Dispute Resolution and Arbitration Commons^™

Ethics In International Arbitration, Peter Halprin, Stephen Wah

Journal of Dispute Resolution

The growth of international arbitration has expanded both the pool of arbitrators as well as the counsel involved in international arbitration. This growth has resulted in arbitrators, counsel, and parties of various cultural and legal traditions participating in disputes. Because different cultural and legal traditions may come into conflict, there is increasing focus and discussion regarding what guidelines or rules, if any, should govern international arbitrations. The discussion regarding whether any guidelines or rules should govern arbitration asks whether a forum for dispute resolution built on the concepts of neutrality, party autonomy, and procedural flexibility should be governed by strict …

Seeking Recognition And Enforcement Of Foreign Court Judgments And Arbitral Awards In Egypt And The Mashriq Countries, Nicolas Bremer

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Asserting a claim in an international transaction is often complex. If a transaction involves parties from different countries, the venue of dispute resolution will often be in a jurisdiction different from that where enforcement may have to be sought. In such a case, any ruling obtained will have to be recognized by the competent authority of the country where enforcement is sought (known as requested country). Obtaining recognition of a foreign ruling in the Middle East and North Africa is considerably challenging. Despite some progress having been made over the last decade, local courts are still rather reserved towards foreign …

One Idea For Ameliorating Polarization: Reviving Conversations About An American Spirit, Nancy H. Rogers

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Historian David McCullough tells those discouraged about the nation’s current problems that Americans have an “inexhaustible source of strength”: “our story, our history, who we are, how we got to where we are, … all we have been through, what we have achieved” and our “national ambitions.” McCullough calls this the “American spirit” and urges Americans to articulate a current version. Some might express pessimism about this project – after all, one poll indicates that most Americans think we are losing an American spirit. Other commentators agree with McCullough, though, that Americans should endeavor to identify an American spirit that …

State Legislative Update, Ryan Corrigan, Samantha Groark, Alison Matusofsky, John Roark, Joshua Sieg

Journal of Dispute Resolution

No abstract provided.

Vatican Mediation And The Venezuelan Crisis, Emma Altheide

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Part II will discuss the dispute between Argentina and Chile in the 1970s concerning property rights in the Beagle Channel, as well as the restoration of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba in 2015. Part III will outline the events leading to the crisis in Venezuela, where President Nicolás Maduro has brought the government to the brink of authoritarian rule. This section will assess the Vatican’s offer to mediate in Venezuela in light of the country’s current climate and previous instances of Vatican mediation. Part IV will examine the Vatican as a mediator, analyzing the attributes that may …

Living With No: Political Polarization And Transformative Dialogue, Erik Cleven, Robert A. Baruch Bush, Judith A. Saul

Journal of Dispute Resolution

We argue that dispute resolution processes should not be seen as a substitute for the political process, but rather a complement that can help strengthen it. Based on this view, and on the authors’ experience with dialogue work in the former Yugoslavia, as well as in urban and rural settings in the United States, we argue that transformative processes, specifically an approach we call Transformative Dialogue, are best suited to addressing the challenges of political polarization both in the United States and internationally. This is because the primary goal of transformative processes is not to reach agreement or find common …

Why We Can’T “Just All Get Along”: Dysfunction In The Polity And Conflict Resolution And What We Might Do About It, Carrie Menkel-Meadow

Journal of Dispute Resolution

These are very troubled times. The polity is seriously divided; people who march for white supremacy and hate are called “nice and very good people” by an unhinged, but Constitutionally elected, President; relations between citizens of color and police are at a high level of hostility and distrust; Congress is unable to pass virtually any legislation; and policy differences over immigration, trade, taxation, and health care are so great that even a ruling party cannot get anything done. Perhaps the greatest challenge for our democracy now is learning how to deal with great value differences in the polity, enough so …

Value And Judgment In Investment Treaty Arbitration, Frederic Gilles Sourgens

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Are international treaties consenting to the resolution of disputes between foreign investors and the host states to their investment still a good idea? Recent and not so recent criticism of such treaty provisions calls into question whether investor-state tribunals can act as neutral arbiters of such disputes. This criticism argues that tribunals are biased in favor of the business interests of investors—and therefore disfavor the state’s right to regulate. Responses to this criticism frequently have alleged the opposite: The arbitral tribunals constituted under international treaties are, if anything, too friendly towards the interests of states. They fail to protect the …

