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Paris Arbitration Week: International Judges' Dialogue at the Paris Court of Appeal

For the 2025 edition of Paris Arbitration Week, the Paris Court of Appeal organized a conference allowing judges from countries with different legal traditions to exchange views on their respective approaches to the review of international arbitral awards.

Introduced by First President Jacques Boulard and preceded by a comparative perspective by Professor Caroline Kleiner, this round table brought together Sir Robin Knowles, Judge of the Commercial Court of London, Dr Christoph Hurni, President of the 1st Civil Division of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court, accompanied by Mr Olivier Carruzzo, Registrar of that Court, Mr Philip Jeyaretnam, President of the Singapore International Commercial Court, Mr Bernd Odörfer, Judge at the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe, and Mr Daniel Barlow, President of the International Commercial Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal.

The discussions focused in particular on the criteria applied by national judges in reviewing international arbitral awards. They provided an opportunity to discuss the different approaches to the intensity of this control and the method used, in particular to assess respect for international public policy. A third part was devoted to the “transnationalisation” of the review process and the question of dialogue and cooperation - between national judges from different countries, but also with international arbitral institutions.

These exchanges, which attracted a large audience, highlighted the specificities of each, as well as points of convergence, in a spirit of mutual respect and enrichment.

The Paris Court of Appeal was the first court to take part in Paris Arbitration Week last year, underlining the importance it attaches to international arbitration and to the influence of the Paris legal place.

Dublin Commercial Court 20th Anniversary
January 2024

Mrs Schaller, President at the CCIP-CA, was invited to attend the ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the Dublin Commercial Court, which was attended by the Chief Justice of Ireland, Mr Donal O'Donnell, and the current President of the Commercial Court, Mr Denis McDonald, as well as British, Scottish and Northern Irish judges.

The Franco-Irish friendship and interest in cooperation and dialogue between judges will continue with the arrival of Judge Michael Twomey at the ICCP-CA for a week at the end of February.

Anniversary symposium of the ICCP-CA

The International Commercial Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal (ICCP-CA) was established on February 7th, 2018 with the signing of a dedicated procedural protocol, during a ceremony held in the presence of the Minister of Justice.

The result of the work of the “Haut Comité Juridique de la Place Financière de Paris”, is an initiative that fulfils the needs of the French authorities to strengthen the attractiveness of the country, in a context marked by increasing competition between the legal and judicial systems.

The ICCP-CA deals with cases involving the interests of international trade and operates in a manner defined as closely as possible to international standards. It has gradually established itself on the institutional landscape and now enjoys strong recognition among the actors concerned.

Its decisions are the subject of particular attention, not only by legal practitioners and commentators, but also by economic actors. The Chamber is also particularly concerned with international cooperation initiatives, and exchanges between judges.

The issue of attractiveness remains more topical than ever :  the fifth anniversary of the Chamber is an opportunity to take stock of its achievements by reviewing progress made since 2018, the modus operandi, the perception of the Chamber’s users, its strengths and areas for improvement.

This occasion permits us to consider the future of an institution that has reached maturity and, more broadly, the way in which French courts handle international disputes.

To discuss these issues the Paris Court of Appeal is organising a Symposium bringing together leading personalities (such as practitioners, academics and key actors).

Partnership ICCP-CA / ISIT

The Paris Court of Appeal and the International Commercial Chamber (ICCP-CA) renewed their partnership with the ISIT, University Panthéon-Assas. This allows students to translate judgments and abstracts into English, Spanish, and even German and Chinese, under the supervision of their ISIT teachers. The ICCP-CA regularly welcomes lawyer-linguist students for  internship.

This "collective project" gives meaning to the students' work through publication on the ICCP-CA website. It will also develop a French-English glossary enriched with new terms in relation with the completed translations.

The partnership between the Court of Appeal and ISIT is a key factor of attractiveness and dissemination of the law, as ISIT is one of the most recognized European high-level training institute for multi-lingual work.

The 4^thfull meeting of the SIFoCC (Standing International Forum of Commercial Courts), which brought together the world’s commercial courts, held in Sydney, on 20-21 October 2022. Over 100 judges met physically in Sydney as well as online from across 40 jurisdictions.

La délégation française était composée de Mme Fabienne Schaller, conseillère à la CCIP-CA, et de M. Paul-Louis Netter, président du tribunal de commerce de Paris.

The French delegation was composed of Fabienne Schaller, judge at the International Commercial Chamber of Paris and Paul-Louis Netter, president of the Paris Commercial Court.

Le SIFoCC a pour but de dégager les bonnes pratiques pour la résolution des litiges du commerce international en s’appuyant sur les expériences faites par chaque juridiction selon son système juridique (pays de common law ou de civil law). Lors de la réunion à Sydney, plusieurs tables rondes ont été organisées et les thèmes discutés incluaient : mettre en place un système intégré de règlement des litiges ; la responsabilité juridique, de l’objet et de la gouvernance des entreprises ; gérer les litiges commerciaux complexes, table ronde co-présidée par Fabienne Schaller.

The SIFoCC aims to identify good practises for international commercial dispute resolution based on experiences conducted by each jurisdiction according to its legal system (Common Law or Civil Law Country). For that Sydney meeting, several round tables were organized and themes under consideration included: Working towards an integrated system of Dispute Resolution;  The future for corporate legal responsibility, purpose and governance; Jurisdictional conflicts internationally; Managing complexity, and the “complexification” of disputes which was co-chaired by Fabienne Schaller.

5th Franco-Chinese meetings on Law and Justice.

The International Commercial Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal, represented by François Ancel, President, and Fabienne Schaller, Counselor, at the invitation of the Supreme People's Court, together with the Director of Civil Affairs of the ministry of justice, the Paris Bar, the President of the Commercial Court and the High Council of Notaries, composed the French delegation for a trip to Beijing as part of the 5th Franco-Chinese meetings on Law and Justice.

This meeting was an opportunity to exchange views with the judges of the Supreme People's Court and to present the international commercial chambers of the Paris Court of Appeal.

Standing International Forum of Commercial Courts

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The second edition of the Standing International Forum of Commercial Courts (SIFoCC) was held in New York on the 27th and 28th September 2018. 90 representatives of both commercial and civil jurisdictions from around the world gathered at the United States Courthouse. The Court of Appeal of Paris was represented by the president of the International Commercial Chamber of Paris, Francois Ancel, as well as by Jean Messinesi, president of the Paris Commercial court.

The SIFoCC is a unique forum for exchanges and dialogue between judges from different countries.The aim of the forum is to identify among various jurisdictions, both common and civil law, best practices in the resolution of international commercial disputes. Several topics such as the enforcement of foreign judgements, case management, technology in Courts,  litigation funding by third parties as well as arbitration issues were brought up during roundtables.

The next forum which will emphasise the use of  new technologies in dispute resolution will be hosted in Singapore in 2019