New LCIA Rules 2014, draft in consultation

The LCIA has released its draft of the new Arbitration Rules, which will be considered by the LCIA Court at its meeting next month on 9 May 2014.

The existing rules have been in effect since 1998 and given the release of the new UNCITRAL and ICC rules in 2010 and 2012 respectively, the LCIA is under pressure to keep its rules up to date.

The main substantive changes can be summarised as follows:

• The introduction of an Emergency Arbitrator procedure.
• A default mechanism for determining the seat and law of the arbitration.
• Power to Consolidate multiple arbitrations, although it still subject to consent
• The inclusion of a new annex entitled "General Guidelines for the Parties' Legal Representatives" detailing the conduct required of the parties and is relatively controversial. The LCIA has the power to rule on whether the guidelines have been breached, with the ultimate sanction being that the representative can be "excluded from the arbitration in whole or in part".

A copy of the draft rules can be found on the LCIA website and by clicking here.