The advantages of parties settling their disputes are self-evident. While there are several settlement facilitation techniques that arbitral tribunals have developed (see Carrara, Sussman & Berger and Vysudilova & Kirtley), arbitral institutions have remained in the background. At the 8th ICC European Conference in March 2024, the message conveyed by the parties was loud and…
The 38th AAA-ICDR-ICC-ICSID Joint Colloquium on May 21, 2024 at the World Bank Headquarters in Washington, D.C. brought together leaders from three major international arbitration institutions and practitioners from near and far. The wide-ranging program covered cutting edge technological innovations and timeless human considerations such as persuasion, corruption, and disability inclusion. Opening Remarks and Institutional Updates…
In recent years, criticism that international arbitration rules lean too heavily on common law traditions—with similar legal costs as a result—has culminated in the creation of multiple new sets of arbitration rules, each claiming to facilitate more efficient arbitration proceedings through civil law-based case management strategies. Whether those rules actually result in more proactive management…
The 2021 ICC Arbitration Rules introduce new procedures, update key provisions, and formalize the existing practices of the ICC Secretariat and the Court in order to allow for greater flexibility, efficiency and transparency in the administration of ICC arbitration cases. We will focus in this post on the changes made under the new Rules to…
On November 22, 2019, the acting government of Spain passed a long-anticipated legislation in response to more than four dozen of international arbitrations that, since late 2013, have been filed continuously against the country.1)See Clifford J. Hendel & María Antonia Pérez, ‘The Past, Present and Possible Future of the Spanish Renewable Energy Arbitration Saga,’ New…
One of the main objectives of investment arbitration, as a feature of international investment law, is to provide a neutral forum for the parties in dispute. Neutrality is necessary because the parties are fundamentally different: while the investor is a private entity, the state is a sovereign entity with sovereign immunity. However, the scenario of…
On March 19, 2019, an ICC tribunal seated in Paris and comprised of Claus von Wobeser (chairman), Francesca Mazza, and Horacio Grigera Naón, issued a procedural order staying the arbitration proceedings between Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (“PDVSA” for its acronym in Spanish, the Venezuelan state-owned oil company) and Petróleos Paraguayos (“PETROPAR” for its acronym in…
For many years, arbitration has been the de facto vehicle of choice for the resolution of investor-state disputes. However, despite the wholesale and widespread adoption of mediation in every sort of dispute, mediation is used rarely in investor-state disputes (Systra v. Philippines is one example). As of this writing, only 11 (1.3% of total ICSID…
In this continuing series of blog posts, we have been using Dispute Resolution Data (DRD)’s growing repository of international arbitration case data to analyze the extent to which such cases reach various outcomes, whether it be an award being rendered, administrative closure, dismissal, impasse, or settlement/withdrawal (which we treat as a single, distinct outcome). Our…
Arbitration as a Settlement Tool: Costly and Slow? As an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanism, arbitration is not without its critics, particularly when it comes to time and money spent. According to White & Case, LLP’s 2018 International Arbitration Survey: The Evolution of International Arbitration, respectively 67% and 34% of survey respondents indicated “Cost” and…
The progress in the development, acceptance and understanding of third-party financing of dispute resolution costs by lawyers and clients, will undoubtedly continue in 2018. The model of third-party based financing of arbitration costs will be no exception, it being generally accepted that it is here to stay and that it provides a solution, in particular,…
Over the past few decades, alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) has become the preferred method of conflict management in the commercial world. Contemporary trends in dispute resolution aim at consolidating ADR in this position by finding an appropriate way to enforce settlement agreements resulting from mediation/conciliation or in the course of judicial or arbitral proceedings. A…
Savvy litigators often tell their clients that “a bad settlement always beats a good litigation”. That may be partly because there is embarrassingly scant guidance in the literature, or even in the world’s law schools, on how lawyers can help their clients settle well rather than badly. I recently had the honor of writing the…
On 23 February 2017, three prominent international arbitrators shared their views and experience on the controversial question of the influence of legal traditions on arbitrators and arbitral proceedings. Juliet Blanch, Bernard Hanotiau and Pedro J. Martinez-Fraga were interviewed by Oliver Caprasse and Claire Morel de Westgaver at an event jointly organised by Belgian arbitration institution…
In September 2015 the UNCITRAL Working Group II (Arbitration and Conciliation) continued its work on formulating legal framework on the enforcement of settlement agreements, including a convention, model provisions or guidance texts. Currently, parties can request arbitration tribunals to record their settlement agreements as consent awards, i.e. an arbitral award on terms agreed upon by…
What are the effects of a settlement agreement between the locally incorporated company and the host state on the foreign shareholder’s pending BIT claim? Two views have emerged under investment treaty arbitration case law. The first view, adopted in Sempra v. Argentina (ICSID Case No. ARB/02/16) and Hochtief v. Argentina (ICSID Case No. ARB/07/31) decisions, holds…
Time Sensitive Over the next two weeks, two surveys will be gathering input from dispute resolution professionals on the challenge of enforcing settlement agreements across borders. The surveys are intended to provide empirical data to aid the decision making process for the proposed UNCITRAL convention on the international enforcement of settlements reached in mediation. IMI…
On February 27, 2014, Repsol S.A., Repsol Capital S.L. and Repsol Butano S.A. (collectively, ‘Repsol’), entered into a settlement agreement with Argentina, whereby Argentina agreed to pay Repsol $5 billion in USD denominated bonds as compensation for the expropriation of Repsol’s fifty-one percent shareholding in YPF S.A. and YPF Gas (the ‘Settlement Agreement’). Under the…
At the Herbert Smith Singapore Management University Asian Arbitration Lecture delivered by Michael Hwang SC on 4 August 2011, Hwang SC discussed incisively issues concerning the enforcement of arbitral awards concerning contracts allegedly tainted by corruption. Less than three weeks after that seminal lecture, the Singapore Court of Appeal in AJU v AJT [2011] SGCA…
In international arbitration proceedings in Continental Europe, particularly in Germany but also in Switzerland and other countries, it has become increasingly popular for arbitral tribunals to get involved and even take active steps in facilitating a settlement between the parties during the course of a pending arbitration. This raises a number of issues, and parties…
