Battle of forms: the construction of competing jurisdiction clauses

A decision from the Court of Appeal in an interest rate swaps case has clarified the preferred approach to interpretation of competing jurisdiction clauses. The judgment provides more certainty for the derivatives market, explain Abdulali Jiwaji and Nils De Wolff.

Abdulali Jiwaji is a partner and Nils De Wolff an associate at Signature Litigation – a boutique law firm specialising in high value commercial litigation and arbitration. Contact them on abdulali.jiwaji@signaturelitigation.com and nils.dewolff@signaturelitigation.com.

The Court of Appeal has recently overturned a commercial court’s decision in respect of a jurisdiction challenge relating to interest rate swaps entered into under an ISDA (International Swaps and Derivatives Association) Master Agreement: Deutsche Bank AG v Comune di Savona [2018] EWCA Civ 1740.