The End of the ‘Midnight Clause’: Making Arbitration Agreements Simple & Effective

Introduction

Arbitration is a creature of contract. Parties can only be compelled to have their disputes determined by arbitration if they have agreed to do so. The arbitration agreement is therefore of paramount importance, as it is the foundation from which significant amounts of time and money can be invested in seeking legal redress in the event of a dispute between parties.

However, all too often, contracting parties incorporate imprecise or needlessly complex arbitration clauses into their agreements. In the excitement of getting a deal over the line, frequently the dispute resolution clause is added late, with an unsuitable precedent potentially leading to months or even years of expensive satellite litigation before the underlying merits of the claim even begin to be tested.

In this webinar, James Glaysher, Partner at Kingsley Napley LLP, will provide practical guidance on how to draft concise and effective arbitration agreements that provide the certainty desired by commercial parties at critical times; namely, the advent of a dispute. The webinar will also explore common pitfalls and how to accommodate conflicting priorities in complex multi-party and/or multi-contract scenarios.

What You Will Learn

This webinar will cover the following:

• How to incorporate a clear election to arbitrate and provide certainty regarding key procedural features of the arbitration
• How to obtain the most suitable procedure through selection of arbitral seat, institution and number of arbitrators
• How to avoid common drafting pitfalls
• How to accommodate conflicting priorities in multi-party and/or multi-contract scenarios

This pre-recorded webinar will be available to view from Wednesday 27th May 2026

Alternatively, you can gain access to this webinar and 2,100+ others via the MBL Webinar Subscription. Please email webinarsubscription@mblseminars.com for more details.