A new voice from the Gulf: the BCDR International Arbitration Review

A new voice has sounded in the world of international arbitration, and it comes to us from Bahrain. In 2014, the Bahrain Chamber for Dispute Resolution, the BCDR-AAA, launched a new international arbitration law journal, the BCDR International Arbitration Review (the BCDR IAR), which is gaining recognition in our field as a journal of consistently high quality.

At the time of its launch, the Review described its main objectives as being ‘to increase awareness of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and arbitration in the Arab world, and to provide the outside world with a perspective on related developments occurring in the region’. The General Editor, Nassib Ziade, went on to note that:

‘At a time when the Arab world is experiencing rapid change as well as unprecedented uncertainty … the prominence of law ought to be emphasized in the Arab world.’

Those lofty ambitions are to be applauded and, three years from launch, we can say that the Review’s main objectives are being met.

For those so far less familiar with the Review, it is organized as follows. Each of the biannual volumes focuses on a timely theme or topic that is particularly relevant to the Arab region, and features articles, case summaries and other legal content in both English and Arabic.

While many of the topics have particular relevance to the Arab world, their relevance extends beyond to make it a source of law, practice and opinion of general import. Thus, side-by-side with volumes dedicated to ‘Arbitration in Egypt’ and ‘Investment Arbitration in the Middle East’ there are volumes dedicated to ‘Women’s Voices in International Arbitration’.

Among its pages the reader can learn of the contributions made to our field of law by legendary Arab international lawyers such as Egypt’s Dr Ibrahim Shihata, the first national of a developing country to be appointed in 1983 as General Counsel of the World Bank, who then was elected in 1984 as the Secretary-General of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes. In the same edition, one not only finds a practical and insightful commentary on enforcing arbitral awards in Egypt, but also English and Arabic collections of key court decisions and laws relevant to the international arbitration practitioner whose clients or cases take her to Egypt.

But the Review transcends its region, to provide a platform also for global figures to contribute on global subjects. And so, in one of two entire issues dedicated to ‘Women’s voices in international arbitration’, we hear from Lucy Reed and Shaparak Saleh on abuses of process and how courageous tribunals might deal with them. We hear from Caline Mouawad and Rukia Baruti making the case in favour of ‘Dispositive Motions’ in international arbitration. And we can read Marike Paulsson on Article 2 of the New York Convention, and whether it is fit for Modern International Trade.

To those who have wondered whether we need yet another arbitration journal, the BCDR IAR is providing a rich and emphatic answer from a region of the world that has its own contribution to make to the state of our art.

Author notes

Constantine Partasides QC is a founding partner of Three Crowns LLP, practicing from the firm’s London office.