Inherently Unneutral Investment Treaty Arbitration: The Formation Of Decisive Arguments In Jurisdictional Determinations, Relja Radovic

Journal of Dispute Resolution

The legitimacy crisis of investment treaty arbitration is much discussed, often challenging the neutrality of that system as a whole. Besides concentrating on the direction in which cases are being decided, or in which the law is being interpreted, the neutrality of investment treaty arbitration as a system can also be discussed from the perspective of its foundations. This article looks at the arbitral use of the two basic ideals of investment treaty arbitration, namely the legalistic and teleological notions, in the formation of decisive arguments, in the particular context of jurisdictional decisions. It examines to what extent the two …

The Blurring Of The Public/Private Distinction Or The Collapse Of A Category? The Story Of Investment Arbitration, Guillermo J. Garcia Sanchez

Faculty Scholarship

The paper is a response piece to Deborah Hensler and Damira Khatam’s new article, Re-inventing Arbitration: How Expanding the Scope of Arbitration Is Re-Shaping Its Form and Blurring the Line Between Private and Public Adjudication. Their main argument regarding the public-private distinction is that the arbitral procedure has changed as a consequence of the substantive issues resolved in this particular ADR system. According to them the arbitral system, which was originally conceived for commercial purposes, has become another way of litigating public law, but without the accountability mechanisms attached to public courts. In this paper, I agree in large part …

An Introduction To The Singapore Convention On Mediation: Perspectives From Singapore, Nadja Alexander, Shou Yu Chong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

At the 51st Session of the United Nations (UN) Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) on 25th June 2018, the final draft of the Convention on the Enforcement of International Settlement Agreements (the ‘Convention’) was recommended for submission to the UN General Assembly for its consideration, and the corresponding Model Law was adopted. A resolution to name the Convention the ‘Singapore Convention on Mediation’ was also approved. This concluded three years of vigorous debate in UNCITRAL Working Group II (Dispute Settlement) with participation by 85 member States and 35 international governmental and non-governmental organisations. The UN General Assembly has adopted …

Towards Ocean Peace: Resolving Disputes Cooperatively And Empathetically Through Negotiation, Nayha Acharya

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Oceans have immeasurable value. They are replete with natural resources and food sources; they enable transportation and recreation; they regulate earth’s climate. In sum, they make invaluable contributions to our physical, economic, and political well-being. And wherever there is something valuable, there are disputes over how that value should be maintained, grown, owned, and distributed. Internationally, disputes over maritime boundaries, access routes, drilling rights, and resource exploration are prolific. A sizeable bulk of international litigation is generated by ocean disputes. In the domestic context, disagreement among stakeholders as to environmental quality and pollution, natural resource management and conservation, geo-engineering, and …

Refugees At Sea, Constance Macintosh

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The International Ocean Institute-Canada has produced this collection of over 80 insightful essays on the future of ocean governance and capacity development. The book honors the work of Elisabeth Mann Borgese (1918-2002), preeminent ocean advocate and founder of the IOI. More than 90 leading experts explore future challenges and opportunities for ocean governance and capacity development. Major themes include the law of the sea, ocean sciences, integrated coastal and ocean management, fisheries and aquaculture, communication and negotiations, maritime safety and security, ocean energy, and maritime transportation. The essay collection is aimed at professionals, students and citizens alike – covering themes …

Achieving Substantive Justice In Mediation Through Procedural Justice: An Illusory Or Realizable Goal?, Dorcas Quek Anderson

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Mediation has been plagued with a problem of legitimacy. Genn stated that mediation “does not contribute to substantive justice because mediation requires the parties to relinquish ideas of legal rights during mediation and focus, instead, on problem-solving”. Mediation appears to be all about procedural justice, a concept that is associated with perceptions of fair treatment. And procedural justice does not seem to have any discernible link with substantive justice, in terms of giving effect to well-accepted norms.This blog entry is drawn from a paper that was presented at the Australasian Dispute Resolution Research Network 6th Annual Roundtable and the LSAANZ …

