Calendar of Events

This dynamic panel brings together legal and technical experts to explore how international arbitration is responding to the growing challenge of climate-related disputes.

From the legal weight of the ICJ Advisory Opinion to the practical realities of quantifying environmental harm, the session will unpack the complex question: who bears the cost of climate change?

Breakfast is included. 

This panel session will examine the disputes landscape arising from these capital-intensive infrastructure projects. Specific to data centres, the panel will discuss emerging construction and energy supply issues, supply-chain challenges, damages/valuation, contractual disagreements, and procedural aspects in international arbitration.

This lively debate will tackle the provocative question: should English law disputes be determined only by English-qualified lawyers?   With barristers arguing both sides of the motion and commentary from an experienced arbitrator or judge, the event will deliver sharp insights, memorable advocacy, and practical takeaways for practitioners 

Section 44, Arbitration Act 1996 provides for important Court powers exercisable in support of arbitral proceedings. These range from freezing injunctions, to orders for preservation of property. The readiness of the Commercial Court to assist in London arbitrations, often with considerable urgency, is one of the reasons making England such an attractive seat for arbitration.

This seminar offers the opportunity to consider the types of relief that are available under Section 44, including the changes made by Arbitration Act 2025.

The panel will discuss energy market volatility, exploring topics including gas pricing and disputes, Geopolitics, supply chain disruption and energy infrastructure disputes.

The speakers will explore how well contractual clauses are standing up to and subsequent arbitrations are dealing with contract performance and satisfaction of other obligations considering increasingly disruptive geopolitical events and other crises; the doctrine of frustration and force majeure clauses;  practical challenges of managing unexpected risks within projects on quantum and delay; the longer term impact of unexpected geopolitical events on assessing political risk; and the impact of geopolitical events and crises on litigation funding.

Light breakfast options will be provided, arrival from 08:15.

This session will explore the evolving landscape of arbitration amid geopolitical tensions and strategic conflicts. We will examine challenges arising from sanctions regimes, sovereign immunity claims, nationality-based biases, and recent arbitrator challenges.

The discussion will also consider enforcement hurdles and strategies to effectively manage disputes in politically sensitive sectors.

A discussion of areas in which arbitration might learn lessons from the practices in court litigation.

Please join an all-female panel hosted by ArbitralWomen's London based Board Members during which we will hear from a range of users of arbitration about current hot topics and expectations for 2026 in the sectors most popular for arbitration - commodities, energy, banking & finance, construction and technology. 

This timely panel explores how investor-state and commodity disputes are being reshaped by global forces, from geopolitical tensions and resource nationalism to ESG imperatives and treaty reform. As governments recalibrate their energy strategies and regulatory frameworks, arbitration practitioners and experts are facing new complexities in resolving high-stakes disputes over natural resources and infrastructure.

Lunch is included.

A deep dive into the growing trend of award monetisation, with key discussion points to include: the distinction between the financing of an arbitration and award monetisation; the reasons for the rise in the monetisation of arbitration awards: perspectives of the award holder and purchaser; deal structures and case studies; and, the interplay between monetisation of arbitral awards and assignment, including the complexities of navigating assignment across different jurisdictions.

As geopolitical tensions escalate and sanctions reshape the global business landscape, legal teams are under pressure to quantify damages, assess liability, and navigate shifting regulatory frameworks. 

This panel will explore how lawyers and experts respond to the legal and commercial fallout of geopolitical turmoil, from asset freezes and trade restrictions to reputational harm and disrupted contracts.

Refreshments included.

French-speaking seminar discussing procedural and substantive good faith in international arbitration.

The session will cover the meaning and boundaries of substantive and procedural good faith in the conduct of arbitral proceedings, and the tribunal and national courts' authority to enforce it. The format consists of an interactive Q&A, with high-profile speakers sharing their views and experiences and inviting input from the audience throughout with Claire Morel de Westgaver and Caroline Croft moderating.

This panel will explore the evolving and sometimes divergent role of national courts in supporting or intervening in the arbitral process, with a focus on London, Paris and Singapore as key jurisdictions.  

