The first Introductory International Commercial Arbitration Course and Certification in Thailand in nine years will be conducted on Friday, 31 October 2104 in Bangkok. The course flyer with the relevant details can be viewed and/or downloaded here:
Founded in 1990, the International Alliance of Law Firms is an affiliation of prominent law firms represented across the globe that provides clients a rapid and effective response to their international business challenges. The Alliance has 63 member firms with over 100 offices in 45 countries and is expanding.
After the Alliance’s standard and rigorous year-long vetting process — which includes close reviews of practice standards, professional ethics, control procedures, accounts review, practitioners’ qualifications, site visits, management interviews, and client reviews — Duensing Kippen was invited to and accepted such invitation to join the Alliance as its sole member firm in Thailand in May 2014. Jerrold Kippen, one of Duensing Kippen’s co-founding partners,recently returned from the Alliance’s Annual General Partner’s Meeting, held this year in Seattle, USA, 27 – 31 May, 2014 and commented:
“We are excited to have joined the Alliance. Previously we have always demurred from any reference to our firm being “international” simply because we had clients from more than one country. This changes that. Although each firm in the Alliance is independent, we are now as — perhaps more — tightly networked and connected internationally than the few global law firm brands operating in Thailand that share the same singular branding but which charge significantly more as aresult of this brandingfor the same services. It does mean a significant commitment for us in terms of annual compliance reviews, as well as, the mandatory global and regional meetings and monthly telephonic practice conferences. However, the quality of attorneys and staff in the Alliance is truly impressive and top-tier. With our new global footprint, we are now able to provide our clients with high quality legal services worldwide.”
Duensing Kippen is a multi-service boutique law firm in Thailand specializing in corporate & commercial, real estate, construction, hospitality and other business transactional matters, as well as, dispute resolution through negotiated settlement, arbitration and litigation proceedings. And, as a member of the International Alliance of Law Firms, Duensing Kippen provides legal services worldwide. Duensing Kippen can be reached at: contact@duensingkippen.com or for more information visit them at: duensingkippen.com.For more information the International Alliance of Law Firms, please visit: www.ialawfirms.com.
Olaf Duensing will be speaking on “The ‘Secured Leasehold’ Development Structure – Is there a more secure alternative?” at “CURRENT REAL ESTATE TOPICS—Combined Legal Committee/Greater Phuket Chapter Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce”. Other topics will include: “Regulating Estate Agency in Thailand”; and “Big Development News in Phuket Real Estate”.
Speakers include: Stuart Reading, Director – Laguna Resorts and Hotels
David Simister, Chairman – CBRE Thailand
Dexter Norville, Director – Jones Lang LaSalle (Thailand) Limited
Olaf Duensing, Partner – Duensing Kippen
Andrew Batt, International Group Editor – PropertyGuru.com
Nina Serebryakova, Managing Partner – Sereb (Phuket); Project Director – Thailand Certified International Property Specialist (2013); and Member – NAR (National Association of REALTORS)
Shine PR’s Natasha Eldred will moderate the event. Questions from the audience to all speakers as a panel and answers will be taken after all presentations. The event is open to the public and is a great chance for real estate professionals, those working in any real estate related business as well as anyone invested in or thinking of investing in real estate in Thailand to gain valuable insight into these current topics.
Registration for the event, which is co-organized by the Greater Phuket Chapter and Legal Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) begins at 4:00 p.m., event 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Admission is THB 100. The venue and networking, which will follow the event, is kindly provided by our host The Angsana Laguna Phuket.
To sign up for the event, please visit the website www.amchamthailand.com, contact Sheree Tanpensuk by email – sheree@amchamthailand.com or telephone 02-254-1041 ext 212.
