A string of mainstream media reports are suggesting that Uruguay is looking to compromise with Philip Morris International in relation to a sensitive international arbitration.
On Tuesday, The UK-based Guardian newspaper reported that Uruguay

has promised to water down anti-smoking laws after pressure from the tobacco giant Philip Morris, prompting accusations of corporate bullying.

More specifically, the paper [...] read more »

Earlier today, an ad-hoc annulment committee at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) completely annulled a 2007 arbitral award that had been rendered in favour of US energy company, Sempra Energy International.
The striking development serves to nullify a US $128 Million (plus interest) award wherein a panel of ICSID arbitrators had found [...] read more »

I spent some time in Namibia and South Africa last December looking into the impact of bilateral investment treaties on land reform.
I don’t do a lot of field trips, and my wife harboured some suspicion that this “research venture” was merely a tidy excuse to trade the New York winter for the Southern African [...] read more »

The preliminary hearings in the Pacific Rim v. El Salvador CAFTA arbitration went off without a hitch at the start of this week.
I’d like to report that I hung on every word via the live webcast that had been arranged by the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes. However, I spent my Monday – [...] read more »

I spent yesterday at a Georgetown Law School conference on transparency and international arbitration. Ostensibly focused on arbitration writ large, the event tended to zero in on investor-state arbitration (and investment treaty arbitration more specifically).
While various arguments were aired for and against transparency, I was struck (anew) by the extent to which the transparency debate [...] read more »

I spent some time earlier this month covering the Chevron-Ecuador hearings that took place in the Federal District Court in New York City.
Much has been written about the outcome of those proceedings – and the denial of a request by Ecuador for an injunction against a bilateral investment treaty arbitration started some months ago by [...] read more »