New Wine into Old Wineskins, or Whether Virtual Hearings Will Take Root in International Arbitration?

Published: Court of Arbitration, No. 1/2, 2020.

The Editorial Board of the “Arbitration Court” law journal has prepared an issue of the journal in memoriam of Tamara Abova.

It is no coincidence that Tamara Abova had been calling the pride of Russian legal science during her lifetime. For a significant part of her professional career, Tamara Abova was considered the leading domestic civilian and proceduralist. At the same time, she was a talented ‘organizer of science’. In addition to her work at the Civil Law and Procedure Department at the Institute of State and Law of the Russian Academy of Science, Tamara Abova lectured on Transport and Civil Law and Civil Procedure at MGIMO University for almost 40 years. She was a sought-after arbitrator at the two leading institutions – International Commercial Arbitration Court and the Maritime Arbitration Commission at the RF Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Leading domestic scholars have prepared several essays and research papers in Tamara Abova’s memory. MP of the firm, Alexander Grebelsky dedicated her the article “New Wine into Old Wineskins, or Whether Virtual Hearings Will Take Root in International Arbitration?”.

As a result of restrictions caused by the COVID-19, the procedure of international arbitration has changed. In particular, oral hearings, which had been held in person previously, started to be conducted remotely using video conferencing platforms. Despite some advantages of this method, it raises several practical and legal concerns, including the risk of possible setting aside of the final award or its non-enforcement.

While most of those concerns are groundless, some types of disputes hardly may be considered virtually. At the same time, the active use of various video conferencing platforms in arbitration at the present stage may entail a series of changes in the arbitration mechanism for resolving international commercial disputes.

The full article is available by the link.