Do We Really Need A World Financial Court?
On September 9th, 2009, an intriguing editorial penned by Jeffrey Golden, a special US Counsel and global derivatives senior partner at Allen & Overy LLP, appeared on the Financial Times. It was titled “We Need a World Financial Court with Specialist Judges”. The reason why I bring this article to the attention of the readers of this blog is that hitherto the settlement of international financial disputes has been the almost exclusive domain of diplomacy and, when needed, arbitration. How should the international arbitration community react to such an idea?
The need for such a court, Golden argues, stems from the need to “…ensure (1) that courts stay up to date with global [...]
Vattenfall v. Germany: Anomaly or New Trend?
ICSID arbitration proceedings against Germany (Vattenfall AB, Vattenfall Europe AG, Vattenfall Europe Generation AG & Co. KG v. Federal Republic of Germany – ICSID On April 17, 2009, the government-owned Swedish energy company Vattenfall initiated Case No. ARB/09/6, reported in IA Reporter, April 2nd, 2009 (Vol. 2, No. 6)). The dispute concerns the construction by Vattenfall of a coal-fired power plant in Hamburg, Germany.
Originally, Vattenfall had received permission to build the powerplant in 2007, at a time when the City of Hamburg was ruled by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). However, the project was heavily criticized by the Green Party which had taken the City State o [...]
