Maxwell Lectures: Harmonising Judicial Approaches to Choice of Law in Arbitration Agreement 

Maxwell Chambers successfully concluded Maxwell Lectures: Harmonising Judicial Approaches to Choice of Law in Arbitration Agreement on 19 August 2021, featuring Dr. Winnie Jo-Mei Ma from The Arbitration Chambers.
This webinar explores the sources and causes of the incessant inconsistency and intricacy in judicial determination of the law governing the arbitration agreement. Alleviating the current uncertainty demands concerted efforts by the parties to expressly specify the law governing their arbitration agreement, as well as by legislatures and arbitral institutions to provide for default choice of law.
Download Dr. Winnie's presentation slides and read her answers to the unanswered questions gathered from the webinar here: www.maxwellcha...
Poll results:
(1) If (a) the parties have not expressly chosen any law for their arbitration agreement; (b) the parties have made different choices with respect to the law of the contract and the seat; and (c) the applicable laws or institutional rules do not provide a default choice of law for the arbitration agreement:
What would be your most preferred law for the arbitration agreement?
a. The law of the contract (without exceptions) - first round (25.9%) / second round (14.4%)
b. The law of the contract (with exceptions) - first round (28.4%) / second round (24.2%)
c. The law of the seat (without exceptions) - first round (12.8%) / second round (13.5%)
d. The law of the seat (with exceptions) - first round (19.3%) / second round (30.7%)
e. The law favourable to the validity of the arbitration agreement - first round (13.6%) / second round (17.2%)
(2) What would be your most preferred scope of application for the choice of law rule in New York Convention Art V(1)(a) (from the narrowest to the widest)?
a. Validity of arbitration agreement when determining an award’s enforceability - 38%
b. Validity of arbitration agreement for all judicial determinations - 17.5%
c. All issues concerning arbitration agreement (except for arbitrability and capacity) when determining an award’s enforceability - 22%
d. All issues concerning arbitration agreement (except for arbitrability and capacity) for all judicial determinations - 22.5%