THE ART OF

ADVOCACY

IN

INTERNATIONAL

ARBITRATION

SECOND EDITION

DOAKB1SHOP
and
EDWARD G. KEHOE
Editors

JURIS
Chapter 7

ADVOCACY IN PRACTICE: THE USE OF

PARALLEL PROCEEDINGS
Emmanuel Gaillard and Philippe Pinsolle

I. Introduction

In the fIrst edition of this book, we had taken the view that, in
international arbitration, advocacy was not limited to the oral
performance of counseL In our view, advocacy encompassed all the
aspects 0 f the dispute and all the strategic decisions to be made in the
case. Strategy in arbitration is multidimensionaL Unlike court
proceedings, arbitration leaves open a wide range of possibilities for
the litigants and it is for their advocate to make the best possible use
of these possibilities. The role of the advocate should thus not be
limited to delivering the best oral performance, but should also
extend to any important strategic decision to be made. Some authors
have expressed doubt as to the accuracy of this far-reaching
defmition of advocacy. 1 The reasons are understandable. However, it
seems that limiting advocacy to the oral argument of the advocate or
indeed to the examination of witnesses does not do justice to this
concept. We believe that the role of the advocate in an international
arbitration is much wider than that and that the input of a good
advocate can Inake the difference by choosing the right option from
the very beginning of a case.
Against this background, we have described in the fIrst edition of
this book various scenarios where a choice had to be made in an
attempt to identify what was the best choice for the good advocate.

I See David J.~\.

Cairns, Advocacy and the Function of Lawyers in
International Arbitration, to~ be published in Liber .\micorum for Bernardo
Cremades.

173
174 .ART OF .LillVOC\CY IN INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION

In this new edition, we propose to focus on a very intricate issue for

advocates: parallel proceedings. With the proliferation of complex
deals and the corresponding proliferation of a related contracts and
agreements drafted in a different manner, there is room for playing
with parallel proceedings that can really make a difference on the
outcome of the case. Moreover, depending on the national
legislations which may come into play in the arbitration, it will be
more or less easy to have recourse to parallel proceedings. The fIrst
part of this contribution will be devoted to the study of actual
situations where the parties have had recourse to parallel proceedings
for obviously tactical purposes.- This analysis is based on reported
case law which came into the public domain. The second part of this
contribution will be devoted to the analysis of the conditions which
permit recourse to parallel proceedings as well as the possible limits of
other tactical use. This chapter is not intended to provide a road map
for derailing an arbitration, but rather to identify the fundamental
issues underlying the very notion of parallel proceedings.

II. Examples of Parallel Proceedings Initiated for Tactical

Purposes

Practice shows many examples of parallel proceedings initiated in

order to gain a tactical advantage. For example, a party can start an
action before State courts in breach of an arbitration agreement (A), a
party may also start an action before an arbitral tribunal in response
to the other party's violation of the arbitration agreement (B).
Another option is to seize two different arbitral tribunals on the basis
of the same agreement (C).

A. Going to Courts in Breach of the Arbitration Clause

A party may seize State courts (in most cases its home courts),
either before the initiation of arbitral proceedings or once arbitration
has been initiated, in order to either have the arbitration agreement
annulled or have a judgment rendered on the merits. This happened
in the well-known West Tankers case where the ECl ruled on the
.\DVOC\CY IN PRACfICE 175

compatibility of anti-suit injunctions with EU law. 2 In this case, the

Italian company Erg Petroli SpA had chartered a tanker owned by
West Tankers Inc. The charter-party was governed by English law,
and contained an arbitration agreement providing that disputes would
be submitted to arbitration in London. Following a collision in
Syracuse between a tanker and a pier owned by Erg Petroli, the latter
sought compensation from its insurers up to the limit of its coverage
and initiated arbitral proceedings in London against West Tankers for
the surplus. The Italian company's insurers, for their part, flIed a
claim against West Tankers before the court of Syracuse in order to
recover the sums they had paid to Erg petroli, under the insurance
policy.
Considering that they were not bound by the charter-party, and
the arbitration agreement it contained, the insurers submitted that the
Italian courts had jurisdiction under Article 5.3· of the Brussels
Regulation, which, in relation to tort claims, grants jurisdiction to the
courts located where the damage took place. 3 The tactical interest, for
the Italian insurers, was to bring proceedings before an Italian court
rather than before an arbitral tribunal in London. They thus hoped to
argue their case in I talian and under I talian law. In this case, their
strategy turned out to be successful. West Tankers tried, in vain, to
obtain an anti-suit injunction from English courts, restraining the
insurers from pursuing proceedings before Italian courts.
In response to the House of Lords' reference for a preliminary
luling, the EC] deemed that such anti-suit injunction was not
compatible with the Brussels Regulation since each court within the
territory of the Union has exclusive jurisdiction to decide whether or
not it has jurisdiction to settle a dispute under Article 5.3 of the

