Wojciech Sadowski (Of Counsel) and Tomasz Sychowicz (Junior Associate), K&L Gates, Warsaw
On 10 and 11 February 2011 Warsaw University hosted the third Warsaw pre-moot for the 18th Willem C. Vis international arbitration moot, which was followed by a conference on the confidentiality of arbitration.
The pre-moot was an occasion for students to practise their skills before the finals, which are scheduled to take place in Vienna between 15 and 21 April 2011. The event was organised by the Center for Dispute Resolution at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw (CRSiK) and the Young Arbitration Practitioners in Poland (YAPP). It consisted of ten teams from five countries, including Germany, Hungary, Slovenia, Switzerland and Poland.
The pre-moot was followed by a conference on confidentiality of arbitration, which is one of the key topics of this year's VIS case. Professor Jerzy Rajski provided a speech, emphasising the prudence of the parties to explicitly regulate confidentiality of arbitration in arbitration agreements.
The topics discussed included:
The evolution of the principle of confidentiality in arbitration.
The need for global standards.
The remedies applicable in the case of breach of confidentiality as well as the emerging standard of transparency in treaty-based investor-state arbitration.
Panelists from England, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Poland provided a comparative review of the confidentiality issues under various rules and jurisdictions. Remy Gerbay of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) presented the exceptions to the principle of confidentiality adopted in its rules. This discussion was followed by a student panel session, moderated by Michal Jochemczak from Salans, which focused on a case study related to the practical implications of the confidentiality issue.