Bernard Hanotiau

Hanotiau & van den Berg

Brussels www.hvdb.com

bernard.hanotiau@hvdb.com Tel: +32 2 290 39 00

Biography

Bernard Hanotiau is a member of the Brussels and Paris Bars. Since 1978, he has been actively involved in more than 500 international arbitration cases in all parts of the world, in all sectors of industry. Mr Hanotiau is professor emeritus of the law school of Louvain University (Belgium). He is an advisory member of the ICCA Governing Board, a member of the Council of the ICC Institute and the Court of Arbitration of SIAC. He is the author of Complex Arbitrations - Multiparty, Multicontract, MultiIssue (Kluwer, 2006, second edition 2020).

After my law studies, I was appointed assistant professor of law in private international law. Through my university contacts, I became a member of the editorial board of the International Business Law Journal. I was asked to be the contact member for the International Chamber of Commerce. This is when I discovered the beauty of international arbitration and I decided to invest in this field, which was still in its infancy at that time.

How do you, as an arbitrator, try to ensure hearings are fair for all parties?

One of the main duties of an international arbitrator is to make sure that the procedure complies with principles of fairness, due process and equality. You have to listen to the parties, hear their requests and eventual complaints, strike a balance whenever needed, and always evaluate your final decisions in light of the above principles.

You have published extensively on international arbitration. Are there any particular trends and developments emerging that you have written about recently?

For the past 25 years, I have specialised in complex arbitrations involving multiple parties and multiple contracts. The topic involves a lot of different issues, including non-signatories, joinder, consolidation, res judicata, and enforcement of awards against third parties. There are constantly new developments in these areas in terms of legislation, arbitration rules, court decisions and awards. I monitor all these changes and analyse them in my various articles and my presentations in conferences.

To what extent is document production becoming increasingly burdensome in complex disputes? How can this be resolved?

In procedural order n° 1, the arbitral tribunal specifies all the rules that have to be complied with in the requests for document production. In many cases, they are not followed by counsel. Many requests are much too broad or not relevant. So far, nobody has found a solution to this problem. Should we put a limit to the number of requests that each party could make in the document production phase? When the requests filed by a party are obviously unreasonable, the only thing that arbitral tribunals have been able to do, so far, is to take this into consideration in the allocation of costs.

What do you think will be the greatest challenge facing the next generation of arbitration practitioners?

When I started my career, there were very few players in international arbitration. The practice of arbitration was mainly limited to Europe. Nowadays, arbitration is practiced worldwide and there is a multiplicity of players everywhere. It is therefore much more difficult for a young practitioner to establish a reputation and build a substantial practice in arbitration. I would add that the practice has become much more complex and adversarial than in the past, up to the point where I sometimes wonder whether it can still be described as a peaceful method of dispute settlement.

How does Hanotiau & van den Berg stand out among competition in the market?

We were the first to establish a boutique law firm in international arbitration, twenty years ago. As Mr Ma of Alibaba says: the most important is not to be the best but to be the first. We were the first and we have always worked hard to be among the best. Now, we also have a new generation that is very successful. We remain at the top of our practice as arbitrators, experts and also as counsel in enforcement matters in particular.

What is the best piece of career advice you have ever received?

We have an expression in French: “Il ne faut pas se reposer sur ses lauriers”, which means, “You should never rest on your laurels.” In other words, you should never consider that it is done. You have to put yourself in question all the time, continue to work hard and improve yourself and the work you are doing.

Peers and clients say: “One of the best presiding arbitrators around” “He is very efficient and knowledgeable” “A star figure in the arbitration world” “A sophisticated arbitrator with vast experience of complex arbitrations”