Law Commons^™

Are Pre-Dispute Agreements To Arbitration Online Enforceable?, Caleb Gerbitz

Arbitration Brief

Arbitration is a favored adjudicatory mechanism because it is efficient, effective, and informal compared to judicial litigation. Scholar Thomas Carbonneau has noted that arbitration is “America’s optimal trial procedure.” The ubiquity of pre-dispute agreements to arbitrate in consumer contracts makes arbitration the dominant method to resolve such disputes. Yet, despite its hallmarks of accessibility and informality, arbitration’s reliance on face-to- face proceedings limits its benefits. Online dispute resolution (ODR) has grown in popularity among e-commerce retailers over the last two decades—and more recently within court systems.5 However, ODR’s rise has not meaningfully affected how pre-dispute agreements to arbitrate are drafted …

Importance Of The Law Applicable To The Arbitration Agreement In International Commercial Arbitration, Marlon M. Meza-Salas

Arbitration Brief

This article analyzes the law applicable to the arbitration agreement in international commercial arbitration and some of the issues that could arise when the parties do not choose any particular law to govern their arbitration agreement. Parties frequently determine the substantive law that will govern the merit of the dispute and the rules applicable to the arbitration procedure. However, parties generally remain silent about the law that will govern the arbitration agreement itself, which could lead to unexpected or undesired effects before, during, and after arbitration, most of which could be avoided by simply selecting the law applicable to the …

Letter From The Editor, Elena Z. Ritchie

Arbitration Brief

No abstract provided.

State Attribution: Whether State Ownership Of A Private Entity Is Important In Determining If The Actions Of That Entity Are Attributable To The State, Alejandro Solano Meardi

Arbitration Brief

No abstract provided.

Sovereign Wealth Funds And Investor-State Dispute Settlement: Examining Questions Of Icsid’S Jurisdiction And The Impact Of Investment-Treaty Arbitration, Muhammad Ussama

Arbitration Brief

The rate of foreign direct investment made by sovereign wealth funds has increased significantly during the past decade. Various concerns raised by host states— especially those located in the developed world—regarding the purposes and objectives of foreign investments made by these funds have led these states to take measures to protect themselves. Countries such as Canada, Germany, and the United States have issued new laws to address these concerns. Due to the broad discretion and flexibility that these laws grant to the governments of the host states, allegations of mistreatment by investors from the Global South, including sovereign wealth funds, …

Predictability Of Arbitrators' Reliance On External Authority?, Ariana R. Levinson, Erin O'Hara O'Connor, Paige Marta Skiba

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Panel I: Negotiating Arbitration Clauses, American University Business Law Review

American University Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

Panel Iii: New Parties In Arbitration, American University Business Law Review

American University Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

Henry Schein V. Archver & White: A Lesson In The Importance Of Carefully Drafting An Arbitration Clause, Charles B. Rosenberg

American University Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

International Arbitration And Attorney-Client Privilege — A Conflict Of Laws Approach, Susan Franck

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

Privilege determinations in international arbitration are currently the equivalent of the “wild west,” with minimal predictability and massive pockets of tribunal discretion. Yet protecting privilege in international arbitration — when the same document or communications with lawyers that is protected by United States law may receive no protection under another law — is fundamental to safeguarding attorney-client relationships within a global environment, incentivizing procedural integrity of dispute resolution, and ensuring that justice is done. As it is not clear what law applies to privilege and client confidentiality (let alone how the law is determine), this Essay begins to bridge the …

Conference Report: Handling Allegations Of Corruption In Arbitration And Judicial Dispute Settlement, Adam Briscoe, Björn Arp

Arbitration Brief

No abstract provided.

Arbitrators' Authority: Scope And Limitations, Horacio A. Grigera Naón

Arbitration Brief

No abstract provided.

The Investor-State Dispute Settlement System Amidst Crisis, Collapse, And Reform, Henrique Sachetim, Rafael CodeçO

Arbitration Brief

No abstract provided.

Letter From The Editor

Arbitration Brief

No abstract provided.

When Peer Pressure Is Not Enough: Mandatory Disclosure And Third-Party Funding, Sarah Gilcrest

Arbitration Brief

No abstract provided.

International Arbitration - Between Myth And Reality: The 9th John E.C. Brierly Memorial Lecture, Susan Franck

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

The first woman to deliver the John E.C. Brierly Memorial Lecture in November 2016, Susan Franck explores common but flawed accounts of international arbitration based on anecdotes and myths while encouraging the audience to pay more attention to scientific facts. While acknowledging the challenges of living in a “post-factual” society, she argues that international arbitration, whether commercial or investment-based, is caught within a larger geo-political maelstrom which includes a backlash against globalization, the popularization of populism, and a turn toward nationalism. Rather than permitting decisions to be affected by an emotive torrent of intuitive forces that facilitate decisions based upon …

Corruption In International Commercial Arbitration: Arbitrability, Admissibility & Adjudication, Deeksha Malik, Geetanjali Kamat

Arbitration Brief

No abstract provided.

