We are proud to announce our new member, Mr. Patrick M. Norton, has published a new article in the ICSID Review named "The Role of Precedent in the Development of International Investment Law".

Abstract:

Investment treaty arbitration tribunals rely on arbitral precedent as a principal source for rules of international law. Orthodox international legal doctrine, however, denies that the rulings of earlier tribunals may serve as a source of that law. This article examines the implications of this apparent contradiction. It concludes that investment treaty tribunals rely on precedents principally to legitimize their decisions, which may otherwise appear to rest on the arbitrators subjective interpretations of the highly indeterminate terms of investment treaties. More significant reasons for tribunal reliance on arbitral precedent may be found in the nature of international law itself and its relationship to international institutions, in particular: the lack of effective international legislative and judicial institutions with authority to promulgate primary rules of international law; the positivist premises of orthodox international legal doctrine; and the inductive reasoning used in the identification and application of rules of customary international law.

You can access a copy of the article here.

The 28th IPBA Annual Meeting and Conference is an avenue to discuss and dissect legal trends, opportunities and challenges brought by ASEAN integration and how it improves the professional and the business landscape in the region.

We are proud to announce that our Mr Robert Pé will be speaking on 15 March 2018 in the following panel:

China's Belt & Road Initiative - "Seeing is Believing": The Need for Tailor Made Dispute Resolution Mechanisms

China's Belt and Road initiative is a vast development strategy, involving more than 60 diverse countries in varying stages of development. Areas of cooperation under the initiative include policy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration, and people-to-people bonds, which are likely to have far-reaching effects for many disciplines, including international arbitration.

Some have called for uniform arbitral process to address the specific needs arising out of One Belt One Road. Others, however, view uniform arbitration procedure for resolving Belt and Road disputes as simply reinventing the wheel.

During this session, panellists will analyse practical dispute resolution mechanisms for Belt and Road related disputes and consider the challenges associated with the implementation of a uniform approach

For more information, please visit here.

The Willem C. Vis East International Commercial Arbitration Moot is a competition for law students from all countries. It runs in parallel with the Willem C Vis Moot in Vienna, and is based on the same ideals, using the same problem and substantially identical Rules. The Moot involves a dispute arising out of a contract of sales of goods between two countries, and at least one of those countries is a party to the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. Approximately 120 universities from around the globe participate in the Vis East Moot.

The 15th Vis East Moot will be held from 11th to 18th March 2018. For more information, please click here.

Columbia Arbitration Day (CAD), the Columbia International Arbitration Association's (CIAA) largest annual event, is one of the premier international arbitration and CLE-accredited conferences in the US, bringing together scholars, practitioners, and students from all over the world for an annual discussion on the challenges that drive the international arbitration community. CAD 2018 will be an all-day conference focusing on cutting-edge issues in both commercial and investment arbitration. This year’s conference theme is "The Way Forward: International Arbitration Meets a New Global Reality." 

The event is being held on 2 March 2018 at Columbia Law School. For more information, please visit here.