Monday’s New York conference on “Arbitration with States and State Entities under the ICC Rules” got me thinking about the possibility of amicus submissions in investment cases before the ICC or other institutions beyond ICSID. A few musings:

Are amicus debates likely to arise in the ICC context? The answer is yes. Although most ICC cases involving States or State entities have arisen from contracts, a number already have alleged breach of investment treaties, and more presumably are to come. A recent ICC task force suggested that roughly 20% of BITs allow some possibility of using the ICC Rules, either by expressly providing that option or by allowing the parties to agree on an [...]

Reminder — The September 1 deadline is now drawing near for the Call for Papers, for the Institute of Transnational Arbitration (ITA)’s Winter Forum in Miami on January 24-25. Details of the Call for Papers, which focuses on works-in-progress in the area of international arbitration, are available at: http://www.cailaw.org/ita/2013winforum_papers.pdf and/or http://wolterskluwerblogs.com/?s=winter. We anticipate announcing the selected papers by October 1, 2012.

The Executive Committee and Academic Council of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA) are proud to announce that the second annual ITA Winter Forum will take place in Miami on January 24-25, 2013. Building on its successful launch in 2012, the Winter Forum will provide a unique opportunity for the exploration of scholarly papers and probing debate with a practical slant of topical issues in international arbitration.

The first half of the Winter Forum will showcase two works-in-progress, encompassing presentations by authors, commentary by internationally recognized academics and practitioners, and interactive discussion among all participants. Our objective is to integrate t [...]

Section 3.3.6 of the IBA Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest in International Arbitration advise that when a “close personal friendship exists between an arbitrator and counsel of one party, as demonstrated by the fact that the arbitrator and the counsel regularly spend considerable time together unrelated to professional work commitments or the activities of professional associations or social organizations,” the arbitrator should disclose the relationship. This advice has hardly proved controversial — no doubt in part because the Guidelines are flexible, and designed to “be applied with robust common sense and without pedantic and unduly formalistic interpretation.” (IBA Guide [...]

Yesterday’s post set the stage by describing the main provisions of a new voluntary Code of Conduct for “funding of resolution of disputes within England and Wales,” released in November 2011. Today’s post examines criticisms of that initiative from several corners, and notes important questions that persist in the arbitration arena, including issues surrounding the obligations of disclosure.

Despite the novelty and best intentions of the U.K. initiative, the Code has been strongly criticized both for its non-binding character and its lack of detail. Both the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform (“ILR”) and the European Justice Forum (“EJF”) have expressed co [...]

The use of third-party funding for international arbitration has been growing for several years, and its potential benefits and risks have received increasing attention from the arbitration community. The November 2011 release in the United Kingdom of a Code of Conduct for funders has galvanized the debate. The Code is the first-ever attempt at voluntary self-regulation by litigation funders, and could apply not just to third-party funders based in England and Wales, but arguably also to other funders of arbitrations seated in those jurisdictions. The Code has been welcomed as an innovative attempt to impose restraints on funding practices that otherwise raise significant ethical concerns [...]