You are invited to help GAR evaluate six new seats – Cairo, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, São Paulo, Stockholm and Vienna – for the GAR-CIArb Seat Index. Tell us how they measure up to the CIArb London Principles – and the six seats it already contains: Hong Kong, London, New York, Paris, Singapore and Geneva and Zurich.
Last November, GAR and a team from the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators published the first set of seats in the Seat Index which provides handy one-page summaries of the favourableness of individual arbitral seats against a range of standard criteria.
The Index uses a multi-step process. First GAR readers contribute personal accounts about seats – and how they perform against 10 ideal scenarios as set out in the London Principles. A panel of assessors then reviews those responses and prepare reports. These include Reza Mohtashami (Three Crowns), Patricia Nacimiento, (Herbert Smith Freehills), Louise Reilly (independent barrister and arbitrator, Ireland), Patricia Peterson (independent arbitrator, Paris), Benjamin Hughes (independent arbitrator, Singapore), and Oscar Aitken (Cary).
Assessors work in pairs and don’t review seats with which they have a personal connection. Their reports go to a panel of senior arbitrators – the advisory panel – who provide further remarks. The final reports then go to the project’s co-chairs, Lord Peter Goldsmith QC and Doug Jones AO, who write the texts with the aid of GAR.
You are cordially invited to take part in the first step – and provide the raw material for the survey reports, via our online survey. Select the seat you wish to comment on and leave a few remarks in the boxes provided that reflect your personal experience or observations. Depending on thinking time, it ought to take a maximum of 10 to 15 minutes. All contributions are received in total confidence.
Please spare some time to participate and provide your opinion on your preferred seats (and hopefully also on Vienna)!