LCIA Sydney Symposium Keynote Address

LCIA Sydney Symposium Keynote Address "Australia as a Global Hub" 8 October 2017 Professor Doug Jones AO Introduction It is an honour to have been invited to deliver this keynote to my friends and colleagues of the international arbitration community present on the occasion of this LCIA event in Sydney. I’d like to begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the land on which we meet today, the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, and pay my respects to their [...]

ADC Schools Invitational Debating Competition 2017

With the privilege of the Hon Justice Francois Kunc attending the Grand Final of the ADC Schools Debating Competition 2017, our participating Year 10 students capped off another amazing six-week program. The competition is run annually as part of ADC’s Corporate Social Responsibility. In 2017 our participants had a lot of fun developing their team-work (collaborating in teams with students from other schools), putting their heads together to brainstorm an array of persuasive arguments on various challenging topics, executing their [...]

ADDRESS: The Hon. Robert French AC Australian Disputes Centre Patron

Thank you for inviting me to speak at this dinner and to participate in the presentation of the Dispute Resolution Awards. Alternative dispute resolution has come a long way in the last 30 years.  The term is now something of an anachronism.  What used to be ‘alternative’ is mainstream. As a Judge of the Federal Court in 1990 I was interested in the use of court-annexed mediation as a way of encouraging more and earlier settlements or at least narrowing [...]

ADRA Conference Report

  The dynamic and quickly evolving nature of dispute resolution in Australia was explored in detail at the ADRA State of Dispute Resolution Conference and Workshop at Clayton Utz, Sydney on 22 August 2017. The day, introduced by Mary Walker on behalf of ADRA, saw keynote addresses from two senior members of the judiciary – the Honourable Patricia Bergin and the Honourable Thomas Bathurst AC. The Keynote speakers, together with specialist ADR presenters explored topical issues affecting the ADR industry. [...]

The benefits of using real-time transcription in arbitration

Introduction Real-time court reporting involves the attendance of onsite stenographers who are writing in stenographic code at speeds of up to 280 words per minute, and at 98% accuracy. There is currently no quicker way to get an accurate transcript of proceedings in a hearing. What is real-time? Real-time transcription services provide users with a live feed of legal proceedings as they happen. A real-time team – consisting of a highly skilled real-time court reporter and an editor – attend [...]

Recent investment arbitration developments in Australia

Recent changes to Australian gas export and taxation policy serve as reminders that the protections afforded to investors under investment treaties are not only relevant to investors in emerging markets. Investment treaties are also relevant to investors in modern and developed jurisdictions with widely recognised adherence to the rule of law. Three developing investor-state arbitrations in Australia, each also concerning alleged expropriation and breaches of other common investment treaty protections, demonstrate the relevance of investment treaty protections in jurisdictions of [...]

Case note: AGL Energy Limited v Jemena Gas Networks (NSW) Ltd [2017] NSWSC 765

In the recent decision in AGL Energy Limited v Jemena Gas Networks (NSW) Ltd, Hammershchlag J of the Supreme Court of New South Wales refused to refer an action commenced in the Court to arbitration pursuant to s 8(1) of the Commercial Arbitration Act 2010 (NSW) (the Act). The case arose in the context of two "Reference Service Agreements" between AGL Energy Limited (AGL) and Jemena Gas Networks (NSW) Ltd (Jemena) (the Agreements).  The consecutive – and near identical – [...]

2017 Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner of the Year Announced

Susan Hamilton-Green, from Melbourne’s Creative family Law Solutions, has been announced as the Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner of the Year in the annual Australian Dispute Resolution Awards. The Honourable Mr Robert French AC, former Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, and patron of the Australian Disputes Centre (ADC), presented the award to Ms Hamilton-Green at the awards ceremony held at Ashurst on August 10th 2017. The award recognises Ms Hamilton-Green’s commitment to family dispute resolution both through the [...]

HAVE LAWYERS HIJACKED THE PROMISE OF MEDIATION?

On 18 May 2017, the Australian Disputes Centre (‘ADC’) had the pleasure of hearing a seminar run by Max Kimber SC, Barrister at State Chambers. With more than 30 years dispute resolution experience in work-related matters, the Alternate Dispute Resolution (‘ADR’) specialist discussed the crucial role of lawyers in the education and facilitation of mediation. In criticising the adversarial approach adopted too often by lawyers in mediation processes, he notes that the promise of mediation given to clients falls regrettably [...]

Case note: Eskosol S.p.A in liquidazione v Italian Republic (ICSID Case No. ARB/15/50) Decision on Respondent’s Application under Rule 41(5)

Introduction In a recent decision under Rule 41(5) of the Arbitration Rules of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), an insolvent Italian company's claims against the Italian Republic (Italy or the State) under the Energy Charter Treaty (the ECT) were found not to be "manifestly without legal merit".1 While the Tribunal's decision is the product of a summary process in which a very high standard of proof applies, and does not therefore amount to a final analysis [...]

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