Louise Barrington at the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre

Evening Talk: “Arbitrator Liability” by Louise Barrington FCIArb, at the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre on Monday, 3 March 2014

We are delighted to invite members to an evening talk to be given by Ms. Louise Barrington on the topic “Arbitrator Liability”.

A party who is unhappy with an arbitration award has little recourse, as generally there is no appeal from an arbitration award. The usual reaction of the disappointed party is to consider an action at the arbitration seat to set aside the award for some procedural fault, or to try to resist at the enforcement stage. Recently however, parties have been looking past the award for redress when they don’t like the result. They are looking to the tribunal to see if there may be grounds for suing the arbitrators.

In most common law jurisdictions, arbitrators serve in a quasi-judicial capacity and are thus presumed to enjoyjudge-like immunity from lawsuits. However, in a number of jurisdictions, the accepted doctrine of arbitrator immunity is now under siege, with more than one arbitrator ending up at the wrong end of a lawsuit. What can an arbitrator do to minimize this risk?

Ms. Barrington FCIArb, Chartered Arbitrator and Accredited Mediator, is the principal of Aculex Transnational Inc. She is qualified as a lawyer in Ontario, New York and England. Ms. Barrington created ICC Asia in Hong Kong in 1997. She also founded and directs the annual Vis East Arbitration and is the founder and honorary co-president of ArbitralWomen. She has served on the law faculties of City University of Hong Kong, Chinese University of Hong Kong, University of Ottawa and King’s College London. She teaches arbitration practice courses around the world – including in Dubai, Seoul, Geneva, Washington DC and Sao Paulo. Louise now practices as an independent arbitrator and has arbitrated or chaired tribunals for scores of cases under ICC, HKIAC and UNCITRAL Rules, including wrongful dismissal, sales, banking, distribution, construction and shareholders’ disputes

The talk will take place at HKIAC on Monday 3 March 2014. As usual there will be drinks available from 6:00 pm, with the lecture commencing at 6:30 pm.