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Disputes Digest 2024

Welcome to the third annual Disputes Digest, in which we collate our 2024 global HFW Litigation and International Arbitration publications.
Bulletin
29 January 2025

This edition includes updates from across our Disputes jurisdictions, including England and Wales, BVI, AsiaPac, and the Middle East.

As one of the world’s largest and most active Disputes practices, litigation is in our DNA at HFW. We have specialist Disputes lawyers in offices across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and AsiaPac, and have continued to ramp up growth across our Disputes network in 2024 with a series of senior hires. We are recognised in all of the major directories, by Chambers UK 2025 as a “leading global Disputes firm” and by the Times Best Law Firms 2025 as one of the UK’s top commercial Disputes practices. This is backed up by independent data from litigation analytics platform Solomonic, and also The Lawyer’s Tracker, which shows that we have handled more commercial litigation in the English High Court than any other firm over several years.

Similarly, in relation to International Arbitration- we are major users of all of the main international Institutions. Our Disputes lawyers and firmwide reputation for depth and breadth in IA are recognised by all of the key IA directories, including GAR 100.

The firm is also one of the founding members and signatories of both the Greener Litigation Pledge, and Greener Arbitration Campaign – legal industry initiatives to reduce the environmental impact of dispute resolution, and continues to be represented on the Pledge’s Steering Committee. We are also signatories of the Equal Representation in Arbitration, and work to ensure fairer representation of women in arbitration.

We hope you enjoy reading this Digest, please contact the authors, or your usual HFW contact, if you wish to discuss any of the articles.

UK Supreme Court’s anti-suit ruling supports a foreign-seated arbitration
In the recent case of UniCredit Bank GmbH (Claimant) v RusChemAlliance LLC (Defendant), and in what is believed to be the first time that the UK …
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Update on key climate litigation against Governments
Climate change litigation is impacting businesses and governments alike. In this article we discuss two key decisions where States were found to …
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Is Retrieval Duty an Extension of the Quincecare Duty
In this article we review the English court judgment in CCP Graduate School L…
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What the UK’s Ratification of the 2019 Hague Convention Means For Cross-Border Enforcement
This briefing provides an overview of the 2019 Hague Convention and the impact it will have on the reciprocal cross-border enforcement of English …
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Hong Kong: Breaking down barriers – Enforcement of mainland judgments
Hong Kong further benefits from its status as a Special Administrative Region…
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Hong Kong: Stay of award enforcement, crossclaims and “no set-off” clauses
In CF v SHK and S Listco the Hong Kong Court held that a "no set-off" clause precluded the award debtor from seeking to set-off a connected…
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Deep dive or shallow swim: what is required of a party in the face of force majeure?
The Supreme Court settles the long-running litigation which raised the question whether a party affected by a force majeure event …
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New Brazilian law on interest and monetary correction is a welcome development for anyone involved in Brazilian disputes
As anyone involved in Brazilian disputes will know, the accrual of interest and use of monetary correction on Brazilian claims has the capacity to …
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Parallel proceedings – will the DIFC Courts seize jurisdiction?
HFW acts for liquidator in high-profile insolvency claims in the DIFC Courts,…
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First English judgment clarifying the reasonable alternative to LIBOR
In a recent judgment that will have been welcomed by financial institutions dealing with legacy LIBOR contracts and parties seeking to …
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Court challenges adequacy of ATE policy in security for costs ruling
In the recent decision of Asertis Ltd v Lewis Barry Bloch, the High Court scrutinised the adequacy of an after-the-event …
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Singapore courts decide rare appeal against successful early dismissal under the SIAC rules
A recent decision by the Singapore Court of Appeal offers rare insight into how a successful early dismissal application may be treated by …
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Landmark decision on the tension between arbitration and insolvency extends BVI law to England & Wales
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (the JCPC) recently handed down a landmark decision dealing with a tension …
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Abu Dhabi sets out to establish its new international arbitration centre, arbitrateAD
On 20 December 2023, it was publicly announced that Abu Dhabi Chamber of Comm…
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arbitrateAD: New rules published and new centre open for business
The new the Abu Dhabi International Arbitration Centre (arbitrateAD) has publ…
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International Arbitration in the dock; lessons to be learned from Nigeria v P+ID
There followed a series of applications for disclosure by Nigeria, in various…
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Swiss supreme court upholds an arbitration agreement and unequivocally rejects Achmea and Komstroy Doctrine
In a carefully reasoned judgment1 (Judgment) handed down in April this year, the Swiss Supreme Court …
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Proportionate liability regime applies to arbitrations in Australia
Australia's proportionate liability regime enables a judicial body to apportion liability across multiple wrongdoers to a dispute, such that each …
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A busy year for Arbitration in Paris: Key developments in the first half of 2024
2024 has been an important year for arbitration in Paris, marked by a landmark court decision concerned with bias …
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The changing landscape of Dubai arbitration
Dubai has seen some key developments in recent years that have had a positive impact on arbitration in the region …
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English Arbitration Act Update
In the September 2023 edition of the Bulletin we wrote about reforms to the English Arbitration Act identified by the Law Commission’s …
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ICC’s 2023 Statistics Confirm Switzerland as a Premier Arbitration Jurisdiction
The Dispute Resolution Statistics of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) always make for interesting reading …
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Papua New Guinea Adopts New Arbitration Laws
On July 9 2024, Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) Arbitration (Domestic) Act 2024 (Domestic Arbitration Act) and Arbitration (International) Act 2024 ….
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The Indian Supreme Court finding on the ‘group of companies’ doctrine: What this means for energy sector arbitrations
In Cox and Kings Ltd. v. SAP India Pvt. Ltd., the Indian Supreme Court upheld…
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Multi-Contract Disputes And Conflicting Dispute Resolution Clauses: Hong Kong Court Confirms The Proper Approach To Determine The Tribunal’s Jurisdiction
The Hong Kong Court has clarified the proper approach when analysing dispute …
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Hong Kong Arbitration: 2024 – An exciting year ahead
2023 has been an exciting year of arbitration in Hong Kong.
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Clive Palmer v the Commonwealth of Australia
Clive Palmer is a prominent mining magnate and self-described “proud Australian”. How then is his company pursuing an arbitration against …
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Reliance Infrastructure Ltd v Shanghai Electric Group
n the case of Reliance Infrastructure Limited v Shanghai Electric Group Co Ltd 2024 SGHC (I) 3, which involved an application to set aside …
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Obtaining subpoenas against third parties in aid of arbitration in Australia
In Australia, applications for the production of documents or the provision of evidence by third parties to an arbitration are usually decided …
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Obtaining subpoenas against third parties in aid of arbitration in England
The English courts have a long history of supporting arbitration proceedings, including in securing attendance of witnesses and production of …
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Reform of the 1996 English Arbitration Act – The Six Key Proposed Amendments
The Law Commission’s Review of the 1996 English Arbitration Act is intended to modernise arbitration laws in England and Wales.
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EDITORS

Damian Honey
Partner
London
+44 (0)20 7264 8354
+44 (0)7976 916412
Contact by email
Nicola Gare
Knowledge Counsel (Dispute Resolution)
London
+44 (0)20 7264 8158
Contact by email