Previous Lectures
2023: The Role of Court Assistance in Commercial Arbitration
by The Honourable Justice Michael John Buss
About the Lecture
The International Arbitration Act 1974 (Cth) and the Commercial Arbitration Acts of the States have adopted the UNCITRAL Model Law (as amended in 2006).
Those statutes of the Commonwealth and the States and Territories comprise an integrated statutory framework for international and domestic arbitration.
The role of Australian courts in assisting commercial arbitration is determined by the legislative provisions which have adopted the UNCITRAL Model Law (as amended in 2006) and by the approach of the courts in construing and applying those provisions.
This lecture will consider the approach of Australian courts in construing and applying various provisions of the Model Law and how those decisions shape the role of the courts in intervening in commercial arbitration for the purpose of assisting, as distinct from interfering, with arbitration.
About the speaker
On 1 February 2006, Justice Buss was appointed a Judge of the Court of Appeal of Western Australia and also a Judge of the Supreme Court of Western Australia.
Since 1 February 2016, Justice Buss has been the President of the Court of Appeal of Western Australia.
Since 1 May 2014, Justice Buss has been the Presiding Member of the Western Australian Industrial Appeal Court.
Justice Buss has sat as an Acting Judge of the Court of Appeal of Queensland and as an Acting Judge of the Court of Appeal of South Australia.
Justice Buss has delivered more than 2,150 published judgments in all areas of the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal of Western Australia.
Prior to assuming judicial office, Justice Buss was a partner in a national law firm between 1 July 1982 and 30 June 1987. He practised at the Western Australian Bar between 1 July 1987 and 31 January 2006. In 1993 Justice Buss was appointed Queen's Counsel for Western Australia.
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Lecture slides
Transcript of the 2023 IA Lecture
2022: Third Parties and International Commercial Arbitration: Reframing the Debate
by Professor Richard Garnett
About the Lecture
Third parties present one of the most challenging and contentious issues in international commercial arbitration. The contractual nature of arbitration has long struggled to accommodate such entities but as multiparty disputes become ubiquitous in international commerce, the need for solutions is compelling.
This lecture examined the issue of third parties and international commercial arbitration through the lens of the relationship between the courts and arbitration, with a primary focus on court applications to restrain litigation in favour of arbitration and anti-arbitration injunctions.
About the speaker
Richard Garnett is Professor of Private International Law at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Richard has written extensively in the fields of conflict of laws, foreign state immunity and international arbitration, with his work cited by leading tribunals around the world, including the International Court of Justice, the European Court of Human Rights, the England and Wales Court of Appeal, United States federal courts, the Singapore Court of Appeal and Australian, Israeli, Swiss and New Zealand courts. Richard also regularly advises on cross-border litigation and arbitration matters and has appeared as counsel before several tribunals including the High Court of Australia. Richard has served as expert member of the Australian Government delegation to the Hague Conference on Private International Law to negotiate the 2005 Convention on Choice of Court Agreements and the 2019 Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments. In 2020 Richard was awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws (LLD) by the University of Melbourne for a body of published work that constitutes 'a substantial and original contribution to legal scholarship' and demonstrates 'authoritative standing in the field of study'. He is an elected Member of the American Law Institute and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law.
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2022 full lecture
2021: Parallel proceedings in international arbitration: theoretical analysis and search for practical solutions
by Salim Moollan QC
About the Lecture
Fifteen years have elapsed since the last major effort at analysing the problems arising from parallel proceedings in international arbitration and looking for solutions thereto. This lecture, which will in part be based on Mr Moollan’s recently delivered Hague Lectures on the topic, will aim to take a fresh look at this topic – folding in, inter alia, the substantial development of investment arbitration during that period and the new issues which this has given rise to.
About the speaker
Salim Moollan QC specialises in international commercial and investment arbitration. He has acted as Counsel in high profile investment arbitration cases (White Industries v. India, Philip Morris v. Australia, Cairn Energy v. India), and currently acts as lead Counsel in a number of prominent investment arbitrations for both States and investors. In the commercial field, he acts in high-value cases in (in particular) the energy and telecoms fields. He frequently sits as arbitrator (party-appointed and chair) in investment and commercial arbitrations. He has an in-depth knowledge of the procedural regimes of all major international arbitral institutions, being a past chairman and vice-chairman of UNCITRAL, a past Vice-President of the ICC Court, a past member of the LCIA Court, a member of the World Bank’s ICSID Panel of Arbitrators and a former editor of the ICSID Law Review; and having worked closely with these and other institutions in the establishment of an African platform for international arbitration in Mauritius.
