Latvia is an infamous unicorn in the field of arbitration because of its record-number of institutional arbitration courts. In November 2013, there were 214 arbitration courts in Latvia. Regretfully, this is not because we as a nation love arbitration that much. Liberal regulations have allowed any legal entity to establish an arbitration court which to a large extent has been misused by creating the so-called “pocket” arbitration courts. This term reflects that, in practice, the Latvian courts have frequently dealt with cases involving legal entities (or their subsidiaries) that at the same time were the founders of the arbitration court. In other words, on many occasions, the operation of an arbitration court raised questions regarding its impartiality.
Our Partner Valts Nerets sets out his thoughts on arbitration in Latvia – full article here.
