I was at the ICC Arbitration Day event in Paris last week. Thanks to Ms. Mireze Philippe at the ICC for her company and lunch.
The mock arbitration was well organised with two sittings comprising of well known arbitrators, lawyers and also a barrister. Only one of the parties was not a lawyer. The participants were mostly from law firms from various European cities.
The mock arbitration was conducted in English and French and the ‘fictitious’ case involved an English Software consulting firm (the Claimant) and a Greek Banking corporation (the Defendant number 1). The claim against the Greek Bank’s majority share owner, a German Bank (the Defendant number 2) was dismissed by the panel in the first hearing.
Besides dismissal of the 3rd party claim, the tribunal comprising of two French arbitrators (including the chairman) and a Swiss lady arbitrator also dismissed the claimant’s request ( an English Lawyer) for discovery of ‘e-mail diary’.
A mock case no doubt but a ‘real’ cultural show of who wants discovery and who objects to discovery. How interesting!