The holder of a mathematics degree from Ecole Polytechnique, Paris (in addition to a first class law degree from Cambridge University and to a degree in economics and political science from Sciences-Po, Paris), he also has a unique grasp of technical and quantum expert issues. He is also called to the Mauritian Bar and appears from time to time before the Mauritian Courts in complex and high value cases. He frequently appears in the Privy Council on issues ranging from civil law to administrative law and tax matters. He is a Visiting Professor in International Arbitration Law at King's College London.
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2021 full lecture
2019: Arbitration in Australia – Rising to the Challenge
by Professor Doug Jones AO
About the Lecture
With robust legislation, an independent and supportive judiciary, and effective arbitral institutions, Australia has emerged as a competitive seat for arbitration in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. In this lecture, Professor Doug Jones AO explores the developments that have allowed Australian arbitration to flourish, identifies challenges which remain, and suggests how by working together Australians can ensure that Australia's domestic and international arbitration regimes not only retain, but enhance, their competitiveness in the future.
About the speaker
Professor Doug Jones AO is a leading international commercial and investor/state arbitrator. He has recently been appointed an International Judge of the Singapore International Commercial Court, a role which he will be combining with his International Arbitrator Practice.
Doug has experience in both ad hoc and institutional commercial arbitrations under the AAA, ACICA, AMINZ, DIAC, HKIAC, IAMA, ICC, ICDR, ICSID KLRCA, LCIA, SIAC, UNCITRAL and other international rules. He sits regularly as an arbitrator in London; in addition to many other jurisdictions, from Singapore to California, Dubai to Kuala Lumpur.
Doug Jones has also acted as counsel and mediator in numerous ADR procedures in infrastructure related disputes. He uses a flexible approach as the key to success in ADR procedures.
The arbitrations in which Doug has been involved include infrastructure, energy, commodities, intellectual property, commercial and joint venture, and investor-state disputes spanning over 30 jurisdictions around the world.
Amounts in dispute in arbitrations in which Doug has sat as arbitrator are in excess of some billions $US.
In June 2012 in the Queens Birthday Honours List, Doug was made an Officer of the Order of Australia, for distinguished service to the law as a leader in the areas of arbitration and alternative dispute resolution, to policy reform, and to national and international professional organisations.
Doug has published and spoken extensively and holds professorial appointments at a London university and two Australian universities.
He has an office in Sydney, Australia and chambers in London, UK and Toronto, Canada.
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2019 full lecture
2019 lecture highlights
2018: “The Need for Speed – Is International Arbitration Becoming Overly Fixated with Efficiency?”
by Robin Oldenstam
About the Lecture
Efficiency is an important factor in arbitration and likely key to its long term survival as a favoured form for resolving international commercial disputes. At the same time efficiency needs to be tempered by basic procedural principles, such as party autonomy and due process, as well as by general considerations of fairness. Recent years have seen tendencies to push the efficiency factor to the extent that it may start to infringe upon such principles and considerations. The lecture will offer examples of such tendencies and suggest that it may be time to push back.
About the speaker
Robin Oldenstam specializes in arbitration and civil litigation and is the head of Mannheimer Swartling’s International Arbitration Practice. He is also the current Swedish member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration.
He has acted as counsel in numerous arbitrations under the SCC, the ICC, UNCITRAL, ICDR, Swiss Rules and other rules as well as in ad hoc proceedings. His experience includes disputes from many areas and industries.
He was chairing the Swedish Arbitration Association (the SAA) between 2010-2014. The SAA is the leading association for arbitration practitioners in Sweden.
Robin also has extensive experience as an arbitrator including a large number of appointments as a sole arbitrator and as chairman in both domestic and international arbitrations. He has served as arbitrator under ad hoc and various institutional rules, and in disputes governed by a variety of applicable laws. Robin is a fellow with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
He is responsible for the Swedish Bar Association’s mandatory course in trial advocacy and regularly lectures on arbitration and litigation at several university courses and training programs for professionals. He is the main author of Mannheimer Swartling’s Guide to Commercial Dispute Resolution and the Swedish chapter of the Practitioners Handbook on International Commercial Arbitration (Oxford University Press), as well as various articles and case notes in professional journals. Robin is also a member of the editorial board for Global Arbitration Review (GAR).
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2018 full lecture
2019 lecture highlights
