Future-Proofing Arbitration: Australian Arbitration Week 2025

The 2025 Australian Arbitration Week was held in Sydney from 12 – 17 October 2025.

Ashurst hosted a number of events throughout the week and members of our global arbitration group were speakers at sessions, including Georgia Quick (Partner, Sydney; ACICA Immediate Past President; Head of Ashurst's Australian International Arbitration practice), Jeremy Chenoweth (Partner, Brisbane; Vice Chair of the Professional Advisory Council to ACICA and member of the ACICA Practice & Procedure Board), Luke Carbon (Partner, Sydney), Sylvia Tee (Partner, Beijing and Hong Kong), Michael Weatherley (Partner, Singapore), Michael Henao (Partner, Port Moresby), Lorraine Hui (Partner, Sydney), Ruimin Gao (Senior Associate, Brisbane), Erin Eckhoff (Senior Associate, Sydney), and Angelique Nelis (Lawyer, Sydney).

In this update, we summarise some of the key sessions and themes of the week, and highlight the strong representation of the Ashurst global arbitration group in Sydney.

"Future-Proofing Arbitration"

ACICA & CIArb's International Arbitration Conference was the main event of Australian Arbitration Week. The theme of the Conference was "Revolutions and Solutions: Future-Proofing Arbitration", exploring topics such as the increased prevalence of generative AI and the latest developments in international arbitration practice.

The first session, titled "Around the World and Back", involved speakers from different jurisdictions sharing their views on developments in international arbitration practice across different jurisdictions, with Sylvia Tee discussing the distinction between issues of admissibility and jurisdiction in the context of set aside proceedings and the upcoming amendments to the PRC Arbitration Law.

The theme of the rapid developments in the international arbitration practice continued throughout the week, including at a debate hosted by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) Australia Branch Young Members Group at Clifford Chance. Angelique Nelis participated as a panellist and joined in a lively debate on the state and future of arbitration in Australia. Topics of the debate included the impact of the High Court’s decision in Tesseract International Pty Ltd v Pascale Construction Pty Ltd [2024] HCA 24, whereby the Court confirmed that proportionate liability regimes apply to arbitration proceedings under Australian law. The consensus of the panellists is that the case reinforces the importance of careful contract design and negotiation to confine the effects of the decision in preserving party autonomy.

Following the theme of the latest developments in arbitral practice, Lorraine Hui participated as a panellist in a session organised by Omnia Chambers focused on practical insights into navigating contested document production. Lorraine shared her experience handling claims of legal professional privilege and public interest immunity in recent disputes in which these themes were central.

International project disputes

Many sessions over the course of the week explored the impacts of the changing geo-political landscape on the delivery of international projects.

It was a common theme across a number of sessions that, while there is an increasing amount of cross-border investments in international projects, those investments are exposed to risks that are unique to the current generation of projects – and which have been exacerbated by a rise in geo-political tensions and instability, as well as significant legislative and policy shifts on trade relations and energy transition.

Ashurst hosted a panel session titled "Navigating Nationalism: Impacts on International Projects and Disputes", with Jeremy Chenoweth and Erin Eckhoff moderating, and with Michael Henao as one of the panellists, along with Bruce Wolpe (Author and Senior Fellow, United States Studies Centre), Kiri Parr (Independent Consultant, Academic and Dispute Board Practitioner) and Brenda Horrigan (Independent Arbitrator). The panel explored the extent to which the rise of nationalism and protectionism, in particular, impacts international projects and disputes, with a focus on energy and trade disputes. Whilst not a new phenomenon, one of the themes explored by the panel concerned the impact that these tensions now have on international project delivery and supply chains in circumstances where projects have become more globalised than was perhaps the case 80 years ago.

