A former justice of the UK Supreme Court has backed London to retain its pre-eminent position in global shipping arbitration.
Lord Tony Clarke, now a commercial arbitrator, told delegates at the first London International Disputes Week: "I bet there's nowhere in the world that competes with it - well maybe one or two places dragging along behind."
He called London a "brilliant place to come to."
"Its reputation as a centre of excellence goes from strength to strength," he added, while "the geopolitical situation means we can expect more and more disputes here."
He said: "We've been settling disputes here for a 100 years. There is absolutely no reason London should not retain its pre-eminent position in the future."
In an irreverent key note speech, Clarke said he had been given a list of issues by the conference organisers that will change the legal landscape, but which he professed to know very little about, like increasing digitalisation and blockchain.
He told the audience he asked Sir David Steel, a former politician, about blockchain.
"I'd never heard of it. He went and got a simple guide to it. I can tell you it wasn't simple, I didn't understand any of it," he said.
He also mentioned artificial intelligence, ("There's a lot of artificial intelligence in here"), smart shipping, green shipping and IMO 2020.
"All of that will keep you busy for the next 10 years, so you can all get richer than you are already," he added.
Clarke also said he'd been handed a note underlined in red that said Brexit is unlikely to affect London's legal supremacy. "You heard it first from me," he added.
"Singapore and Hong Kong may be doing very well, but none of them have the experience of London," he said.
Clarke also said the key for London was the integrity of English law and the right of appeal to the UK courts.
Clients feel they get a "fair crack of the whip," he added.
