The new representative office in Shanghai will be the third SIAC overseas hub, following launches in Mumbai and Seoul. The new hub will service the growing community of Chinese companies turning to arbitration to settle corporate disputes, with China ranking as the top foreign user of the SIAC in both 2012 and 2014 and in the top five every year since 2010. 

Arbitration ascending 

According to Clyde & Co co-chair of arbitration Ben Knowles, the new Shanghai SIAC will be well positioned to service the growing arbitration needs of an embattled Chinese business community. 'Chinese companies have written arbitration clauses into a lot of contracts so we're starting to see arbitration with Chinese parties. That's only going to grow. If you're an international company in contract with a Chinese company, you're not going to want to litigate in China, ' he commented. Disputes and arbitration involving Chinese companies are set to spike as ongoing financial instability in the region leads to more project cancellations, Mr Knowles added.

London losing ground

With the launch of the new Shanghai hub, the SIAC is fast putting pressure on London to keep pace as a global arbitration destination. Caseload statistics show that the London Court of International Arbitration saw fewer claims from India and China in 2012 and 2013, though the total LCIA caseload still remained 11 per cent higher in 2013, at 290 claims to the SIAC's 259. Statistics for 2015 are not yet available, though the emerging status of Singapore as a regional legal hub may put a pinch on legal and business players in London, who have long benefited from Asian legal disputes being played out in UK courts and arbitration venues. Source: Legal Business