14th December 2020

Halliburton v Chubb: What does it mean for shipping and commodity arbitrations?

Charles Debattista and Andrew Ng

The UK Supreme Court has just handed down, on 27 November 2020, the long-awaited judgment in Halliburton v Chubb [2020] UKSC 48. The judgment clarifies the law on whether an arbitrator can accept multiple arbitral appointments in related references and the extent to which (if at all) the arbitrator may do so without disclosure.

The judgment spans 190 paragraphs in which the message is rung loud and clear that the answers to these issues turn to a large degree on the accepted customs and practice of the relevant field of arbitration. The purpose of this Note, coming as it does from a set that practises particularly in arbitrations in the shipping and commodities markets, is to examine what Halliburton means in the context of those sectoral references, most of which are subject to the arbitral rules of the LMAA, of GAFTA and of FOSFA.

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Further information

For more information from the stone team, contact clerks@36stone.co.uk