As arbitration continues to grow in complexity and global reach, courts are increasingly called upon to exercise their supervisory powers (whether through anti-suit injunctions, worldwide freezing orders, or the set aside and enforcement of final and/or partial awards). Yet, the approaches taken by courts in different jurisdictions are far from aligned.

This engaging panel, co-hosted by NAI40 (NAI Jong Oranje) and Three Crowns will explore the contrasting approaches to provisional relief in the Dutch and English courts, a topic of growing relevance for arbitration practitioners operating across jurisdictions. 

Expect a lively comparative discussion on the strategic use (and potential misuse) of interim measures in both systems. 

The United States continues to be the global epicenter of mass tort litigation, with new waves of claims reshaping the landscape across industries: from claims arising from the use of various products, including such things as PFAS, opioids, talc, pesticides, hair relaxers, and medical devices, to sexual abuse claims and also liability claims arising out of catastrophic wildfires, among others. These large-scale claims inevitably give rise to complex insurance coverage battles involving billions of dollars, which often must be resolved through ad hoc English-seated arbitrations.

This panel will explore the leading U.S. mass tort trends, including the theories of liability being pursued and the manner in which the defendants are fighting back, and will then highlight some of the issues that both policyholders and insurers should anticipate as these disputes migrate into arbitral fora.

Our programme will focus on the practical implications for participants in international arbitration of the evolving rule of law situations and challenges in the world today. We will discuss how current and anticipated rule of law issues are affecting, and may affect, arbitration internationally, particularly in light of recent and emerging policies and practices in the U.S. and elsewhere, and how those policies and practices are affecting, and may affect, arbitration, arbitration practitioners, arbitral institutions, and arbitration education and training.

We plan to address a wide range of issues, including topics such as how the situation is affecting, and may affect, leading arbitration jurisdictions as seats and venues; representation of parties; employment opportunities for foreign lawyers in, and implications for, law firms' arbitration groups; foreign student arbitration education and training; arbitral institutions; and so on.

Everyone's gone mad for AI. Time someone asked the awkward questions.  Legal AI promises everything. Delivers mixed results. London's arbitration community deserves better than sales pitches.  

Consider this event as a proper cross-examination.  This isn't another AI cheerleading session. It's the kind of rigorous scrutiny UK practitioners apply to everything else. Leading arbitration minds will challenge every claim, dissect every promise, and examine what AI actually delivers when the marketing veneer is stripped away.  

The questions no one's asking:  - Does AI understand arbitration complexity, or just mimic it? - Are we solving real problems, or creating expensive new ones? - When £100m disputes are at stake, is "probably right" good enough for chambers?  No softball questions. No safe answers.  

Expect the kind of frank discussion you'd have over a proper drink after chambers. Critical perspectives from practitioners who've tested AI beyond the glossy demos. Honest insights on what technology can deliver (and what it categorically cannot).  Arbitration intelligence meets healthy skepticism.  Because your reputation deserves better than hype.

This event will include a panel discussion (chaired by The Rt. Hon. Dame Elizabeth Gloster, DBE, PC, on how tribunals and practitioners should respond to party misconduct. 

From delay tactics and abusive procedures to ethical breaches, the discussion will highlight the tools available under International Laws and International Rules, as well as the balance tribunals must strike between fairness and efficiency.

The session will begin with coffee and registration, and a drinks reception will follow. 

Historically, London has benefited from the label of being a, if not the, leading arbitral seat for international arbitration. Yet, in recent years, that title has been open to question. 

With the passing of the new Arbitration Act 2025, this event will consider whether London continues to deserve such label by reference to the views of expert arbitral practitioners experienced in geographies around the world. 

This panel discussion will review key measures ancillary to arbitration including: 

• England & Wales : Anti-suit and freezing injunctions
• France : Anti-suit injunctions and “saisines”
• Germany: Obtaining a declaration on the admissibility of arbitral proceedings via Section 1032 of the German Civil Code.

It will also incude an update and analysis of Russian measures pursuant to Article 248 of the Russian Arbitrazh Code

The event will take the form of a moot hearing, focusing on an application for interim relief. Its purpose is to explore and compare how such an application would be handled in two distinct forums: (a) before an emergency arbitrator, and (b) before a judge in court.  To illustrate the differences in approach, we will conduct two hearings using identical facts and submissions. The first will be held before an emergency arbitrator. 

