Law Commons^™

The Icsid Effect? Considering Potential Variations In Arbitration Awards, Susan Franck

Susan D. Franck

The legitimacy of the World Bank's dispute resolution body - The International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) - is a matter of heated debate. Some states have alleged that ICSID is biased, withdrawn from the ICSID Convention, and advocated creating alternative arbitration systems. Using pre-2007 archival data of the population of then- known arbitration awards, this Article quantitatively assesses whether ICSID arbitration awards were substantially different from arbitration awards rendered in other forums. The Article examines variation in the amounts claimed and outcomes reached to evaluate indicators of bias. The results indicated that there was no reliable …

Justice And Investment Arbitration, Perry S. Bechky

Perry S. Bechky

Investment arbitration is rife with questions about justice. For example: Is it just to allow foreign investors to bring arbitral claims against states – especially when neither domestic investors nor persons other than investors aggrieved by state actions have any comparable access to arbitration? Do investment tribunals do justice between the parties? Do investment tribunals do justice to nonparties and, especially, the public interest? Are the particular forms and procedures of investment arbitration just?

This talk argues that investment arbitration affords a valuable mechanism for access to justice in a world of often-imperfect national courts. Nevertheless, investment arbitration is open …

International Arbitration Rules And Their Effect On The Merits Of Energy Sector Disputes, Brian Abbas

Brian Abbas

International Arbitration Rules and Their Effect on the Merits of Energy Sector Disputes Many countries around the world rely on the energy sector for industry, national security, mobility, economy, and countless other benefits. The importance of the energy sector makes disputes likely and necessitates dispute resolution mechanisms. Through International Investment Agreements (IIAs), arbitration has become an integral part of the dispute resolution process in international energy sector disputes. Thus, understanding the arbitration rules and how choosing one set of rules can affect the outcome of an international energy sector dispute becomes an important task. The most prevalent arbitration rules are …