When is an Arbitral Panel an International Tribunal?
When is an arbitral panel an international tribunal for purposes of Section 1782? Section 1782, of course, is the U.S. statute that authorizes federal courts to order discovery in aid of proceedings before foreign courts and international tribunals. As discussed in a forthcoming article in the Virginia Journal of International Law entitled, Ancillary Discovery to Prove Denial of Justice, what constitutes an international tribunal is not a simple question. It is also a critically important question, because the power to invoke federal court discovery in aid of foreign or international proceedings is one of the most effective evidentiary tools that any international lawyer can wield.
Ever [...]
Job Posting: Managing Editor of ITA Arbitration Report of Kluwer Arbitration
As many of you know, I am the General Editor of the ITA Arbitration Report of KluwerArbitration.com database, the primary online research portal for international arbitration practitioners. On behalf of the folks at Kluwer and the Institute for Transnational Arbitration, I am happy to announce an opening for the position of Managing Editor for the ITA Arbitration Report of the Kluwer database. Details about the job posting are available here.
Basically, the Managing Editor would report directly to me and would liaise with the ITA Board of Reporters, who represent some of the leading international arbitration practitioners from around the world. The essential duties of the ITA Managing Edi [...]
Jerusalem Arbitration Center: Merchants of Peace
Last week I had the good fortune to attend a reception in Washington D.C. with various arbitration luminaries announcing the inauguration of the Jerusalem Arbitration Center.
With almost $5 billion in annual trade between Palestine and Israel, it is imperative to establish a neutral forum for resolving business disputes. JAC is established under the auspices of the International Chamber of Commerce. Zahi Khouri and Yara Asad of ICC Palestine and Oren Schachor and Baruch Mazor of ICC Israel were on hand to announce the partnership. JAC’s goal is to establish, in John Beechey’s words, “a truly neutral and independent forum.”
Catherine Rogers at Penn State has been actively invol [...]
Chevron Ecuador Dispute Heats Up
Last week was a blockbuster one in the ongoing battle between Chevron and Ecuador. On Wednesday, the arbitral tribunal adjudicating Chevron’s BIT claim issued an Interim Award ordering Ecuador “to take all measures at its disposal to suspend or cause to be suspended the enforcement or recognition within or without Ecuador of any judgment against [Chevron] in the Lago Agrio Case.”
The tribunal was at pains to emphasize the interim award was final and binding under Article 32 of the UNCITRAL Rules, which means that Chevron could pursue recognition and enforcement of the award in jurisdictions around the world. It could do so offensively by seeking declaratory relief in Ecuador (or elsewher [...]
Kluwer Arbitration Blog Wins CPR Award
On behalf of the many contributors to this blog and the good folks at Kluwer Law International, I am pleased to announce that this blog has won CPR’s 2011 award for best electronic media focused on ADR. The press release is here.
As most of you know, the CPR Institute is a nonprofit think tank and alliance of global corporations, law firms, scholars, and public institutions dedicated to the principles of commercial conflict prevention and alternative dispute resolution. The “Best Electronic Media Award” is presented annually to “a company, group, or individual that has produced exceptional electronic media that was focused on the field of Alternative Dispute Resolution.”
CPR pre [...]
Ecuador Appeals Court Affirms Lago Agrio Judgment
On January 3, 2012 an Ecuador Appeals Court affirmed the $18 billion judgment against Chevron in the long-running battle over environmental damage. (Available in English and the original Spanish here). According to an unofficial English translation of the sixteen page opinion, the Court dismissed all of Chevron’s arguments, including the allegations of fraud. Here is a taste:
As for the invalidity of the trial “for procedural fraud and violation of the guarantees of due process” it must be said that the record of the trial court reflects that the Defendants have exercised a vigorous and ample defense in the trial—the thousands of pages that bloat the trial have already been menti [...]
