A distinguished multinational panel of speakers highlighted the role played by the rule of law in supporting arbitration for the benefit of institutions and clients at the 26th International Bar Association (IBA) Arbitration Day in London last week.

Following on from a keynote address by Mr Justice Foxton, the former head of the London Commercial Court, in which he tackled the fragmentation of commercial claims between judges and arbitrators, arbitral wisdom was offered in a panel session on revisiting the rule of law in arbitration.

The panel asked whether institutional support for arbitration remained suitable, building on Foxton’s subtle call for action.

Chaired by Twenty Essex’s Audley Sheppard KC, speakers included Nigeria’s Babatunde Ajibade SAN, of SPA Ajibade & Co, who is chair of the IBA Section on Public and Professional Interest; China’s Lijun Cao of Zhong Lun Law Firm; independent arbitrator Paula Hodges KC, and retired Singaporean appellate judge Judith Prakash, along with Adrián Magallanes of Von Wobeser & Sierra, Mexico City.

One theme – expressed by all the speakers to a greater or lesser degree – was a commitment by the arbitral community to upholding the rule of law, to which a strong judiciary was critical, a sentiment superbly explained by Magallanes, who outlined the impact of recent judicial reforms in Mexico, announced, concurrently, at the IBA’s annual conference last year.

Against a backdrop in which international and national bar associations have increasingly focused on this issue, as have significant law firms, other speakers emphasised arbitration’s enduring role in upholding the rule of law, something Hodges, reinforcing Foxton’s speech, was at pains to do.

Hodges, the outgoing president of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), cited the virtues of the UK Arbitration Act (as reformed) in allowing proportionate legal challenges and the 2023 ruling in the Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID) litigation, when London's High Court overturned an $11bn award against Nigeria because it was obtained by fraud, as examples.

Sheppard, the president-elect of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA), noted, with mild disapproval, an increase in “disrespect for long-established institutions and their decisions and a willingness to ignore international treaties if they are no longer convenient” by others.

Ajibade, by contrast, highlighted the impact of delays in resolving cases, contrasting the speed of seminal decisions in the UK and Nigeria, which took, respectively, seven months in one instance and eleven years in another.

However, like Hodges and Prakash, he praised legislators for recent reforms to arbitration, in Nigeria’s case, in 2023 and 2024, as supplying added impetus.

Singaporean jurist Prakash, meanwhile, noted that her country’s courts have respected legislators' desire to reject arbitral reforms that increased opportunities to appeal awards, albeit with mild frustration, saying in some instances, “it was very painful not to be able to correct the application of the law.”

Cao focused on the community that is often said to need arbitration the most – small businesses – and how institutions catered for them. Highlighting issues of delay and cost, he explained how major institutions, from the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) to the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the American Arbitration Association (AAA), were responding – including with procedural innovations – to the time-consuming nature of the process.

Praising Singapore’s work in this area – through expedited procedures – he was more critical of forced arbitrations and an inability for specific institutions, like the AAA, to process arbitrations for a class of consumers. He said other institutions struggled to manage high volumes of smaller-value claims, illustrating that courts and arbitral institutions still have room to improve.

The 26th International IBA Arbitration Day was held in London from 3-4 April.

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