Defining The Limits To Abuse Of Process: Lim Geok Lin Andy V Yap Jin Meng Bryan, Dorcas Quek Anderson

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The abuse of process jurisdiction, which forms part of the doctrine of res judicata, is meant to uphold finality of litigation and prevent abusive litigation. While the jurisdiction has been applied to the original parties of earlier court proceedings, it could also prevent a person who was not part of earlier court proceedings from litigating his claim. In such circumstances, the abuse of process doctrine has to be cognisant of the commercial realities and motivations driving choices to advance separate rather than consolidated proceedings, while also protecting litigants from repeated litigation. A recent Singapore Court of Appeal decision imposed constraints …

Deferred Prosecution Agreements In Singapore?, Eunice Chua

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

On 15 January 2018, Minister for Law and Home Affairs K Shanmugam said at a dialogue organised by the Law Society that deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) could be introduced in Singapore as part of proposed changes to the criminal justice system. DPAs are agreements by the prosecutor to suspend prosecution of a corporate entity if it complies with specific conditions. If the corporation fails to comply with the conditions, the prosecution may resume. This post examines the case for and against DPAs and explores the issues they may present in the Singapore context.

Independence And Impartiality Of Arbitrators: A Rule Of Law Analysis, Stefanie Schacherer

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) through arbitration remains in a state of legitimacy crisis and discussions on reform are ongoing. Much of the criticism is focussed on who is deciding investment dispute cases. Investment arbitrators have been called “private judges” who operate in secrecy, are biased in favour of big multinational companies and have no regard for conflicts of interest. The course of the negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the European Union (EU) and the United States, highlighted to what extent ISDS through arbitration is perceived as unfair and biased (at least in Europe). As a reaction …

Celebrating Mundane Conflict, Deborah J. Cantrell

Publications

This Article interrogates the dominant conception of conflict and challenges the narrative of conflict as hard, difficult and painful to engage. The Article reveals two primary framing errors that cause one to misperceive how ubiquitous and ordinary is conflict. The first error is to misperceive conflict as categorical — something either is a conflict or it is not. People make that error as a way of trying to avoid conflict. People falsely hope that there might be a category of “not conflict,” like disagreements, that will be easier to navigate. The second error is to misperceive the world and individuals …

What Does It Mean To Be ‘Pro-Arbitration’?, George A. Bermann

Faculty Scholarship

International arbitration commentators commonly ask of a proposed policy or practice whether it is ‘pro-’ or ‘anti-arbitration’. Framing the question that way presupposes a shared understanding of what does or does not make a policy or practice arbitration-friendly. In truth, the ways in which policies or practices may affect international arbitration’s well-being are manifold. They may even distinctly serve international arbitration’s well-being in some respects while equally distinctly disserving it in others. It behooves those who take international; arbitration’s well-being seriously to acknowledge the multiplicity of metrics for identifying what is ‘pro-’ and what is ‘anti-arbitration’ and to seek the …

Cross-Examination In International Arbitration: A Clash Among Common Law Traditions, Robert H. Smit

Faculty Scholarship

Cross-examination, like it or not, has become a regular feature of international arbitration. As with other procedural cross-roads converging upon international arbitration from different legal traditions, cross-examination invites controversy and debate. This tends to focus on the procedural differences between civil-law “inquisitorial” and common-law “adversarial” systems, and how they inform the (un)desirability of cross-examination, or the need to modify it, in international arbitration. Less explored is how the practice of cross-examination differs in different common-law jurisdictions, including between prominent arbitral seats in the United States and England, Hong Kong and Singapore among others, and how those differences inform the approach …

Adr And Access To Justice: Current Perspectives, Ellen E. Deason, Michael Z. Green, Donna Shestowsky, Rory Van Loo, Ellen Waldman

Faculty Scholarship

Access to justice is a broad topic, and we cannot cover everything. You will notice a few major omissions. Most notably, we are not going to emphasize consumer pre-dispute arbitration agreements. This is not because they are not important, but because much has been written and said on this topic, and it could easily swallow the whole discussion. Also, we are probably not going to say very much about restorative justice, and I am sure you will notice some other holes. We invite you to raise missing issues in your comments.

Let me start with a few opening remarks. We …