Description: International financial free zones and specialist commercial jurisdictions are increasingly attractive to businesses seeking neutral but sophisticated and internationally familiar frameworks for cross-border transactions and dispute resolution. Yet, familiarity does not mean uniformity. While many of these regimes draw heavily on the common law tradition, their application of law and procedural rules, as well as relationship with the surrounding domestic legal system can differ significantly – with important consequences when a dispute arises.
Drawing on their first-hand experience across these jurisdictions, the speakers will explore how the different regimes operate in practice, where they converge, and where assumptions based on English law or English court practice may prove misleading. The discussion will focus primarily on arbitration-related topics, including drafting effective dispute resolution clauses, court support for arbitration and interim measures, enforcement and set aside of awards, and the interaction between specialist and domestic courts. It will also touch on broader features of international commercial disputes in these jurisdictions.
Using the DIFC, ADGM, AIFC and QFC as core examples, together with comparative perspectives from the Singapore International Commercial Court and Hong Kong, the panel will offer practical guidance for businesses and counsel considering these jurisdictions when structuring transactions or developing a dispute strategy.
The session will go beyond the labels to examine what parties are actually choosing when they select one of these legal environments – and why understanding the differences may matter just as much as understanding what they have in common.