2 ECJ, February 10, 2009, case C-185/07, Allianz Sp~\, fonnerly Riwllone

Adriatica di Sicurta SpA v. \Vest Tankers Inc., in Les Cahiers de l'arbitrage, Gazette
du Palais 2009, july 17-18,2009, p. 51.
) (EC) Regulation N° 44/2001 of the Council dated December 22, 2000
regarding jurisdiction, the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and
commercial matters, OJEC N° L 012, January 16, 2001, p. 1-23.
176 ART OF ADVOCACY IN INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION

Regulation. 4 The proceedings initiated in Italy have therefore been

pursued and, to the best of our knowledge, are still pending. Another
strategy would have consisted in West Tankers initiating arbitration
on the merits, and disregarding the Italian proceedings, as, in all
likelihood, the arbitration award would have been rendered before a
fmal decision of the Italian Courts and would have been enforced
notwithstanding the Italian proceedings.

B. Starting Proceedings before an Arbitral Tribunal in

Response to the Violation ofthe Arbitration Agreement

Another alternative is for a party to seize an arbitral tribunal on

the merits against a party who had first seized a State court in breach
of the arbitration agreement. A primary example is the .t'omento case,
which was filed with the Swiss Federal Tribunal in 2001. 5 Fomento
de Construcciones y Contratas S.A., a Spanish company, undertook
to provide civil engineering services for the construction of a port in
Panama. Although the agreement between it and a Panamanian
company contained an ICC arbitration clause, the Spanish company
filed an action before the Panamanian courts against the Panamanian

-1 Regarding the preliminary question put fOlWard by the House of Lords, see
House of Lords, February 21, 2007, West Tankers Inc. v. RAJ Riunione Adriatiea di
Si(:urtd SpA and others, Revue Critique DIP, 2007, p. 434, note L. Usuruer. See also
S. Boilee, « Quelques remarques sur les i,!/ont'tions anti-suit visant d protiger fa ,'Ompitenee
arbitrale (on The Front Comor decision of the House of Lords) », Revue de
l'Arbitrage 2007,223.
5 Swiss federal tribunal (1 Sf Civil law division), IYfay, 14 2001, Fomento de
Constnmiones y Contratas SA v. Colon Container Terminal SA., Decision of the federal
Tribunal 127 III 279, ASA Bull, 2001, nO 3, p. 544. See on this decision J.-F.
Poudret, Note, Revue de l'arbitrage 2001, p. 835; M. Scherer, « When Should an
Arbitral Tribunal Sitting in Switzerland Confronted with Parallel Litigation ~\broad
Stay the Arbitration ?», ASA Bull, 2001, nO 3, p. 451 ; E. Geisinger and L. Levy,
« Lis Alibi Pendens in International Commercial . A..rbitration, Complex
Arbitrations », ICC Bulletin 2003, special issue., p. 53 ; C. Oetiker, « The principles
of Lis Pendens in International Arbitration: The Swiss Decision in }omento v.
Colon », Arbitration International, 2002, Vol. 18, No.2, p. 137 ; F. de Ly and A.
Sheppard, « IL>\ Final Report on Lis Pendens and Arbitration », International
Arbitration, 2009, Vol. 25, nO 1, p. 3 et seq., special p.27-28.
~-\DVOC-\CY IN PRACTICE 177

company, most likely to delay or paralyze arbitral proceedings it

believed to be imminent. The Panamanian company immediately
responded by initiating an arbitration with it seat in Switzerland, and
the Spanish company asked the arbitral tribunal to stay the
proceedings until the Panamanian courts had rendered a decision.
The arbitral tribunal refused to do so and rendered its award.
Proceedings for setting aside the award were initiated before the
Swiss Federal TribunaL which decided that lis Pendens rules under the
Swiss Statutes on private international law (PIL) applied to the
arbitral tribunal, and that the latter should have stayed its proceeding
given that the Panamanian courts were ftrst seized of the same
dispute. The award was thus set aside
This decision was evidently unfavorable to arbitration. Any party
anticipating that an arbitration would be initiated against them could
commence proceedings before any State coul1 in order to paralyze
the arbitration. The Swiss legislators thankfully put an end to this
situation by amending Article 186 PIL on October 10, 2006, which
now provides that [the arbitrator] shall rule on its own juriJdittion,
notwithJianding an adir)J1 on the same matter, between the JlJme parties, pending
bdore a State court or another arbitral tribunal, ullleJ:r serious reasonJ require the
sUJpefIJion ofproceedingJ'. G
In a more recent case, the Swiss Federal Tribunal ruled on a
dispute between a French and an Italian company that had entered
into a put and call agreement for the shares of a third party company
in Italy (company X).7 The agreement contained an arbitration
agreement stating that all disputes relating to the interpretation
and/ or the execution thereof, whether deriving from the agreelnent
or in connection with it, shall be submitted to arbitration in
Switzerland. II Several months later, the parties initiated discussions on

