The seat of the arbitration

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Produced in partnership with Heidi Yildiz of The 36 Group
Practice notes

The seat of the arbitration

Copyright © 2025 LexisNexis

Produced in partnership with Heidi Yildiz of The 36 Group

Practice notes
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This Practice Note considers the key concept of the seat of an arbitration, with a particular focus on the law of England and Wales and Northern Ireland (England and English are used as shorthand throughout). Practice Note: Choosing the Seat of arbitration may also be of interest.

The importance of the arbitral seat

The arbitration seat is the juridical (or legal) place of the arbitration (sometimes referred to as the locus arbitri). The law of the seat (the lex arbitri) governs many aspects of the arbitral procedure and the award—it ‘indicates a link between the arbitration and a system of law’ (Process & Industrial Developments v Nigeria). The concept of the seat of the arbitration is one of the most important in international arbitration proceedings because it informs (and often determines):

  1. •

    the applicable procedural law of the arbitration (also referred to as the curial law or lex fori)

  2. •

    the national court (or curial court) that may assist or supervise the parties and the tribunal during the arbitration

Heidi Yildiz
Heidi Yildiz

Barrister, The 36 Group

Heidi Yildiz practises international arbitration and commercial litigation as a barrister at 36 Stone, the 36 Group. She is also admitted to practise as an attorney in Finland and is a non-practising English solicitor, having previously practised for more than 12 years as a solicitor. In addition to her counsel practice, Heidi is developing a practice as an arbitrator. She is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and has been admitted to the SIAC Reserve Panel of Arbitrators.
 
Heidi is recognised in the Legal500 Private Practice Arbitration Powerlist UK 2022 and 2023 as a leading International Arbitration Counsel in the UK and has since 2018 been recognised by Who’s Who Legal Arbitration as one as one of the World's future arbitration leaders.
 
Heidi has nearly 15 years of experience as a counsel in complex and high-value international arbitration disputes, both of a private and public law nature. As counsel, Heidi has represented a broad range of clients across a range of different industry sectors in institutional arbitrations conducted under the ICC, LCIA, DIS, FAI, LMAA, UNCITRAL and PCA Rules as well as ad hoc arbitrations, governed by a variety of substantive and procedural laws. In addition to commercial litigation experience at English courts, she has gained a broad commercial litigation experience at all stages of a dispute and at all levels of court in Finland.
 
Heidi trained first as a solicitor in the London office of Wilmer Hale and upon qualification practiced international arbitration there until 2011. Her experience at WilmerHale included working as part of a team that successfully represented SPLM/A in the ground-breaking Abyei boundary delimitation proceedings against the Government of Sudan conducted under the auspices of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. Thereafter, she worked nearly ten years at a leading Finnish firm, Dittmar & Indrenius in Helsinki until she transferred to the English Bar in July 2021 and joined 36 Stone as a full member. 

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Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom
Related legal acts:
Key definition:
Seat of arbitration definition
What does Seat of arbitration mean?

The jurisdiction in which an arbitration is deemed legally to take place and the award issued, regardless of the geographical location of the tribunal and/or any hearings. The seat also determines the legal system that, generally, provides the arbitration’s procedure and which courts have supervisory jurisdiction over the arbitration.

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