CUArb LCIL Lecture: 'Functus officio as a matter of jurisdiction: a potentially problematic characterisation in complex international arbitrations' - David Brynmor Thomas KC

Lecture summary: He will speak about the effect of functus officio in arbitration - largely based on his view of a judgment in Western Australia in late 2022 treating it as a question of jurisdiction. He may also touch on res judicata arising from other proceedings but mostly to put his comments in context. The original case is a construction case on a very large LNG project. In his view, if followed elsewhere, it would raise problems for the use of partial arbitral awards in general. As partial awards are a case management tool in large arbitrations, including construction arbitrations but also elsewhere, this might be of wider interest, as well as being relevant to construction arbitration.