Commercial courts and international arbitration--competitors or partners?

Drawing on the author's extensive personal experience as an international arbitrator, Senior Counsel in Singapore, and the non-resident Chief Justice of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts, this article examines the relationship between commercial courts and international arbitration in two jurisdictions, Singapore and Dubai. The author discusses the impact that the newly established Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) will most likely have upon the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) to conclude that these two dispute resolution forums will most likely complement one another. The article then moves on to discuss a novel, mutually beneficial interaction between the courts and arbitral institutions through the new Practice Direction of the DIFC which seeks to 'convert' court judgments into arbitration awards, thereby allowing successful parties to enforce their court judgments through either arbitration or litigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]