Brazil has come a long way in a short time in terms of arbitral development. Speakers at GAR Live Rio de Janeiro – our first event in the Americas – considered how it could do even better in the years to come and how the country’s new role as a capital exporter has affected its approach to investment.

When it comes to international arbitration, Brazil was a late arrival at the ball - but now she's dancing with everyone, suggested participants at a recent roundtable in São Paulo. Clare Bolton reports on the event, convened by GAR's sister publication, Latin Lawyer.

When an ICSID tribunal allowed 60,000 Italian bondholders to bring a mass claim against Argentina over its sovereign debt restructuring last August, Greece was no doubt looking on with trepidation. As the country’s political and economic future hangs in the balance, Kyriaki Karadelis considers the claims that could be brought against the nation that has undergone the largest debt write-down in history

Dinesh Dhillon, a partner at Allen & Gledhill in Singapore, argues that the approaches taken by the courts of Australia, Singapore and the UK when an award debtor resists enforcement under the New York Convention on the basis that there was no valid arbitration agreement are consistent – and not as "mechanistic" as sometimes suggested.

Matthew Weiniger and Claudia Ludwig of Herbert Smith in London say a recent ICSID award against Paraguay does little to dispel uncertainty about the scope of investment treaties' umbrella clauses – suggesting that the choice of arbitrator remains paramount.

A court in The Hague has refused to set aside three UNCITRAL awards rendered in favour of US oil company Chevron against Ecuador. Stan Putter, an associate at Eversheds in Amsterdam, reports.

Should an arbitration clause bind a non-signatory? Partner James Hope and associate Homan Hamzeh of Vinge in Stockholm say a recent Supreme Court decision confirms the traditional view that under Swedish law the answer is no – making it clear that the 'group of companies' doctrine does not apply in Sweden.

The revised Swiss Rules of International Arbitration enter into force on 1 June – with cases to be administered by a single entity that brings the arbitration services of seven Swiss chambers of commerce under one roof for the first time. Philipp Habegger of Walder Wyss in Zurich, who sat on the drafting committee for the new rules, explains the changes.

A recent conference in Atlanta heard conflicting views on the American Law Institute's Restatement Third of the US Law on International Commercial Arbitration – including concerns that it is a "Trojan horse" that seeks to legislate via the back door. Sebastian Perry reports

Leading arbitrator Albert Jan van den Berg last week praised Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice (STJ) for its recognition and enforcement of international arbitration awards but encouraged judges to rely more explicitly on the New York Convention in their reasoning.

An event in Cairo heard Karim Hafez spell out provocative criteria for arbitral appointments and Georges Abi-Saab criticise ICSID's procedure for deciding challenges.

Despite the human instinct to tinker and be creative, US arbitrator Charles N Brower has argued that not every change to international arbitration is an improvement and that we should focus on “the right kind of inventiveness”.

Judges must not be “stuck in national grooves” but apply their minds to the effective resolution of disputes by arbitration, said the Chief Justice of Mauritius at a recent New York Convention roadshow, while arbitrator Jan Paulsson said proper application of the instrument is “a way of giving power to citizens to make meaningful promises”.

Author: Karel Daele. Published by Kluwer Law International, 2012. Reviewed by Stephan Wilske, partner at Gleiss Lutz in Stuttgart, and Willa Obel, fellow at the Robert Bosch Foundation.

Le nouveau droit français de l'arbitrage. Edited by Thomas Clay. Published by Lextenso, 2011. Reviewed by Marc Henry, partner at Hughes Hubbard & Reed in Paris

GAR interviews Columbia Law School professor George Bermann about the growth in graduate courses on international arbitration, the demands of his role as chief reporter of the American Law Institute's Restatement, and the "cataclysmic" implications of the Chevron v Ecuador case.