(. Swiss federal act on private international law (PILA), December 18, 1987,
.-\rt, 186 para. 1 bis, E. Gaillard, Ni'L].
7 Swiss Federal Tribunal (1st Civil law division), ~Jarch 6, 2008,
4.-\_500/2007, _-\S.-\ Bull, 2009, VoL 27, nO 1, p. 94.
1\ The arbitration agreement was drafted as follows: « [., ,] tutte Ie controversie
relative all'interpretazione e/o all'esecuzione del Contratto, 0 comunque derivanti
dal Contratto 0 in relazione allo stesso, saranno devolute alIa competenza esclusiva
178 ART OF ADVOCACY IN INTERNATION.AL ARBITRATION

the possibility of extending the put and call agreement to warrants

issued by company X. The parties had exchanged several letters on the
matter and the Italian company claimed that two of these letters
reflected the intention of the parties on the repurchase of the warrants
and thus constituted an agreement. The Italian company seized the
Tribunal of Milan, on the basis of Italian contract law, in order to
assert such theory. The French cOlnpany reacted by immediately
submitting the dispute to an arbitral tribunal pursuant to the arbitration
agreement contained in the put and call agreement. Before the arbitral
tribunal, the French company submitted that the arbitration agreement
included all disputes relating to the put and call agreement, including
the dispute on the extension of the agreement to the repurchase of the
warrants. This is what West Tankers should have done instead of
requesting an anti-suit injunction before State courts.
By immediately initiating parallel proceedings before an arbitral
tribunal without awaiting the decision of the Italian courts on their
own jurisdiction the French company made a key strategic move
which was manifestly advantageous for several reasons. First, it
brought the case before its natural judge. Second, the provision of
Swiss law and the case law of the Swiss Federal Tribunal regarding
the scope of arbitration agreement are more liberal than those of
Italian law and case law. It was therefore likely that the arbitral
tribunal would decide that it had jurisdiction to settle the dispute,
whereas arbitral jurisdiction would probably have been denied by
Italian courts as the criteria applied by both judges is different.
This is what happened in this particular case. The Arbitral
Tribunal decided that it had jurisdiction and rendered an award
within a very short time-frame, rejecting the Italian company's claims.
A few months later, the Tribunal of Milan held the exact opposite by
stating that the arbitration agreement contained in the put and call
agreement did not cover the dispute relating to the exchange of
letters relating to the repurchase of the warrants, which was under the
jurisdiction of the Italian courts. The French party was however in a

eli un collegio arbitrale nomina to, e che decided, in confonnita al Regolamento

d'arbitrato della Camera eli Commercio e dell'Industria eli Ginevra [... ] ».
:\DVOC\.CY IN PR.\.CTICE 179

much more advantageous position before the Italian courts since it

was able to rely on the international arbitral award rendered in its
favor. The award most likely influenced the fmal decision at the
Tribunal of JVIilan, which turned out to be entirely in favor of the
')
French party.

C. Seizing Two Arbitral Tribunals on the Basis ofa Same

Agreement

Litigants' imagination having no limits, a recently published

decision of the Swiss Federal Tribunal mentions a case in which a
party decided to commence parallel proceedings, not before a State
court or on the basis of a different agreement, but on the basis of
the salne agreement before a different arbitral tribunal 10. In this
case, a professor of phannaceutical sciences, who discovered a
substance likely to have a therapeutic effect on certain fonns of
cancer, entered into a know-how license agreement with a Swiss
phannaceuticals company (company X). The agreement contained
an ICC arbitration clause, with a seat in Geneva. Several years later,
the same professor transferred all the rights and obligations
resulting from the license agreement to a third company (company
1). A dispute arose between companies X and Y relating to the
payment of royalties, and company Y submitted the dispute to an
arbitral tribunal.
In a partial award, the arbitral tribunal acknowledged the right of
company Y to receive paynlent of royalties, and the question of
quantUln was deferred to a subsequent phase of the arbitration. On
the basis that the arbitral tribunal's interpretation of the agreement
did not reflect its intention at the time it entered into the agreement,
company X therefore informed Company Y that it considered that
the agreement was void for mistake, and seized a second arbitral

~ Tribunal of ;\lilan, Judgment of February 13, 2008, 8th civil division, case.
N° 32406/:2006.
Iii Swiss Federal Tribunal, (1"8t civil law division), 4_-\_21O/2008/ech, October

:29,2008, X. JAil. Y Limited, _\.S"-\ Bull, 2009, Vol. 27, nO :2, p. 309.
180 ART OF ADVOCACY IN INTERNATIONAL A.RBITRl\TION

tribunal to declare the agreement void. The claim of company X

before the second arbitral tribunal was in fact an invitation to review
the merits of the award rendered by the ftrst tribunal. The direct
consequence of the agreement being declared void, if granted, was
that company Y would be deprived of its right to perceive royalties,
which was precisely the object of the partial award rendered by the
fust tribunaL l1 The Federal Tribunal did stress the tactical aspect of
the party's decision to commence the second proceeding: "Speaking tif
claim is questionable when dealing with a mere declaratory reliif, the onlY aim
theretif being, other than diferring the outt'ome tif the pending tase regarding the
pC!}ment, a tase in which the Claimant has lost on the principle tif liabiliry, at
least to give support to the request for partial release tif this par!J s debt arising
out tif the t'Clse,:12
The Federal Tribunal consequently dismissed the claim to set
aside the partial award, which lead the ftrst arbitral tribunal to refuse
to stay the proceedings whilst awaiting the second tribunals' award.
It was nevertheless a clever attempt to derail the fust arbitration
proceedings on the part of company X.
These examples lead to the conclusion that there are various ways
of initiating parallel proceedings and that they are sometimes
successful. In light of the above, two questions arise: what elements
permitted a party to commence a parallel proceeding, and the limits
of these procedural tactics.

