BIICL event: 11th annual review of the Arbitration Act 1996 – Is English law really better?

The British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL) organizes on Monday 21 January 2007, 09.00 -18.00 (at the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn, Lincoln’s Inn, London, WC2A 3TL) the 11th annual review of the Arbitration Act 1996 titled “Is English law really better?” The speakers will review the English Arbitration Act 1996. The 2007 annual review proposes a comparative look at developments in England as the courts now approach 1,000 decided cases since entry into force of the Act. This year’s review takes place against the background of claims by the Law Society (England and Wales: The Jurisdiction of Choice, October 2007) that London as an arbitration venue and English law are superior to civil law jurisdictions in terms of quality of legal norms, certainty, predictability, arbitration friendliness, lawyers and infrastructure. Are the Law Society’s claims legitimate or merely an expression of legal ethnocentrism by practitioners unfamiliar with systems of law other than their own? The special after dinner speaker is M. Jean-Pierre Ancel Président de Chambre honoraire de la Cour de cassation, France who will give a speech titled “Les principes confirmés et les nouvelles avancées dans l’arbitrage international”. For a list of the speakers, have a look at the website.