London Arbitration Week 2026

Date: Thursday 1 December
Time: 10:30 – 12:00

Energy and commodities businesses are operating in the most volatile risk environment since perhaps the 1970s. Every geopolitical shock now has the potential to become an arbitration claim.

• Trends and developments
• The client perspective and managing exposure
• The European market perspective
• The expert witness perspective
• Panel session & questions

Speakers

• Bernardo Ruiz Lima, partner, Penningtons Manches Cooper
• George Mingay, partner, Penningtons Manches Cooper
• Neil Ashton, partner, StoneTurn
• Anna Owen-Davies, consultant

Venue: Penningtons Manches Cooper, 125 Wood Street, London, EC2V 7AW

For more information and to register, click here.

Date: Thursday 1 December
Time: 16:30 – 18:00

International arbitration is founded on autonomy, consent, and internationalism. But when an award debtor refuses to pay, its effectiveness ultimately depends on national courts.

The panel will discuss:

• Foundational / conceptual importance
  Many awards, particularly in close-knit industries such as the coffee and diamond trades, are honoured without court involvement. Where coercion is required, however, arbitration depends on state authority. Can it therefore be considered genuinely international?
• Strategic importance
  Enforcement must be planned from the outset. Asset dissipation, concealment, and complex corporate structures make early asset tracing, jurisdictional analysis and coordination between counsel, investigators and funders critical.
• National enforcement landscapes
  Although the New York Convention provides a global framework, enforcement is shaped by local courts, judicial culture, public policy, and nationalism. An arbitration hub is only as effective as the courts that enforce its awards.

Speakers

• Kamran Rehman, partner, head of commercial disputes, Penningtons Manches Cooper
• Tariq Baloch, KC, Essex Court Chambers
• David Dearman, senior managing director, Ankura
• Faris Nasrallah, head of international arbitration, Crescent Petroleum
• Ayse Yazir, managing director, Bench Walk Advisors

Venue: Pennington Manches Cooper, 125 Wood Street, London, EC2V 7AW

For more information and to register, click here.

Date: Thursday 3 December
Time: 10:30 – 12:00, followed by lunch

Investors are increasingly faced with important choices regarding how and where disputes arising from mining, infrastructure and other cross-border investments in Africa should be resolved.

Should they continue to favour established arbitration seats such as London, or should they embrace other forums and institutions such as the CCJA-OHADA Arbitration Centre in Abidjan and other leading arbitral institutions and centres across Africa?

This session will bring together investors, in-house counsel, external counsel, arbitrators and representatives of arbitral institutions to discuss practical experience, enforcement considerations, investor expectations and the evolving landscape of dispute resolution in Africa.

Drawing on real-world mining, infrastructure and other investment disputes, the panel will explore how the choice of seat and institution can influence investor confidence, efficiency, enforceability and outcomes.

Speakers

• Mamadou Koné, secretary general, CCJA-OHADA Arbitration Centre
• Théophile Hiom II, senior counsel, CCJA-OHADA; member of the LCIA African Users’ Council
• Tunde Ogunseitan, independent arbitrator, Ogunseitan Arbitration; former counsel at the ICC International Court of Arbitration
• Jean-François Le Gal, partner and head of international arbitration, Penningtons Manches Cooper; Arbitrator (CCJA-OHADA, ICC, LCIA, CRCICA)

Venue: Penningtons Manches Cooper, 125 Wood Street, London, EC2V 7AW

For more information and to register, click here.