11 This is what the Federal Tribunal clearly stated in its recitals: "It is surprising
to observe that in its arbitration request, the complainant did not make any request
for relief apart from the one aiming at obtaining a declaration on the validity of the
nullification of the second amendment. Had it done so, it would only have been in
a position to pardy reject the financial claims put forward by the respondent, a
claim that the arbitral tribunal granted, on the principle, in its partial award. This
shows, once again, that the two aforementioned questions are inseparable owing to
their obvious connexity" ibid, p. 316-317.
12 Ibid, p. 319.
 ADVOC\CY IN PRACTICE 181

II. Elements Enabling a Party to Have Recourse to Parallel

Proceedings and the Limits Thereof

The study of the above cases reveals three different scenarios.

Cases of parallel proceedings between an arbitral tribunal and a State
court (A), cases of parallel proceedings between two arbitral tribunals
luling on different agreements (B) and cases of parallel proceedings
between two arbitral tribunals ruling on the same agreement (C).
Each of these cases calls for different analysis.

A. Cases ofParaDel Proceedings betvveen Two Arbitral

Tribunals Ruling on Different Agreements

This is the standard scenario in parallel proceedings. It leads to

the WCJi TankcrJ, J:omenlo and Italian cases. National legislations
generally address this situation, albeit in different ways, encouraging
or discouraging, as the case may be, the use of state proceedings. 13
Some legislations - the most arbitration friendly - reduce the judge's
intervention to a minitnum and, consequently, the possibilities of
having recourse for tactical purposes to parallel judicial proceedings.
Such is the case, for example, of French legislation and, since the anli-
1:ommto law entered into force, Swiss legislation.
In France, the issue is tackled by the so-called negative effect of
the principle of competence-competence. Pursuant to Article 1458 of
the French Code of Civil Pro~edure, which also applies to
international arbitrations, State courts have to declare that they do
not have jurisdiction whenever the dispute has already been
sublnitted to an arbitral tribunal in application of an arbitration
agreement. When no arbitral tribunal has been seized, the same
Article provides that the State court must also refrain from hearing
the dispute, unless the arbitration agreement is manifestly null and

For a comparative study of national provisions on the matter, see the

!3
International Law ~\ssociation's report on Lis Pendens and arbitration, F. de Ly and
.\. Sheppard, «IL~\ Final Report on Lis Pendens and .A.rbitration", op. .1t., spec.
pp.25-30.
182 ART OF ADVOCACY IN INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION

void. This calls for a prima facie control of the existence and validity
of the arbitration agreement. 14 Case law nevertheless extended this
prima facie control to manifestly non-applicable clauses. 1s It is in
practice particularly difficult, if not impossible, for a litigant to seize
French courts, for tactical purposes, in order to derail arbitration
proceedings.
This is also the case in Switzerland. A ware of possible
international repercussions following the Pomento decision, which is
generally perceived as contrary to the interests of international
arbitration, the Swiss legislator amended Article 186 of the PIL Act
relating to the jurisdiction of the 'arbitral tribunal, by adding Article 1
bis thereto, which explicitly provides that: Tthe arbitrator] rules on its
own jurisdiction notwithstanding an action on the same matter alreac!J pending
between the same parties before a State tourt or another arbitral tribunal, unlus
serious reasons require the sUJpension of proceedings,:16 In addition,
Switzerland, like France, applies the negative effect of the principle of
competence-comp~tence when the seat of the arbitration is in
Switzerland. 17 The procedural strategy which consists in submitting a

14 Article 1458 CPC: "When a dispute that has been submitted to an arbitral
tribunal by virtue of an arbitration agreement is brought to a State court, the latter
must declare that it lacks jurisdiction unless the arbitration agreement is manifestly
null and void. In both cases, the court cannot automatically reveal that it lacks
jurisdiction". On the negative effect of the principle of competence-competence in
French law, see E. Gaillard and J. Savage (eds.), Fouchard Gaillard Goldman on
International Commercial Arbitration, Kluwer, 1999, para. 661 et seq.; E. Gaillard,
note ad 2nd civil chamber of the Court of cassation, May 10, 1995, Coprodag,
Revue de l'arbitrage 1995, 618; E. Gaillard, « L'effet negatif de la competence-
competence », in Etudes de procedure et d'arbitrage en l'honneur de Jean-Frans:ois
Poudret, Universite de Lausanne, 1999, pp. 387 et seq.
151st chamber of the Court of cassation, February 20, 2007, Revue de
l'arbitrage 2007, 775, note F.-X. Train.
16 Swiss federal act on private international law (PIL\), December 18, 1987,
art. 186 para. 1bis. For reactions of the doctrine against the tomento decision, see
above mentioned references, note 6.
17 On the negative effect of the principle of competence-competence when an
arbitration seat is located in Switzerland, see E. Gaillard « L'effet negatif de la
competence-competence », op. tit, p. 393; J.-F. Poudret, « Le pouvoir d'examen du
juge suisse saisi d'une exception d'arbitrage », ASA Bulletin 2005, 401;
 ,\DVOC\CY IN PRACTICE 183

