Sir Bernard Eder discussed “Issue Estoppel under the New York Convention”, with Dr Kabir Duggal and Amanda Lee. The recording is available here. He was tagged by Professors Doug Jones AO and Janet Walker; he in turn tagged Gourab Banerji SA.

Sir Bernard Eder is an international arbitrator/mediator based at 24 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London. He previously practised as a barrister at Essex Court Chambers for almost 35 years – between 1976 and 2010 – specialising in commercial litigation and international arbitration. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1991. During his practice at the English Bar, he acted as Counsel in over 100 reported cases (including in the Commercial Court, the Court of Appeal, the House of Lords and the Privy Council) and over 200 international arbitrations. In 2011, he was appointed a Judge of the High Court of England and Wales. He resigned from the Bench in April 2015. During that time, he sat mainly in the Commercial Court in London where he presided over a number of high-profile trials. In 2015, he was appointed an International Judge at the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC). He was formerly Chair of ARIAS (UK). Over the years, he has been appointed as arbitrator in over 300 international arbitrations.

About the topic: the ability to enforce an award in different jurisdictions is an important part of the arbitral process. In that context, an important issue arises as to whether the decision of a Court in Country A as to the enforceability of an award under the New York Convention can give rise to an issue estoppel in Country B – and, if so, when. That issue has been considered in a number of cases in the English High Court including most recently (31 March 2020) in Carpatsky Petroleum Corp v PJSC Ukrnafta [2020] EWHC 769 (Comm). In this TagTime webinair, Sir Bernard Eder will review the English authorities (including his own earlier decision in Diag Human SE v Czech Republic [2014] EWHC 1639 (Comm)).

Find out more about the TagTime series here, and browse past episodes here.