Can The Language Of The Trans-Pacific Partnership Still Contribute To The International Investment System? An Analysis Of Tpp's Language Regarding States' Powers To Regulate, Yurica Ramos Montes

Arbitration Brief

No abstract provided.

Inside The Arbitrator's Mind, Susan Franck

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

Arbitrators are lead actors in global dispute resolution. They are to global dispute resolution what judges are to domestic dispute resolution. Despite its global significance, arbitral decision making is a black box. This Article is the first to use original experimental research to explore how international arbitrators decide cases. We find that arbitrators often make intuitive and impressionistic decisions, rather than fully deliberative decisions. We also find evidence that casts doubt on the conventional wisdom that arbitrators render “split the baby” decisions. Although direct comparisons are difficult, we find that arbitrators generally perform at least as well as, but never …

The New New Courts, Orna Rabinovich-Einy, Ethan Katsh

American University Law Review

In this Article we describe the phenomenon of online courts, which is fast gaining momentum, and analyze these "new new courts" from an access to justice perspective. We distinguish between two turning points in terms of access to justice and courts: the rise of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) (producing what we refer to as the "new courts") and the spread of online dispute resolution (ODR) (giving rise to what we refer to as the "new new courts"). While both developments seem to be motivated by similar rationales and a desire to increase access to justice, the implications of adopting ADR …

The Investment-Related Aspects Of Intellectual Property Rights, Peter K. Yu

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Issues Concerning Enforcement And Dispute Resolution, Sean Flynn

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Food Stamps, Unjust Enrichment And Minimum Wage, Candace Kovacic-Fleischer

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

A number of large retail chains with monopsony power, such as Walmart, pay their low level employees so little that these employees are eligible for food stamps and other governmental benefits. In addition to paying low wages, these chains often have hourly restrictions so that their employees are not eligible for overtime pay. At times the chains violate the wage and hour provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by making hourly employees work “off the clock,” a practice known as wage theft.

One of the reasons these low wage retailers can pay so little is because their employees …

Predicting Outcomes In Investment Treaty Arbitration, Susan Franck

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

Crafting appropriate dispute settlement processes is challenging for any conflict-management system, particularly for politically sensitive international economic law disputes. As the United States negotiates investment treaties with Asian and European countries, the terms of dispute settlement have become contentious. There is a vigorous debate about whether investment treaty arbitration (ITA) is an appropriate dispute settlement mechanism. While some sing the praises of ITA, others offer a spirited critique. Some critics claim that ITA is biased against states, while others suggest ITA is predictable but unfair due to factors like arbitrator identity or venue. Using data from 159 final cases derived …

International Arbitration: Demographics, Precision And Justice, Susan Franck, James Freda, Kellen Lavin, Tobias A. Lehmann, Anne Van Aaken

Contributions to Books

ICCA Congress Series No. 18 comprises the proceedings of the twenty-second Congress of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA), held in Miami in 2014. The articles by leading arbitration practitioners and scholars from around the world address the challenges, both perceived and real, to the legitimacy of international arbitration.

The volume focusses on the twin pillars of legitimacy: justice, in procedure and outcome, and precision at every phase of the proceedings. Contributions on justice explore issues related to diversity, fairness and whether arbitral institutions can do more to foster legitimacy – based on the responses of nine international arbitral …

The Extension Of The Arbitral Agreement To Non-Signatories In Europe: A Uniform Approach?, Eduardo Silva Romero, Luis Miguel Velarde Saffer

American University Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

Negotiator's Nook: The Ins And Outs Of Effective Negotiation, David Spratt

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

The Diversity Challenge: Exploring The 'Invisible College' Of International Arbitration, Susan Franck

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

As diversity can affect the perceived legitimacy of a state’s dispute resolution system and the quality of judicial decisions, diversity levels in the national bench and bar have been an area of transnational concern. By contrast, little is known about diversity of adjudicators and counsel in international arbitration. With a lack of accurate, complete, and publicly available data about international arbitrators and practitioners, speculation about membership in the “invisible college” of international arbitration abounds. Using data from a survey of attendees at the prestigious and elite biennial Congress of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration permitted one glimpse into the …

Conflating Politics And Development? Examining Investment Treaty Arbitration Outcomes, Susan Franck

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

International dispute settlement is an area of ongoing evaluation and tension within the international political economy. As states continue their negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the efficacy of international arbitration as a method of dispute settlement remains controversial. Whereas some sing its praises as a method of protecting private property interests against improper government interference, others decry investment treaty arbitration (ITA) as biased against states. The literature has thus far not disentangled how politics and development contribute to investment dispute outcomes. In an effort to control for the effect of internal …

Using Investor-State Mediation Rules To Promote Conflict Management, Susan Franck

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

International investment treaties offer critical infrastructure for globalization and are one of the backbones of larger dialogues related to the international political economy. As the treaties grant substantive and procedural rights, the capacity of international investors to directly access dispute resolution involving States has been a story of both success and discontent. Investment treaty arbitration, in particular, has been a source of polarization; and stakeholders are actively seeking alternatives to formalized adjudication before ad hoc tribunals. Mediation, in addition to other forms of alternative dispute resolution and conflict management, has become an increasingly vital part of the debate about the …