Arbitration and confidentiality

In CDE v NOP [2021] EWCA Civ 1908, [2022] BLR 108, the Court of Appeal held that on the facts of the particular case the decision to hold a case management conference in private had been the correct one, given the harm that disclosure of confidential information relating to an arbitral award might have caused to the defendant. But in so concluding the Court of Appeal expressed the view that only part of the case management conference should have been heard in private and it confirmed that, in subsequent proceedings between the parties, the starting point for the court would be that the hearing should be in public and that any derogation from that position required justification under the relevant provisions of the Civil Procedure Rules.