interest to arbitration lawyers, international lawyers, and business people, as well as to academics, law libraries, and students of dispute resolution.

In recent years, international commercial arbitration procedures have made great strides to bring into line different traditions of law and practice. But considerable problems remain. The aim of this new Dossier by the ICC Institute of World Business Law, is to give the reader a thorough picture of the practical issues raised by the conflicts arising when there is more than one arbitration and when commercial arbitrations run in parallel with state legal procedures. This is the third in a series of Dossiers from the Institute.