When the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration was approved by the United Nations General Assembly in 1985, “uniformity of the law of arbitral procedures” was a stated purpose. The uncertainty produced by the disparity among the national laws was one of the drafters’ concerns. The other was the inadequacy of domestic laws to govern arbitration for international disputes. In the Explanatory Note (Section A), national laws were described as “outdated”, “fragmentary” and/or “too domestic”, making them inappropriate for arbitration of international commercial disputes.

In 2006, the Model Law was modified on two substantive aspects: the form of the arbitration agreemen [...]

“America’s important security alliances across the Pacific need an economic underpinning.”  Ambassador Robert Zoellick, May 1, 2013

To use one of the Obama Administration’s favorite terms, the entry of Japan in April 2013 into the three-year-old Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations later this year is a “game-changer.”  Prior to Japan’s commitment as the 12^th TPP partner, U.S. participation in the TPP negotiations could be seen as an important piece of the nation’s “pivot” toward Asia, part of a new emphasis on economic, political and security relationships in Asia and an element of various initiatives to counterbalance China’s growing, not always benign, influ [...]

A brief history
Arbitration has been a part of the laws of El Salvador for more than a hundred years. The Constitution of 1983 clearly states in Article 23 that every citizen of the country has the right to terminate his or her civil or commercial matters through arbitration.

July 2002 marked a dramatic change in the arbitration landscape, when the Salvadoran Congress passed the Mediation, Conciliation and Arbitration Law (Ley de Mediacion, Conciliacion y Arbitraje or LMCA). Until then, arbitration was used more commonly among international companies doing business in the country or most commonly between companies doing business with the central government. The law was greatly modeled afte [...]

On this first of April I thought it might be useful and timely to remind blog readers that the U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether to grant certiorari in BG Group Plc. v. Republic of Argentina. The Supreme Court asked the Solicitor General’s Office for its views on the cert. petition, which suggests that at the least the case has captured the Court’s interest; whether that interest will survive the SG’s filing in the case remains to be seen – and likely will be seen by early May (I plan to update you when the SG files his views).

For those of you who cannot wait until May to consider the pressing issues raised by the BG Group case, and other “gateway” issues as well, I co [...]

A new study of dispute resolution practices in Fortune 1,000 corporations shows that many large companies are using binding arbitration less often and relying more on mediated negotiation and other approaches aimed at resolving disputes informally, quickly and inexpensively. The 2011 survey of corporate counsel developed by researchers at Cornell University’s Scheinman Institute on Conflict Resolution, the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University School of Law, and the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR) produced results that appear to be strongly reflective of U.S. practices and trends, but thoughtful practitioners and scholars will [...]

As its Council Member I attended the ICC Institute of World Business Law’s 32nd annual meeting on ‘Third-Party Funding in International Arbitration’ held in Paris on 26 November 2012. It was a grand success as it drew many professionals, arbitrators, experts, academic specialists and, above all, representatives from some major third-party funding bodies such as Burford Group Ltd., Calunius Capital LLP, Fulbrook Management LLC and others, and the discussion and debates generated a great deal of interest among the participants. The presented topics ranged from the concepts of litigation and arbitration financing to more complicated issues such as ethical issues of third-party funding ( [...]