Following a short break, the same application will be presented before a judge in court. This format will allow the audience to observe, in practical terms, the procedural and substantive contrasts between the two forums.

London remains the world’s leading centre for international arbitration.  The Courts play a vital role in maintaining that status.

In this seminar, the current and immediate past Judges in charge of the Commercial Court, and the Judge in charge of the London Circuit Commercial Court, will address their courts’ roles in supporting arbitration.

A range of topics and trends will be covered including interim applications and injunctions, appeals and challenges in both the Commercial Court and the London Circuit Commercial Court.  The event is organised by the London Circuit Commercial Court Users Committee.

Has the impossibility of cost-effective arbitration been overstated? Have some disputes been priced out of arbitration?

Looking at recent data, our panel of practitioners and users will seek to answer these questions by examining the key drivers of costs in arbitration, including institutional fees and unnecessary hearings. Are there more innovative and radical approaches to make arbitration more efficient and cost-effective, such as designing bespoke sector-specific rules, or encouraging the use of expedited procedures?

Join us for an engaging discussion that offers a unique opportunity to hear candid insights directly from the members of the arbitration community to help shape the future of international arbitration for the benefit of our users.

Speakers TBC

This session will explore the practical and strategic considerations involved in constituting an arbitral tribunal. Panellists will address: 

• Drafting arbitration clauses that set out qualifications for arbitrators. 
• Approaches to selecting party-nominated arbitrators. 
• Methods for appointing the presiding arbitrator/chair, including recent challenges and innovative solutions. 
• Promoting diversity in appointments (e.g., ERA Pledge) while balancing confidentiality and other practical concerns. 
• Understanding the scope of arbitrators' liabilities.

Moderated by S-RM's Global Head of Disputes & Investigations Marcus Fishburn this panel discussion focusses on intelligence gathering in the context of disputes, exploring its movement into the mainstream and the opportunities this presents for disputing parties, as well as the inherent risks. 

This panel will aim to draw out insights into how intelligence firms and legal teams can work most effectively to gain the upper hand in arbitration by unearthing and deploying critical intelligence in an admissible form. The panel will draw on the experience of the participants, bringing the session to life with examples and stories from the field.  

The duration of the panel will be 45 minutes, followed by 15 minutes for the audience to ask questions, and will be followed by coffee and tea.

A moderated panel discussion covering (1) Drivers for change: looking at government/judicial sentiment in key jurisdictions towards mediation, and also the sentiment of the commercial and institutional organisations which bring and defend cases; (2) Fitness for purpose: examining the extent to which current approaches to and methodologies used in mediation are meeting the needs of litigants and litigators; (3) Future worlds: identifying how mediation may change, including the impact of AI, the benefits such changes might deliver, and the different thinking which might be needed on the part of dispute professionals.

CDR presents a panel discussion on the arbitration of disputes arising from major international infrastructure projects, including the most ambitious of them all: China's Belt & Road Initiative. 

To meet the world's net zero objectives, there remains an unquestionable need for an acceleration in the deployment of renewable generation capacity. Offshore wind remains set to play a central role in helping deliver this essential policy objective.  Against this backdrop, avoiding and efficiently resolving disputes on offshore wind projects will play a crucial role in their success and resulting ability to deliver this objective.  In this session, a panel of offshore wind experts, drawn from the construction and legal sectors, will examine what can we learn from the typical areas of disputes in offshore wind projects, whether we should - looking forward - anticipate any future trends in such disputes and the role of arbitration in resolving them.

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP and the British-Kazakh Society invite arbitration professionals, investors, and business leaders to an evening of networking and conversation focused on Central Asia. 

This informal event will bring together lawyers and non-lawyers alike who have a professional or personal interest in the region. Guests will have an opportunity to meet the HSF Kramer Central Asia team and learn more about the British-Kazakh Society's work in fostering economic, legal, and cultural links between the UK and Kazakhstan. 

Join us for drinks, canapes, and engaging discussions on the growing role of Central Asia in international arbitration and cross-border investment.