London Arbitration Week 2026: dates, programme and the LIDW difference

The short version

• London Arbitration Week (LAW) is an arbitration-focused week of events across the City of London, organised by London Arbitration Week Limited.
• It was first held in 2025, over 1 to 5 December 2025, and returns 30 November to 4 December 2026.
• The 2026 flagship conference, “Arbitration Redesigned: Innovation, Trends and the Next Chapter”, is at Guildhall on Wednesday 2 December 2026.
• LAW fixes its central programme on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and takes participant-hosted events on Tuesday and Thursday; it describes its focus as “quality over scale”.
• As of 10 November 2026 the published 2026 programme lists about 148 events across the five days.
• It is a separate event from London International Disputes Week (LIDW), a broader disputes week run by a different company and held each June.^1,2,3,4,5,6

What is London Arbitration Week?

London Arbitration Week is a concentrated week of arbitration sessions and receptions held across the City of London, built around one central flagship conference. A flagship conference is the week’s main event, the session the rest of the programme is arranged around. LAW is arbitration-specific, which is what sets it apart from a broader disputes week. The official site says the week “convenes thought leaders at convenient venues across the City of London” with a focus firmly on “quality over scale”.¹

The week is arbitration-focused by design. Arbitration is private dispute resolution in which the parties agree to have their case decided by one or more arbitrators, the neutrals who hear the evidence and issue a binding award, instead of going to court. A seat is the legal home of an arbitration, the country whose courts and law stand behind the case. The week spreads across venues in the City of London rather than sitting in a single conference centre, which is what the official site means by “convenient venues across the City of London”. This guide covers the event; the law of a London-seated arbitration, the Arbitration Act 1996 as amended by the Arbitration Act 2025, the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) and the Commercial Court, is in our guide to arbitration in London. For the other city weeks through the year, see arbitration weeks around the world.¹

Who runs London Arbitration Week?

LAW is organised by London Arbitration Week Limited. The official site states that “London Arbitration Week (LAW) is the trading name of London Arbitration Week Limited, registered at Companies House under number 16233621.” It is run by a company set up for the week, not by an arbitral institution. An arbitral institution is a body that administers cases under its own rules, such as the LCIA or the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC); LAW does not administer cases, it runs the week.¹

A different company runs London International Disputes Week, registered under company number 12286844; the two are compared below. The company numbers are the cleanest way to keep the two events apart, because the names are easy to confuse. We name the organisers at the company level only, and do not list directors, committee members, patrons or speakers; the question searchers ask is who runs the week, and the answer is the company, not any one person.^1,6

When is London Arbitration Week 2026?

London Arbitration Week 2026 runs Monday 30 November to Friday 4 December 2026. The week was first held in 2025, over 1 to 5 December 2025. As of 10 November 2026 these are the dates shown on the official site.^1,4

The timing is the clearest way to tell LAW from LIDW. LAW sits in late November to early December; London International Disputes Week is a June event, and its 2026 edition ran 1 to 5 June 2026. The two are separate events, set out in the sections below. The 2026 edition is the second year the week has run, after the first in 2025.^1,5

What is the flagship conference, and where is it held?

The 2026 flagship is the “LAW Flagship Conference: Arbitration Redesigned: Innovation, Trends and the Next Chapter”, held on Wednesday 2 December 2026, 9:00am to 5:30pm, at Guildhall, Guildhall Yard, London EC2V 5AE. The official programme lists it as the week’s flagship event.²

The flagship sits in the middle of the week, with the participant-hosted days on either side. The organiser’s FAQ says the sessions held through the rest of the week “do not have to be tied to this flagship theme”, so the week is wider than the single conference.³

How does the week work?

LAW runs a fixed central programme on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and accepts participant-hosted events on Tuesday and Thursday only. The official FAQ says: “The LAW programme is fixed for the Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and we therefore only accept proposals for Tuesday and Thursday.” Those hosted events run in 90-minute windows through the day.³

The hosted events are proposed and run by the participants themselves. LAW says it “encourages high quality events with diversity in all its forms, addressing issues in international arbitration and hosted in and around the City of London”, and describes its overall approach as “quality over scale”.^1,3

As of 10 November 2026 the published 2026 programme lists about 148 events across the five days: about 4 on the Monday, about 70 on the Tuesday, 2 on the Wednesday including the flagship conference, about 70 on the Thursday and 2 on the Friday. The hosted days carry most of the sessions; the central days are lighter.²

How is London Arbitration Week different from London International Disputes Week?

They are two different events. LAW is an arbitration-specific week run by London Arbitration Week Limited, held in late November to early December. LIDW is a separate, broader disputes-community week, covering arbitration, litigation and mediation, run by London International Disputes Week Limited and held in June. Its 2026 edition ran 1 to 5 June 2026, and its next edition is announced for 7 to 11 June 2027.^1,5,6

LIDW describes itself as “a forward-thinking forum for the disputes community active in London”, a scope wider than arbitration alone. Its About page says the company “was incorporated as a private company in 2019” and “is run on a not-for-profit basis by the board and LIDW’s steering group”, registered in England and Wales under company number 12286844.^5,6

So the quick test is the month and the scope. A late-November or December arbitration week in London is LAW. A June disputes week that also covers litigation and mediation is LIDW. The table below sets the two side by side.^1,5

How can you take part?

Anyone can attend sessions across the week. The organiser’s FAQ says the “LAW2026 events calendar is now live” and that you can book a place on the open sessions of your choice. Most events on the Tuesday and Thursday are free of charge, while some core sessions across the week may incur a fee.³

Organisations can also host their own event on the Tuesday or Thursday. As of 10 November 2026, LAW says it has “paused approvals” for new hosted-event proposals while it reviews the position, so hosting is not open at the time of writing; attending is.³

LAW is one of several city arbitration weeks held through the year. The official site says the week “will become a cornerstone of the international arbitration calendar”. For the full circuit, see arbitration weeks around the world; it also includes Paris Arbitration Week and New York Arbitration Week.¹

What do the arbitration weeks tell us about where arbitration is heading?

In our view, the 2026 programme reads as a working agenda for the field. Its flagship conference is titled “Arbitration Redesigned: Innovation, Trends and the Next Chapter”, and in only its second edition the week lists about 148 events across five days, as of 10 November 2026. The questions the programme keeps returning to are the field’s long-standing ones: cost, delay, access, the competition between rival seats, and the use of AI. That London runs a dedicated arbitration week at all, rather than keeping arbitration inside a broader disputes week, shows how much the city stakes on its standing as a seat. Set beside the other city weeks held through the year, London’s week is one of the places where the field debates, in public, how to carry more cases across borders, decided more consistently and kept on a cleaner record. What institutions and courts say about the AI question is in our guide to AI in arbitration; the wider picture across mediation and other forums is in AI in dispute resolution.^1,2,5