Lee & Ko hosts ‘Room for Debate II' seminar

Lee & Ko held the ‘Room for Debate II’ seminar on 31 October 2023.

In this seminar, Lee & Ko invited arbitration practitioners from a variety of geographical locations to host a debate on some of the most topical and contentious issues in international arbitration.  Positions for and against each topic (in the form of resolutions) were randomly assigned to participants, with a total of three topics being debated by six participants.

In the first session, Mr Mike McClure KC from Herbert Smith Freehills spoke in favour of the resolution that “all institutional awards ought to be made publicly available in anonymized format”.  Mr David MacArther opposed the resolution.  Mr McClure argued that the publicization of awards had already become a common practice in investment arbitration, and that it would invite more transparency and consistency in the rendering of arbitral awards.  Mr MacArthur pointed to the potential increase in inefficiency and administrative costs for arbitral institutions, as well as the ways in which the publicization of disputes would undermine the parties’ conscious preference for confidentiality.

In the second session, Professor Keechang Kim and Mr Hock Keng Chan from Wong Partnership debated the resolution: “That there are too few dissenting opinions in international arbitration.”  Professor Kim contributed to the debate by offering his valuable insights as an arbitrator and commented that minority opinions could shed more light on the deliberative process of tribunals.  Mr Chan suggested that based on recent court cases, minority opinions could instigate further controversy and compromise the enforceability and credibility of arbitral awards.

In the last session, Mr Sui-Hang Hui of Sidley Austin and Ms Lexi Takamatsu of Mori Hamada & Matsumoto argued over whether “the hot-tubbing of fact witnesses should be more widely adopted to encourage efficient evidence gathering at the merits hearing.”  Mr Hui gave an account of the varied and frustrating issues of cross-examination, the currently predominant method of fact-gathering in international arbitration and argued that hot-tubbing for fact witnesses could prove to be immensely beneficial for all parties involved.  Ms Lexi Takamatsu focused on the problems posed by cultural and communicative factors that could rather make it more difficult for the Tribunal to make clear findings of fact.

‘Room for Debate II’ was the second such event to be hosted by Lee & Ko after the inaugural debate held last year and was attended by a variety of practitioners such as counsel, arbitrators, and forensic and legal experts in international arbitration.