Commercial conflict of laws is a significant area of legal scholarship and practice. The chief aim of the course is to examine the foundational principles of commercial conflict of laws in Singapore. First, the course identifies and assesses the set of rules based on which Singapore courts decide whether to entertain international commercial disputes. Second, the course outlines the provisions based on which Singapore courts determine the law governing the parties’ cross-border disputes. Finally, the course outlines the rules according to which courts in Singapore give effect to foreign judgments.

The New York Convention of 1958 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards provides for the international enforcement of arbitral awards. Considered as the most successful international convention in international private law, the Convention now has 164 Contracting States and more than 2,500 court decisions interpreting and applying the Convention (as of June 2020). The course will analyze and compare the most important of those decisions. It will offer a unique insight in treaty design, statutory enactments, varying court approaches, and the practice of international arbitration. The course materials will be made available at www.newyorkconvention.org.

International construction contracts have by their nature special features, which affect the methods of resolving disputes arising from them. The course reviews terms and clauses of standard forms of international construction contracts (FIDIC Conditions), to explain how risks (inherent in all construction contracts) are typically allocated between parties; and what rights and remedies are available to parties when risks materialise. Further, the course examines how disputes arising from construction contracts are resolved through arbitration especially arbitrations conducted under the Rules of International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) which are included in the principal standard forms of contract (FIDIC).

What types of situations give rise to disputes in the international arena and how are these disputes settled? This course provides an overview of the various types of disputes and settlement mechanisms available for the resolution of international disputes – State to State, Individual/Investor to State and between international non-State entities. The course will explore the law pertaining to dispute settlement before the ICJ, WTO and ITLOS as well as international arbitration – both Investor to State Arbitration and Commercial Arbitration. The course will compare these different processes on issues such as jurisdiction, provisional remedies, equal treatment, evidence and enforcement.

The course examines the normative, theoretical and doctrinal issues that arise from the policy favouring arbitration:

• How did the pro-arbitration policy arise historically?

• What exactly does the pro-arbitration policy mean?

• What are the main legal doctrines that implement the pro-arbitration policy?

• In which international legal instruments and national laws is the pro-arbitration policy enshrined?

• How does the pro-arbitration policy sit next to competing public policies?

• What are the implications of the pro-arbitration policy for the protection of the public interest?

• What are the procedural and substantive legal concepts that protect the public interest in commercial, public-private and investment arbitration?

Arbitral institutions are important stakeholders in the field of international arbitration, but the nature and importance of their role have often been overlooked. The course seeks to introduce participants to the role and function of arbitral institutions in guiding and shaping the practice and development of international arbitration, and to the complex issues that arbitral institutions face in the administration of arbitrations, including, among others, the appointment of arbitrators and the issuance of arbitral rules and practice notes. The course will be taught by visiting lecturers from the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) and other leading arbitration practitioners.