Norayr Babajanyan’s Public Lecture on International Arbitration
The well-known advocate spoke about the criteria which English courts and arbitration tribunals use to assess evidence, about the psychology and philosophy of cross-examination, and offered a few practical tips on witness interrogation.
On 18 March, the Institute received the famous English solicitor and Russian advocate Norayr Babajanyan (Redstone Chambers) who has a unique 30-year experience of representing disputing parties in international arbitration. Mr Babajanyan’s talk was on Cross-Examination in International Arbitration. The meeting was moderated by Kirill Molodyko, a leading research fellow of the HSE-Skolkovo Institute for Law and Development.
In the course of his 3-hour talk with the audience, out guest dwelled in detail on cross-examination as the most effective way to verify witness testimony; the philosophy of cross-examination; the psychology of cross-examination; the ethics of cross-examination.
Some elements of cross-examination (as it is understood today) had existed hundreds and thousands of years ago, and can even be found in sacred religious texts. Later, the Anglo-Saxon judicial procedure — in which oral testimony, verified by interrogation in court, serve as the basis for proof — extensively developed the theory and practice of interrogation in its philosophical, psychological and ethical aspects. Currently, a large percentage of large international contracts are governed by English law, and arbitration in London is popular as a way of settling disputes arising from such contracts. Mr. Babajanyan examined in detail the intricacies of cross-examination in international arbitration, which features certain differences from cross-examination in the English criminal procedure, despite the genetic links of the two. At the same time, some cross-examination tools are common to both English international arbitration and English criminal procedure.
Our guest elaborated on the criteria used by English courts and arbitration tribunals to assess evidence. He adduced a variety of practical examples to demonstrate how certain methods of witness interrogation help increase the trust of the arbitration tribunal to “friendly” witnesses and, inversely, torpedo the testimony of “unfriendly” ones; gave a number of valuable practical tips on when to use (or not use) cross-examination in arbitration, how to select and prepare witnesses.
During the event, Norayr Babajanyan offered a number of practical training exercises, during which volunteers from the audience were able to conduct interrogation or answer questions as witnesses.
The guest also informed that audience that the classic monograph by Kaj Hobér and Howard S. Sussman “Cross-Examination in International Arbitration: Nine Basic Principles”, translated by Mr Babajanyan, is to be issued this month in Moscow.
Solicitor Babajanyan answered numerous questions from the interested audience.
PhD students of the HSE Faculty of Law were joined at the event by teachers, researchers, undergraduate and graduate students of various departments of the Higher School of Economics, the Lomonosov Moscow State University, the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), the Kutafin Moscow State Law University, the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, the Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation, the All-Russian State University of Justice, in-house and private lawyers.