What is our best practice approach when advising General Counsel, to ensure dispute resolution clauses are to their real advantage and do not obstruct enforcement proceedings?

One of our top clients is a multinational Dutch entertainment group which organises concerts all over the world and licenses music and concert footage to TV stations all over the world.

When advising clients, regarding concert-related performance agreements and TV license deals, we first check whether or not the activities are taking place in the European Union (EU), whether it is feasible to apply Dutch law and if the courts in the Netherlands will have exclusive jurisdiction to determine any dispute. Outside of the EU market, we normally advise our client to opt for arbitration under the Rules of Arbitration of the ICC. This depends on the condition that the member state in question has ratified the New York Convention (Convention on the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitration awards). However, we do not lose sight of the fact that in certain situations – depending on the contract’s interest and risk – a client may have a preference to contract under foreign law and make the local court competent for dispute resolution. We determine this in consultation with local lawyers.