The International Court of Arbitration at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has published its 2009 statistical report in the latest edition of the ICC International Court of Arbitration Bulletin. In 2009, the ICC Court received a record 817 Requests for Arbitration, concerning over 2000 parties from 128 countries. English law was the most popular choice of law (14.3% of contracts), followed by Swiss law. Arbitrations were located in 53 countries, with Paris as the most popular seat (being selected 73 times), followed by London. This contrasts to the recent findings of the School of International Arbitration, Queen Mary, University of London, which found London to be the most popular seat in its recent survey (see Legal update, QMUL 2010 International Arbitration Survey: choices in international arbitration). Arbitrators of 73 nationalities were appointed or confirmed under the ICC Rules in 2009. Swiss arbitrators were the most popular, followed by British arbitrators (over 15% of all arbitrators being of British nationality).

For a table of statistical data on the number of new arbitration cases received by selected arbitral institutions each year, see Checklist, Table of institutional statistics.

Source: ICC International Court of Arbitration Bulletin, Vol 21/No 1 (2010).