In his capacity as a member of the Legal Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce, Jerrold Kippen recently organized and moderated a presentation and discussion of the current draft of the Thai Arbitration Institute’s new rules for the conduct of arbitration proceedings under its auspices. DUENSING KIPPEN invited Khun Prachya Yuprasert – Director of the Thai Arbitration Institute, to present the draft, and to highlight the proposed changes to the current rules. Questions and comments from the audience were taken and moderated by Jerrold after the presentation. To facilitate the discussions DUENISING KIPPEN provided all in attendance with an English language translation of the draft rules/changes. The event was attended by over 30 of Thailand’s leading domestic and international arbitration practice specialists from 11 firms. Following on Jerrold’s question and Khun Prachya’s welcoming invitation in reply, Jerrold is now leading the preparation of an informal white paper of comments on the draft rules by the practitioners in attendance which will be submitted to the Thai Arbitration Institute for their consideration shortly.
Olaf Duensing and Jerrold Kippen have been working in their capacities as Partners at DUENSING KIPPEN and as members of the American Chamber of Commerce of Thailand’s Legal Committee to explore and possibly prepare a proposal to the Thai government regarding regulating the professional practice of real estate agency in Thailand to accord with international standards. Accordingly, by invitation on Saturday, 24 August 2013, in Pattaya, Olaf Duensing will speak to this much needed regulation at the “Thailand Real Estate Future, ready for AEC 2015″, How you see ASEAN integration and the proposed “licensing” for Real Estate Agents working?” forum organized by The Real Estate Sales and Marketing Association of Thailand, in conjunction with the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the world’s leading real estate association, who have joined forces to present this educational forum. The NAR’s global headquarters is in the United States with a membership of over 1.3 million individual members and 80 Real Estate organizations with more than 60 countries connecting a worldwide real estate network of global markets. The event organizers hope that this will be “the first step towards standards for the Thailand real estate industry and real estate licensing for agents.”
By invitation Jerrold Kippen will be representing Thailand as a delegate at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrator’s annual international conference on 22 – 24 August 2013 in George Town, Penang, Malaysia. The event is expected to be attended by some 300 delegates from over twenty-five countries and will bring together the world’s leading arbitrators, arbitration scholars and arbitration counsel practitioners.
DUENSING KIPPEN’s client, a well-known international vacation club company, was recently hailed to civil court in Thailand by the client’s former construction contractor. DUENSING KIPPEN Associate Attorney, Tippaya Moonmanee, argued that the complex contractual arrangement between the client and contractor provided a cognizable arbitration agreement under the Arbitration Act of Thailand, the contractor must pursue its claim by way of the international arbitration mechanism provided in the contract, and that the suit must be dismissed. The court agreed and the suit was dismissed.
DUENSING KIPPEN has been engaged to represent a global ultra-luxury villa resort brand to represent it in constructing and structuring and operating its approximate THB 450 M/USD 15 M single resort villa site on the island of Yao Noi in Phang Nga, province near Phuket, Thailand.
In a recently concluded international arbitration proceeding under the auspicious of the Thai Arbitration Institute, the Tribunal’s sole arbitrator, a Thai national, awarded DUENSING KIPPEN’s non-Thai investor client the client’s full claim amount plus interest from the time the claim was ripe at 7.5%/annum. The client’s Thai joint-venture partner argued that the arbitration clause was ineffective so the Tribunal had no legal power to determine the issue presented and issue an Award accordingly. Alternatively, the joint-venture partner also argued that the DUENSING KIPPEN’s client had breached the joint-venture agreement. However, the Tribunal found that: the arbitration agreement was valid; the client did not breach the joint-venture agreement; but that it was the Thai joint-venture partner who breached the parties’ agreement.
Olaf Duensing and Jerrold Kippen recently contributed their considerable collective arbitration expertise to the American Chamber of Commerce of Thailand’s bi-annual business magazine publication: Thai-American Business or “T-AB” with an article entitled: “Arbitration: enforcing contracts out side of Thai courts”. The article provides Amcham’s business community with a general and accessible overview of the availability and high advisability of including arbitration as the designated dispute resolution mechanism in their business contracts. To view the article click on the following link and see pages 24 and 26.