Premium article - July 03, 2019
More than two years ago, the ICSID tribunal in Urbaser v Argentina made significant findings on the role of international human rights law in investment treaty arbitration. Iain Maxwell and Caitlin Eaton of Herbert Smith Freehills in London look at how subsequent tribunals have responded to human rights and environmental considerations. Following the decision in Urbaser, several tribunals have been called upon to consider the relevance of allegations concerning human rights and environmental issues....
Premium article - October 19, 2017
Tribunals don't come together of their own choosing - rather like an arranged marriage, the arbitrators are brought together by others in expectation that they will co-operate and "produce something", Michael Moser told GAR Live Hong Kong yesterday. How do you ensure the marriage works? The session Moser led considered common causes of "tension, conflict and disconnect" in a tribunal - the appointment of the chair, difficulty coordinating diaries, bad or biased behaviour on the part of individual...
Premium article - September 27, 2017
After years of dogged effort, there's now no longer any doubt that Singapore has achieved its dream of becoming a major arbitration hub. As GAR completes its fourth event in the city, the city-state is attracting attention from outside institutions, while emerging into investment arbitration and a leader in third-party funding. Here's a round-up of the latest Singapore news Last year, the Singapore International Arbitration Centre registered more new arbitration cases than the LCIA for the first...
Premium article - September 27, 2017
Populist opposition to investor-state dispute settlement is now being echoed in the governments of some of its once-strongest supporters. In the past few months the European Union has called investor-state dispute resolution "dead", and is marketing its alternative, a multilateral investment court. Across the Atlantic, businesses have pleaded with US president Donald Trump to keep arbitration alive in his "tense" renegotiation of NAFTA with Canada and Mexico, as the president threatens to kill the...
Premium article - November 12, 2015
Cuba is opening up. Hussein Haeri and Ruzin Dagli of Withers discuss how foreign investors might fare in light of history, the country's network of bilateral investment treaties and a new foreign investment law passed in March 2014
Premium article - October 30, 2015
The smoke haze that has engulfed Singapore, Malaysia and other parts of South East Asia recently could violate international law and be the subject of an investment treaty claim against Indonesia, according to a briefing prepared by Dechert partner Mark Mangan and colleagues in the firm's Singapore arbitration team
Premium article - October 28, 2015
Nearly a year and a half after the Yukos awards were issued, Russia is waging a bitter war to have them set aside and to resist enforcement, including through GAR.
Premium article - October 27, 2015
It's not uncommon for one side of a case to delay proceedings with a variety of procedural tactics. Delegates at GAR Live Hong Kong discussed when that behaviour may cross the line into "guerrilla tactics"
Premium article - October 27, 2015
The president of the International Bar Association, David W Rivkin, has issued what one listener described as "a clarion call for better behaviour - much better behaviour" from arbitrators, proposing a "new contract" between them and parties to ensure expectations are met
Premium article - October 15, 2015
The legitimacy of investor-state arbitration in Africa depends on African arbitrators serving on tribunals and African states having more of a role in the formulation of bilateral investment treaties, says Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, the Somalian vice-president of the International Court of Justice.