Originally from Reflections on International Arbitration - Essays in Honour of Professor George Bermann

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We are in a marathon, but there will be a finish line.

A client referred recently to the suggestion, often heard, that Covid is a marathon.  By Spring 2021 we had only reached the 18-mile mark, “where it becomes hardest.”  The client disagreed.  He felt that it was more like a six-mile run.  To which he had not signed-up.  But which he was then told would become a marathon.  Where the organisers had forgotten to order sufficient food and water for the mid-way rest station.  And where, because childcare had been closed, he had to take his stroller with him on the track.

Whilst somewhat bleak, it is a sentiment that will resonate with many.

I write this in early 2021, having made the mistake of proposing the topic in late 2020.  At that stage, one might reasonably have imagined that the world would be getting back to normal.  Reason and imagination, sadly, are often very different animals.  Although things are becoming relatively normal in certain places, that is not the case everywhere.  And certainly not in many of the world’s major arbitration centres.  Whilst Palm Beach might become a popular seat in the future, it is unlikely to disturb London, Paris, Hong Kong or New York anytime soon.