dispute to State courts of a third-country, in order to paralyze arbitral

proceedings, has no longer any practical effects if the seat of
arbitration is in Switzerland.
Conversely, other legislations give broader powers to State courts
to intervene during arbitration proceedings and consequently allow
parties more opportunities of having recourse to parallel proceedings
for tactical purposes. This is the case for example in England where,
notwithstanding the existence of an arbitration agreement, parties are
allowed to have recourse to State courts in four different situations.
First, Section 32 of the Arbitration Act provides under certain
conditions parties with the possibility to obtain a preliminary decision
from a State court on the arbitrator's jurisdiction. IS Second, Section
45 of the Arbitration Act authorizes the State court to determine of a
preliminary point of law under certain conditions (notably the
agreements of all parties concerned or the permission of the arbitral
tribunal), provided that this point of law affects the rights of either of
the parties to the arbitral proceedings. 19 Finally, Section 72 enables a

G. Kaufmann-Kohler and ;\. Rigozzi, Arbitrage International. Droit et pratique a /a

/umiere de /a LDJP, Schulthess, 2006, paras. 438 et Jeq.
111 _-\.rbitration .-\.ct, Section 32 (1) and (2) : "Determination of preliminary point
of jurisdiction (1) The court may, on the application of a party to arbitral
proceedings (upon notice to the other parties), determine any question as to the
substantive jurisdiction of the tribunal A party may lose the right to object (see
section 73). (2) ;\n application under this section shall not be considered unless-
(a) it is made with the agreement in writing of all the other parties to the
proceedings, or (b) it is made with the permission of the tribunal and the court is
satisfied- (i) that the determination of the question is likely to produce substantial
savings in costs, (ii) that the application was made without delay, and (iii) that there
is good reason why the matter should be decided by the court ".
I') .-\rbitration .i\ct, Section 45 (1) and (2) : "Determination of preliminary point

of law (1) Unless otherwise agreed by the parties, the court may on the application
of a party to arbitral proceedings (upon notice to the other parties) determine any
question of law arising in the course of the proceedings which the court is satisfied
substantially affects the rights of one or more of the parties.•-\.n agreement to
dispense with reasons for the tribunal's award shall be considered an agreement to
exclude the court's jurisdiction under this section. (2) An application under this
section Shallllot be considered u11.less- (a) it is made with the agreement of all the
other parties to the proceedings, or (b) it is made with the permission of the
184 .ART OF ADVOCACY IN INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION

person involved in an arbitration, but who takes no part in the

proceeding, to seek from the courts a declaration, or an injunction,
on the validity of the arbitration agreement, on the scope thereof or
on the proper constitution of the arbitral tribunal. 20 Admittedly,
English law subjects these recourses to a number of more or less
constraining conditions, but it still offers the litigant a wider range of
possibilities to initiate parallel proceedings than French or Swiss
1aw. 21
More fundamentally, Section 9 of the Arbitration Act provides
that where a court is seized of a matter which is to referred to
arbitration under an arbitration agreement, the court should settle the
matter if it considers the arbitration agreement to be "null and void,
inoperative, or int:apable tif being performed'~ This wording, inspired by the
New York Convention and the UNCITRAL model law,22 echoes

tribunal and the court is satisfied-{i) that the detennination of the question is
likely to produce substantial savings in costs, and (n) that the application was made
without delay".
20 Arbitration Act, Section 72 (1) : "Sayipg for rights of a person who takes no
part in proceed.i.ng.s (1) A person alleged to be a party to arbitral proceedings but
who takes no part in the proceedings may question-(a) whether there is a valid
arbitration agreement, (b) whether the tribunal is prop.erly constituted, or (c) what
matters have been submitted to arbitration in accordance with the arbitration
agreement, by proceedings in the court for a declaration or injunction or other
appropriate relief'.
21 Recourses provided for by Sections 32 and 45 are only open in a limited
number of cases, notably when the parties agree to apply them or when the arbitral
tribunal is convinced that this solution aims at reducing important costs. Recourse
in Section 72 however is not subject to any particular condition. See Fiona Tmst v.
Yuri Privalov and Others [2007] EWCA 20 at [34], taking into account that the judge
must be very "cautious" before accepting a recourse based on Section 72.
22 UNCITRAL model law on international commercial arbitration, 1985
(amended in 2006), Art. 8(1): "The tribunal seized of a dispute on a question that is
the object of an arbitration agreement will refer the parties to arbitration if one on
them requests this, at the latest when it submits its first conclusions on the merits
of the dispute, unless such judge establishes that said agreement is null and void,
inoperative and not likely to be enforced".
_-\D\'OC-\CY IN PR:iCTICE 185