Ashurst also hosted another panel session titled "The Amazing Race – International Perspectives on Renewable Energy Disputes", with Luke Carbon moderating, and Georgia Quick, Sylvia Tee and Michael Weatherley as panellists, along with Adam Robb KC (Barrister, 39 Essex Chambers, London), Brooke Miechel (General Counsel, Akaysha Energy, Sydney) and Craig Holland (Head of Legal (APAC & Middle East), Wärtsilä, Sydney). The panel explored the challenges, opportunities and disputes arising from renewable energy projects around the world, and what we can learn from them here in Australia as we continue on our journey to net zero.

Some of the key takeaways from the panel sessions included:

1. as renewable technologies rapidly evolve and are deployed at scale, the sector faces a complex blend of supply chain issues, regulatory hurdles, delivery challenges, social considerations, and geopolitical factors;
2. lessons can be learned from frontier jurisdictions (and the disputes taking place in those jurisdictions); and
3. having a clear risk allocation and even clearer communication is essential to maintaining strong project relationships and avoiding disputes.

Careers and diversity in arbitration

A number of sessions throughout the week focussed on careers and diversity in arbitration.

One session which focused on careers in arbitration was a lunchtime roundtable hosted by Ashurst in collaboration with a number of young arbitration groups including Young ITA, Young ICCA, CIArb Australian Branch Young Members Group, Young International Arbitration Group, and ACICA45. Luke Carbon, along with James Allsop (Partner, HSF Kramer), Ryan Cable (Senior Associate, Clayton Utz), Matt Lee (Partner, Lindsay, Francis & Mangan), Deborah Tomkinson (Director of Corporate Strategy & Counsel, Peter & Kim), Erika Williams (Independent Arbitrator), Caroline Swartz-Zern (In-house counsel (Disputes & Investigations), SMEC) and Alexandra Einfeld (Independent Tribunal Secretary), discussed their career journeys to date and provided advice to young practitioners about the options available to them to develop their own careers in arbitration.

Ashurst also hosted a moot that was organised by ArbitralWomen concerning the proposition that: "This House believes that the pursuit of diversity in arbitration has lost its momentum and is no longer a meaningful driver of change in the profession." Erin Eckhoff co-presented the moot with Anna Kelly (Associate Director, HKA and board member of ArbitralWomen). The moot was moderated by Swee Yen Koh (Senior Counsel, Partner, WongPartnership LLP) with Georgia Quick and Ruimin Gao debating the question along with Jonathan Humphrey (Partner, HKA) and Domenico Cucinotta (Special Counsel, Corrs Chambers Westgarth).

Recognition and community

This year marked the 40th anniversary of the founding of ACICA. As part of this anniversary, ACICA awarded Life Fellowships to its past presidents, including Georgia Quick who is ACICA's Immediate Past President, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to ACICA and the arbitration community in Australia over the course of her career to date.

Ashurst also co-hosted a cocktail event at its new Sydney office with FTI Consulting and Omni Bridgeway themed "The Resolution of Disputes in International Transactions & Projects". The event was an excellent opportunity for the arbitration community to come together to network and discuss the sessions that had occurred throughout the week.

Ashurst also sponsored a walk and run event co-hosted by ACICA and ACICA45, where Jeremy Chenoweth co-led a 5km run past the iconic Sydney Opera House before ending at a local café for coffee. The event was another excellent networking opportunity for the arbitration community.

Ashurst's global arbitration group

Ashurst regularly acts in commercial and investment arbitrations, with team members whose experience encompasses all of the major international arbitration institutions and rules around the world. The Ashurst global arbitration group comprises lawyers in both common law and civil law jurisdictions across the globe. We operate as one team throughout the Asia-Pacific region and the world.

Want to know more?

• Read our recap article from the 2024 Australian Arbitration Week here: https://www.ashurst.com/en/insights/australian-arbitration-week-2024-powering-the-future-and-going-for-gold/
• Read our recap article from the 2023 Australian Arbitration Week here: https://www.ashurst.com/en/insights/black-swans-and-transformative-thinking-australian-arbitration-week-2023/

Other author: Jordon He, Associate