Description

Rule 9A(1) of the 2024 HKIAC Administered Arbitration Rules encourages parties “to take into account considerations of diversity when designating arbitrators”. When HKIAC is to appoint an arbitrator, Rule 9A(2) declares that it will “take into account considerations of diversity together with all other relevant considerations”. This is laudable. As the President of the ICC Court of Arbitration, Claudia Salomon, has observed: “Arbitrator diversity in all forms is essential to the legitimacy of international arbitration by ensuring that … arbitrators … reflect the diversity – and values – of the global business community.” But what precisely does the “taking into account” of diversity entail? How might the business community better reflect the diversity of global values in international commercial arbitration?
This lecture will consider how such questions might be answered. Focussing on the promotion of cultural diversity, the lecture will (1) take as its springboard historical and contemporary attempts at fostering sensitivity in dispute resolution among disparate communities and (2) tease out lessons from the strengths and weaknesses of those attempts.