Article 7 of the Swiss PIL23 • It is however on the basis of that Article

that the Swiss courts applied the negative effect of the principle of
competence-competence in Switzerland and limited their review to a
primajtli1e review of the arbitration agreement in question. 24 It should
be noted that, on the basis of a quasi-similar wording, English courts
decided, on the contrary, that, a detailed review of the validity and
scope of the arbitration agreement was necessary at such a
preliminary stage. English case law is unanimous in this regard. 25 In
this specific case, judicial tradition, in addition to the law, encourages
parties to have recourse to State courts, even at the beginning of the
arbitration
The possibilities of having recourse to parallel proceedings
between an arbitral tribunal and a State court thus largely depends on
the applicable law in the State where the court is seized and on the
judicial tradition of its courts. There is no doubt, in this context, that
the reform relating to the Brussels Regulation proposed by the
European COlnmission in its Green paper dated April 21, 2009, if
adopted, would directly result in an increase of the opportunities to
derail arbitration proceedings by initiating parallel proceedings within

2.\ Swiss PILi, December 18, 1987, Art. 7: "Arbitration ~-\greement If the

parties have entered into an arbitration agreement on an arbitration dispute, the

Swiss tribunal will decline jurisdiction unless: a. the defendant has taken steps in the
proceedings relating to the merits, without reselve; b. the tribunal established that
the agreement is null and void, inoperative and is not likely to be enforced; or c. the
arbitral tribunal cannot be formed for reasons that are clearly owed to the
defendant to the arbitration".
2~ Regarding decisions having prima fade control of the compromissory clause,
see for example Swiss federal tribunal, (1st civil law division), Decision of the
federal Tribunal 122 III 139, "-\pril 29, 1996, l:'ondation lilt. v. Banque X, ~\SA
Bulletin, 1996,527; Swiss Federal Tribunal, (1st civil law division), 4P.114/2004,
March 29, 2004, _-\S.-\ Bulletin, 2005, 145.
2S See, for example, Sunlife ~-\ssurance Co of Canada v. CX Reinsurance Co
Ltd [2004] Lloyd's Rep. LR. 58; Elektrim v. Vivendi Universal [2007] EWHC 11,
[123]-[132]; Downing v. .-\1 'Tameer [2002] EWC-\ Civ 721; Janos Paczy v.
HaendIer & Natennann GmbH [1981] 1 Lloyd's Rep. 302, C-\.
186 ART OF ADVOCACY IN INTERNATION.AL ARBITRATION

the European Union. 26 By allowing judgments relating to arbitration

to be automatically recognized within the European Union/7 and by
giving priority to the judge of the seat of the arbitration to rule on the
validity of the arbitration agreement by a declaratory judgment/s the
proposed reform will undoubtedly encourage a "race to the courts"
between the parties. 29
All that a party seeking to derail arbitral proceedings will have to
do is to seek from a State court a decision that will render an
arbitration agreement invalid, preferably in, a State where legislation is
not favorable to arbitration, in order for this decision to be
automatically recognized in all EU member States, thus preventing
the enforcement (exequatur) of a possible arbitral award within these
States. To avoid this situation, the party wishing to have recourse to
arbitration will be forced to obtain from the courts of the seat of the
arbitration, as a preventive measure, a decision recognizing the
validity of the arbitration agreement. In both cases, proceedings will

26 Green paper on the amendment of (EC) Regulation nO 44/2001 of the

Council relating to jurisdiction, the recognition and enforcement of judgments in
civil and commercial matters, April 21, 2009, COM(2009) 175 final. On this paper
and on the consequences it will have on the future of arbitration within the
European Union, see notably P. Pinsolle, "The Proposed Reform of Regulation
44/2001: A Poison Pill for Arbitration in the European Union?", Int A.L.R, 2009,
Issue 4, p. 62 ; A. Mourre,« A propos de la portee de rexclusion de l'arbitrage dans
Ie reglement nO 44/2001, notamment apres l'arret West Tankers de la CJCE », in
Les Cahiers de l'arbitrage, GP July 17-18, 2009, p. 20-28, as well as the numerous
contributions published at: http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/news/consultin~
publici news_consultin~OO02_en.htm.
27 Green paper p. 9: "[ ... ] a (partial) deletion of the exclusion of arbitration
from the scope of the Regulation could improve the interface between arbitration
and judicial proceedings. As a consequence of this deletion, judicial proceedings in
support of arbitration could come within the scope of the Regulation".
28 Green paper, p. 9: "More generally speaking, we could watch over the
coordination between proceedings concerning the validity of an arbitration
agreement brought before a court or before an arbitral tribunal. We could, for
example, give priority to the member State courts where the arbitration is taking
place, in order to rule on the existence, validity and scope of an arbitration
agreement".
29 As per Lord Hoffmann in GAR.
_illVOC-\CY IN PR.-\CTICE 187

