When in­solv­ency and ar­bit­ra­tion col­lide, which law pre­vails?

De­vel­op­ment sum­mary

Abhay Shrotiya and Keshav Kulshresh­tha ad­dress which law pre­vails when both in­solv­ency and ar­bit­ra­tion pro­ceed­ings are brought against the same cor­por­ate debtor. They trace the ten­sion, de­scribed by a US court as a 'con­flict of two near-polar ex­tremes', to the op­pos­ing aims of the two re­gimes: in­solv­ency con­sol­id­ates all claims in a single forum to give the debtor a fresh start, while ar­bit­ra­tion rests on party autonomy and min­im­al ju­di­cial in­ter­ven­tion.