London International Disputes Week: Lord David Wolfson KC speaks on future of Arbitration, AI and more

Lord David Wolfson KC, a keynote speaker at the London International Disputes Week, 2024 (LIDW24) on Monday spoke about the past, present and future of arbitration in London..He opined that the Artificial Intelligence (AI) will inevitably be used to resolve even complex disputes, in one form or the other. "We are inevitably, I think, going to move to a situation in which AI will decide cases, at least with the agreement of the parties. For small cases, this might be a development of Online Dispute Resolution...People might well be willing to have a speedy and cheap AI decision. And even for more complex cases, we are not far off I think, (from) AI being able to assimilate arguments, documents and legal authorities, and to render a result or a provisional result. The vista that opens is not an easy one, but we must think about it, and prepare for it," he said. .In his speech, Wolfson said AI can also be potentially used for the translation of documents in international commercial arbitration. Translation is often slow and expensive, he noted. With the use of AI, the savings in terms of both time and cost are likely to be significant, he pointed out. The rise of Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) in the present, as a mode of alternative dispute resolution also found mention in Wolfson's address. While some may view ODR as a form of rough justice, it is better than no justice. There are too many people who still do not get any justice, he pointed out.He flagged certain risks and challenges faced in London, when it came to arbitration as well. There is a real risk that arbitration is becoming too slow and mimicking court procedures, he said. He went on to opine that the present pool of arbitrators needs to be widened and become more diverse. "We are not seeing the next generation of arbitrators come through as quickly, or in as diverse a group, as many of us would like," he said. .The LIDW24 kicked off on June 3, Monday and will continue during the course of this week. Wolfson's keynote address on Monday morning was delivered during a session hosted by Kirkland & Ellis and was followed by a panel discussion on the theme India's review of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act and the arbitration ecosystem.The panel included Nitesh Jain (Trilegal) as the moderator and Prashanto Chandra Sen (Quadrant Chambers), Justice L Nageswara Rao (former judge of Supreme Court of India), Dharshini Prasad (Wilkie Farr), and Senior Advocate Gopal Subramanium (3 Verulam Buildings) as other members. The panel discussed the newly formed Arbitration Bar of India and whether India needs two separate Acts - for international arbitration and domestic arbitration.The panel members also spoke on adhoc arbitration and institutional arbitration and whether India could be a case study and lead in promoting both. The speakers further spoke of the need to train lawyers and judges in arbitration, and mulled on who should lead this effort.