hence take place before a State court, and not before arbitrators,
contrary to the parties' agreement. l\ioreover, in the absence of
choice of seat by the parties, the Green paper recommends that the
seat be fL"{ed in the country whose courts would have jurisdiction
over the dispute in the absence of an arbitration agreement. 30 In
practice, given the options of forum offered by the Regulation
(respondent's place of residence and, if applicable, place of execution
of the agreement, delivery of the object, damage, etc), one can
imagine the number of possibilities that the Commission's reform
will make available to the litigants desiring to escape or delay
arbitration. Notwithstanding the intention behind the European
proposal, which was most certainly laudable, this proposal is
troublesome to say the least from the point of view of the efficiency
of proceedings.

B. Cases ofparaUelproceedings between two arbitral

tribunals ruling on different agreements

The existence of parallel proceedings before two arbitral tribunals

ruling on different agreements that belong to the same underlying
economic transaction is almost as frequent as parallel proceedings
before a State court. This does not involve a conflict between the
jurisdiction of a State court and that of an arbitral tribunal, but one
between the ratione JJlateriae jurisdiction of two arbitral tribunals.
The arbitrators are very cautious in this regard as the scope of
their jurisdiction is fully reviewed by State courts with the risk to see
their award set aside.'ll

'() Green paper, p. 9, note 14: "If such approach were elected, uniform criteria
should enable the seat of arbitration to be chosen. The general study suggests
refening to the parties' agreement or to the arbitral tribunal's decision. If a seat
cannot be chosen pursuant to this, it is recommended to turn to the courts of a
member State that nlled on the dispute by viItue of the Regulation in the absence
of an arbitration agreement".
,I This is the case, for example, in France (~-\rt. 1502 of the Code of civil
procedure, that makes provision for the annulment of the award when the
arbitrator has ntled "wtthout an arbitration agreement or based on an agreement that was null
188 ART OF .ADVOC.ACY IN INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION

Several examples exist. In a case that was recently referred to the

Paris Court of Appeal, two Cuban companies had initiated arbitral
proceedings against a Mexican bank on the basis of a loan agreement
and a farm-out agreement, both providing for an ICC arbitration,
without mentioning the seat of the arbitration. 32 The parties had
agreed on Paris as the seat of the arbitration. The Mexican bank
soon hereafter expressed its intention to refer additional disputes to
the arbitral tribunal, relating to a second loan agreement, which was
linked to the first, and which also contained an ICC arbitration
clause, but with a seat in Madrid this tlme. The Cuban companies
objected to the arbitral tribunal's" jurisdiction to decide on the second
loan agreement and referred the matter to a second arbitral tribunal.
However, given that the claims under the loan agreements were
closely related and that, save for the seat, the arbitration clauses were
similar, the first tribunal declared that it had jurisdiction to rule on all
claims. This is the reason why the Paris Court of Appeal decided to
partially set aside the award on the grounds that, on the one hand, no
variation of the seat of the arbitration chosen by the parties in the
second loan agreement could be implied from the parties' agreement
to arbitrate in Paris the disputes relating to the first loan agreements,
and, on the other hand, that the fact that the claims under the
agreements were closely related had no influence over the parties'
desire to organize separate proceedings in Paris and Madrid.

or had e:>.pired" or "without t'ompfying to the mission it had been assigned'), in the United
Kingdom (Section 67 of the Arbitration Act, that provides for recourse due to the
arbitral tribunal's lack of jurisdiction to rule on the merits, this recourse including
the validity and the scope of the compromissory clause), in Germany and the
UNCITRAL model law (§ 1509 para. 2 ch. 1 let. c ZPO and Art. 34 para. 2 let. A
ch. 3 of the model law, providing for the annulment of the award if the tribunal
ruled on a dispute that is not mentioned in the compromissory clause or that
surpasses the compromissory clause) or in Switzerland (Art. 190(2) (d) of the PlLA,
that provides that the award can be annulled when an arbitral tribunal wrongfully
declared that it had jurisdiction or when lacking jurisdiction).
32 Paris Court of Appeal, 1st Chamber, November 16, 2006, Societe Empresa
de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba SA v. SA Telefonica Antillana and SNC Banco
Nacional de Conunercia Exterior, Revue de l'arbitrage 2008, 109, note M. de
Boisseson.
.\D\'OC\CY IN PRAOICE 189

Consequently, if recourse to parallel proceedings based on

different agreements that are part of a same transaction is relatively
common, the success of such strategies will essentially depend on the
drafting of the arbitration agreement contained in the agreements in
question. In the presence of different arbitration clauses, even within
a contractual group, it will be very difficult for a party to impose the
jurisdiction of a single tribunal, at least as long as the other party
objects to it. The existence of a single economic transaction can,
however, lead one of the two tribunals to stay the proceedings (see
paragraphed I.C above).

