Lis alibi pendens in International Commercial Arbitration

The occurrence of parallel proceedings involving the same dispute and the same parties in international commercial arbitration is a well known phenomenon. In order to prevent the undesirable effects of the proliferation of proceedings (namely the risk of lengthy and costly proceedings and the risk of irreconcilable decisions), different tools can be deployed. The analysis of the techniques most frequently employed to address this problem shows that many of the procedural mechanisms available are ill-suited, given the specificity of international commercial arbitration. This contribution argues that a pro-arbitration approach in dealing with the lis pendens issue should be embraced and formulates a specific proposal in this respect.