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The Court took the view that its ruling will not increase the number of challenges to appointment but it remains to be seen how this plays out in reality and there is a view that it could encourage satellite litigation in International Arbitration and potentially also in trade specific arbitration.
Of great importance to the London maritime arbitration community and other trade specific arbitration sectors is the fact that the Supreme Court was at pains to emphasise that its ruling in relation to the legal duty of disclosure in multiple overlapping arbitrations does not impact on these sectors because it is not generally perceived, in the trade specific context, that overlapping appointments, per sein themselves, cast any doubt on an arbitrator’s impartiality or give rise to unfairness. Such sectors therefore fall outside of the strict ambit of the Supreme Court’s ruling.
The judgment is powerful in recognising and helping to safeguard the special status and specific characteristics of London maritime and other sector specific arbitration platforms such as LMAA arbitration whose rules and regulations are left to the relevant arbitral bodies and trade organisations (or the parties themselves in their contracts) to reflect the requirements of their stakeholders and evolve accordingly. This reinforces their bespoke nature and the continued attraction to industry stakeholders of arbitration.