Changes are afoot in the Indian arbitration regime. Promod Nair, an Indian international arbitration associate at Herbert Smith in London, gives the low-down

Arbitrators are as likely as any other profession to fall victim to “cognitive biases” that influence their decision making, says Manuel Conthe, an arbitrator and of counsel at Bird & Bird in Madrid.

In a country of flawless white beaches, a new arbitral seat is starting to emerge. After attending the first Mauritian International Arbitration Conference, Alison Ross considers whether the island can draw in arbitrators as successfully as it draws honeymooners and offshore investors

Matthias Kuscher has one of the most enviable roles in arbitration – as the representative of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in Mauritius. Alison Ross finds out how it’s going

Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam tells Alison Ross about efforts to launch Mauritius as an international arbitration centre

Now that the power to conclude bilateral investment treaties has passed from EU member states to the EU under the Lisbon Treaty, investors need guarantees that they will enjoy the same level of protection abroad as they do currently, argue Edward van Geuns and Nani Jansen of De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek NV in Amsterdam.

Chris Mainwaring-Taylor, counsel at Allen & Overy in Dubai, and Noor Kadhim, an associate at the same firm, explain how the UAE is moving towards more certainty over enforcement.

Matthew Weiniger and Christian Leathley, of Herbert Smith LLP in London, report on the recent examination of Venezuela’s foreign investment law as a basis for ICSID jurisdiction in Cemex v Venezuela.

The final award of a tribunal of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce in RosInvestCo UK Ltd v The Russian Federation must be quite disappointing to distressed asset – or “vulture” – investors, says Mark Kantor, an attorney based in Washington, DC.

The Commercial Court in London has provided guidance on when parties must provide security pending a challenge to an arbitral award, clarifying an area of law that was muddied by conflicting judicial decisions. Matthew Page, a senior associate at Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, reports.

Islamic investment structures, or sukuks, are a growing force on the global capital markets. This year, in the UK alone an estimated US$17.7 billion sukuk bonds were traded on the London Stock Exchange. But what happens when the financial agreements underpinning these investments break down? Zia Akhtar, a commentator on employment and antidiscrimination law, says the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal, which was established in 2007, is ideally suited to resolving the disputes that inevitably follow.

The first African International Commercial Law Conference in Douala, Cameroon, considered the success of various efforts to harmonise commercial law, the effectiveness of OHADA arbitration and whether South Africa is being surpassed by its near neighbours when it comes to arbitration.

Jan Paulsson and Alexis Mourre debated whether it would be better to let institutions, not parties, appoint members of arbitral tribunals at a recent event in London.

Russian courts are ready to assist in foreign arbitration proceedings but are inclined to treat some domestic arbitral awards with suspicion because of a proliferation of small commercial arbitration institutions in Russia that are often perceived to lack independence, a leading Russian judge has told an audience in London. Julia Zagonek, a senior associate at White & Case in London, reports

Paschalis Paschalidis, an associate in Shearman & Sterling’s international arbitration group, reports on a recent roundtable hosted by Shearman & Sterling in Paris to examine the progress of the American Law Institute’s Restatement of the Law of International Commercial Arbitration.

A seminar in Stockholm looked at how the new IBA rules on the taking of evidence in international arbitration may affect international arbitration in Sweden and elsewhere for years to come, reports an attendee.  

Author: Gary B Born. Publisher: Aspen. Reviewed by Peter B Rutledge, professor of law at the University of Georgia School of Law

Co-editors Horacio A Grigera Naón and Paul E Mason. Publisher: LexisNexis. Reviewed by Richard Kreindler, partner at Shearman & Sterling in Frankfurt

Internationales Wirtschaftsrecht [International Economic Law], by Burkhard Schoebener, Jochen Herbst and Markus Perkams. Publisher: C F Mueller.

Reviewed by Ralph Alexander Lorz, professor of law at Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf

Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards: A Global Commentary on the New York Convention (Kluwer Law International, 2010) by Herbert Kronke, Patricia Nacimiento, Dirk Otto and Nicola Christine Port.

Reviewed by Klaus Sachs, partner at CMS Hasche Sigle in Munich.

W Davis Smith, general counsel at San Diego Gas & Electric - part of the Sempra Energy group - gives his views on annulment committees and the future of ICSID.