A LOOK AT AN ARBITRATION PROCEEDING
Next week’s SCMA-SAL Mock Arbitration gives users a valuable insight into how maritime arbitrations are conducted.
BY ASHUTOSH RAVIKRISHNAN
Although arbitration has been around for more than two centuries, some legal professionals still have a hazy understanding of it. “They know it as an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) tool but they don’t know where to place it: is it like court or mediation, they may wonder,” explains Mr Karnan Thirupathy, who was first exposed to arbitration as a young associate some 20 years ago. “And even if they know what arbitration is, they may not be sure about how formal the process is or how the proceedings go,” adds the partner at Kennedys Legal Solutions.
To clear the confusion, SAL and the Singapore Chamber of Maritime Arbitration have teamed up to host a mock arbitration next week. The scenario is a fictional misdelivery of cargo and bills of lading dispute and the arbitration will be held virtually, as is the current practice amid the pandemic. “We want to show how proceedings can go quite smoothly even if parties are not all in the same place,” says Mr Karnan. “Online arbitrations are going to be taken up even after COVID-19 because people have realised how convenient and efficient they are.”
Having been involved in maritime arbitrations for nearly 20 years, Mr Karnan is also able to observe the drawbacks of its shift online. “The proceedings do go on a bit longer because it’s harder to interrupt, ask questions or answer them immediately. But that’s just the way it is and things will improve as people get more used to it.”
Mr Karnan will be one of three arbitrators at the session: the others are Mr Haridass Ajaib of Haridass Ho & Partners; and Mr Loh Wai Yue of Incisive Law. The trio, who are Senior Accredited Specialists in Maritime and Shipping Law, will serve as the Tribunal while to Mr Mohammad Haireez of Incisive Law, an Accredited Specialist in Maritime and Shipping Law, and Mr Prakaash Silvam of Oon & Bazul, will be presenting their cases before them.
Besides raising awareness of the arbitration process, Mr Karnan is also proud of the mock arbitration’s social impact. All profits from the event will go to the Singapore Shipping Tripartite Alliance Resilience (SG-STAR) Fund, which is the first global ground-up tripartite initiative to bring together like-minded international partners from the industry, unions and government to facilitate safe crew changes. The pandemic has caused a crew change crisis and the SG-STAR Fund supports ship crew supplying nations to enhance facilities and capabilities to establish safe and scalable “bubbles” or “corridors” to enable crew change.
ACE AN ARBITRATION
Mr Karnan’s tips:
· BE ADAPTABLE: “Arbitration rules and forums are not uniform across contracts. You’re not confined to just one legal system, jurisdiction or culture. It’s never a cookie-cutter situation … you have to be able to adapt to the particular case.”
· OBJECTIVES MATTER: “Keep an eye on where you want things to end up. Arbitration is a tool to get out of a dispute. Lawyers who get into arbitration should remember that; just because there’s an arbitration clause doesn’t mean you have to go down that road. You have to be more lateral in your thinking; can you get a ship arrested somewhere or a freezing injunction in the United States alongside an arbitration? It’s about applying the right tool at the right time.”
Tickets for the SCMA-SAL Mock Arbitration are available here. The event will be held virtually on Thursday, 18 March 2021 from 3.30pm to 5.30pm.