C. The case of two tribunals ruling on the basis of the same

agreement

The case of two arbitral tribunals ruling on the basis of the same
agreetnent is more delicate. It raises the problem of the allocation of
jurisdiction between two tribunals that are equally competent to rule
on (}uestions referred to them. By definition, these questions are
included within the scope of the clause. In practice, we believe that
the question will not be resolved by delimitating the jurisdiction
ratione tllatenae of each tribunal, but by deciding on the admissibility of
the claims referred to a second tribunal.
It has been argued that the tribunal second seized would lack
jurisdiction to settle the dispute ~since the arbitration agreement
would no longer have any effects as a result of the first tribunal being
seized. 13 This reasoning is 'appealing, but seems nevertheless slightly·
artificiaL In reality, it is an application by analogy of a reasoning
applicable to a specific submission to arbitration (fompromiJ), that is an .
arbitration agreement which is entered into after the dispute has
arisen, for the purpose of resolving this specific dispute. However,
contrary to a submission agreement, an arbitration clause remains
effective when an arbitral tribunal is seized. It is still possible to refer

.BP. Mayer, <<Litispendance, connexite et chose jugee dans l'arbitrage

international )), in LJber .A.!11itorum Claude Rqymol1d, Autour de l'arbitrage, Bredin, Lalive,
Poudret, Terre (editions), Litec, 2004, p. 185 et seq.
190 .{\RT OF ADVOCACY IN INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION

an additional question and, in theory, the same question to a second

arbitral tribunal. The second tribunal seized has supposedly as much
jurisdiction to deal with these issues, as the first tribunal as its powers
emanate from the same clause. The arbitration clause, contrary to a
compromis, remains valid and effective even if the dispute was referred
to an arbitral tribunal.
Other authors suggested the application, by analogy, of
international lis pendens rules, as fundamental procedural rules
recognized by nearly all legal systems as a ,mean of protection against
dilatory tactics and increase in the number of proceedings. 34
However, such factors do not seem to justify the obligation for a
second seized arbitral tribunal to stay its proceedings whilst awaiting
the award of the first. Ever since the anti-Fomento law entered into
force, Swiss law expressly provides for the contrary, since Article 186
para. 1 bis PIL states that when a claim, with the same object and
between the same parties is brought before two arbitral tribunals, the
second does not have to stay the proceedings, unless "serious
reasons" require it to. Case law of the Federal Tribunal will specify
what these serious reasons are, but the principle is that the decision
to stay proceedings remains a discretionary decision for the
arbitrator. A stay would appear to be an appropriate measure
whenever one of the parties attempts to bring the same claim before
a second arbitral tribunal, for tactical reasons. 35

34See G. Born, International Commmial Arbitration, Vol. 2, Kluwer Law

Internationa~ 2009, p. 2048-2049.
35 See on this subject the recommendations of the International Law
Association (lLA) on Lis Pendens, Res Judicata and arbitration: "[ ...] (5) Where the
Parallel Proceedings have been commenced before the Current Arbitration and are
pending before another arbitral tribuna~ the arbitral tribunal should decline
jurisdiction or stay the Current Arbitration, in whole or in part, and on such
conditions as it sees fit, for such duration as it sees fit (such as until a relevant
determination in the Parallel Proceedings), provided that it is not precluded from
doing so under the applicable law and provided that it appears that: (1) the arbitral
tribunal in the Parallel Proceedings has jurisdiction to resolve the issues in the
Current Arbitration and (2) there will be no material prejudice to the party
opposing the request because of (i) an inadequacy of relief available in the Parallel
Proceedings; (ii) a lack of due process in the Parallel Proceedings; (iii) a risk of
 191

The Swiss Federal Tribunal's above mentioned decision is a

perfect example of this situation, insofar as the question that was
referred to the second tribunal was only the other side of the coin of
the question that was referred to the first. Once the award is rendered
by the first arbitral tribunal, the question shall therefore be resolved
in terms of admissibility of claims brought to the second tribunal, in
account of reJjtldicata. J6 In our opinion, the second tribunal should,
through a definitive award, decide that the claims that have already
been referred to a first tribunal and those that are necessarily included
in the scope of the issues already referred to the first tribunal are
inadmissible.

alUlUhnent or non-recognition or non-enforcement of an award that has been or

may be rendered in the Parallel Proceedings; or (iv) some other compelling
reason [... j", F. de Ly and ~-\. Sheppard, « IL-\ Recommendations on Lis Pendens
and Res Judicata and arbitration», "-\rbitration International, 2009, Vol. 25, nO 1, p.
83 et seq., spec. p. 84.
.vlOn Re.r Judicata in international arbitration, see notably D. Hascher,
« L'autorite de la chose jugee des sentences arbitrales», Trav. COJJl. fr. dr. into privi,
2000-2002, Paris, Pedone, 2004 B. Hanotiau, "The Res Judicata Effect of ~-\rbitral
0

.;

.-\wards", CCI Bull. 2003, spec. suppl., p. 43. as well as P. ~'Iayer, op.dt.