Counsel Jonathan Tompkins (New York-International Arbitration) authored an article for the October 2018 issue of Dispute Resolution International titled “Manifest Disregard of the Law: The Continuing Evolution of an Historically Ambiguous Vacatur Standard.” 

The article examines the concept of manifest disregard for the law, an independent ground for vacating arbitral awards that is often disfavored in international arbitration circles. Jonathan argues that the burden to annul an arbitral award on the basis of manifest disregard is quite high, and one must demonstrate “that the arbitrator was both aware of and bound to follow a law that is well defined, explicit, and clearly applicable, but nevertheless consciously disregarded it without any colourable reason.”

Read “Manifest Disregard of the Law: The Continuing Evolution of an Historically Ambiguous Vacatur Standard.”