The layers of law
The governing law clause decides the merits, meaning what the contract requires and whether it was breached. The law of the seat, the place where the arbitration is legally based, governs the procedure in the background and determines which courts can support the arbitration or hear a request to set the award aside. Institutional rules, such as those of the ICC, ICDR, or SIAC, fill in procedure on matters like appointing arbitrators and emergency relief. The arbitration agreement itself may be governed by a different law than the main contract, a point that has produced disputes in some jurisdictions. Hearings can be held somewhere other than the seat without changing it.
Courts and enforcement
National courts generally support international arbitration rather than replace it. They can compel parties to arbitrate, appoint arbitrators when the agreed method fails, and in some systems order interim measures. Review of an award at the seat is usually limited to narrow grounds, such as serious procedural defects or lack of jurisdiction, and does not reopen whether the tribunal got the facts or law right. Enforcement elsewhere relies largely on the New York Convention, which most trading nations have joined. In the United States, the federal arbitration statute implements that convention, and courts here have a strong policy favoring enforcement of international awards.
Applying it to your dispute
We start with the dispute resolution clause and the contract as a whole, so we can identify the governing law, the seat, and the rules that will apply. We also check whether any pre-arbitration steps, such as negotiation or mediation, must be completed first, and whether time limits under the rules or the governing law may be running. If you are drafting a clause rather than facing a dispute, we discuss which seat and rules suit the deal and how an award could be enforced against the other party's assets. Bring the contract, any amendments, and the correspondence about the dispute so far.
