Our lawyers Eugen Sarbu and Mihai Ionescu-Balea represented Sarbu Partners at the American Bar Association International Law Section 2025 Asia-Pacific Conference in Singapore at the end of February.
Here are some of the key takeaways from the insightful discussions in which our lawyers took part:
1. AI is here to stay, but lawyers must use it carefully
There’s no denying of the impact that GenAI and LLM have and will continue to have on lawyers. However, it is our duty as international lawyers to use these as helpful tools, not as substitutes for our lawyer skills. We, at Sarbu Partners, take great pride in our attention to detail and the full assessment of a client’s case using our knowledge and experience in international arbitration and commercial litigation in Romania and Europe to find the best solutions to the client’s problems.
2. Entrepreneurs look for impartial, specialised and efficient courts for commercial disputes
More European states could follow Singapore’s example of having a specialised international commercial court with specialised judges from all around the world. The Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) acts like a sort of international commercial arbitration court inside the state court system of Singapore. This innovative approach has proved extremely efficient in the 10 years of the SICC’s existence and it goes to show that entrepreneurs are interested in having their commercial disputes adjudicated by an impartial, specialised and efficient forum, all of which are advantages offered by international commercial arbitration in Europe. As Romanian lawyers specialised in international commercial arbitration, we encourage clients to include an arbitration agreement in their commercial contracts, because commercial arbitration has proved to be a very efficient way of resolving disputes in Romania in recent years.
3. The Recognition and Enforcement of Arbitral Awards may be influenced by diverging ethical standards and norms for counsel and arbitrators
International arbitrations inevitably bring together lawyers and arbitrators with different legal backgrounds. This clash of legal and ethical standards must be carefully assessed by arbitral tribunals and lawyers in international arbitration to ensure a level playing field in matters such as confidentiality, privilege, and witness examination. At Sarbu Partners, we find strategies to maximise the chances of recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in Romania and Europe.