Dispute Resolution and Arbitration Commons^™

The Policy Implications Of Third-Party Funding In Investor-State Dispute Settlement, Brooke Guven, Lise Johnson

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

In this Working Paper, CCSI analyzes underexplored yet critical policy issues surrounding the use of third-party funding in ISDS. It considers the costs and benefits of the practice, asks whether it is desirable or undesirable that third-parties be permitted to invest in ISDS claims, and if so, under what circumstances and in order to achieve what objectives, and overviews policy responses, including a total or partial ban and various regulatory responses, that may be appropriate to manage identified impacts.

Primer: International Investment Treaties And Investor-State Dispute Settlement, Columbia Center On Sustainable Investment

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

What Are International Investment Agreements (IIAs)?
IIAs are bilateral or multilateral treaties that commit state-parties to afford specific standards of conduct to foreign investors from the other state-parties. These treaties grant foreign investors certain benefits, including recourse to Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) to resolve disputes with host states. Over 3,300 agreements have been concluded worldwide, including NAFTA and the Comprehensive and Progressive TransPacific Partnership.

What is Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS)?
IIAs allow foreign investors (individuals and companies) to allege treaty violations by suing states through ad hoc arbitration. Arbitration tribunals are composed of party-appointed (and party-paid) private lawyers. Tribunals …

Ccsi Submits Written Views To Us Department Of State Regarding Uncitral’S Working Group Iii, Columbia Center On Sustainable Investment

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

In connection with the US Department of State’s Annual Advisory Committee on Private International law meeting in May 2019, CCSI submitted written views regarding UNCITRAL’s Working Group III on ISDS reform. CCSI’s comments highlighted specific areas of CCSI’s research as it relates to the US Government and its work within the Working Group. Specifically, US investment treaty negotiating objectives specify that covered foreign investors in the United States should not be accorded greater substantive rights than domestic investors. CCSI highlights the ways in which greater procedural rights afforded under investment treaties to foreign investors in practice result in greater substantive …

Mandatory Arbitration And Sexual Harassment Claims: #Metoo- And Time's Up-Inspired Action Against The Federal Arbitration Act, Kathleen Mccullough

Fordham Law Review

The rise of the #MeToo movement and Time’s Up campaign has brought the issue of sexual harassment into the national spotlight. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filings for sexual harassment claims have increased 13 percent since the start of the #MeToo movement, and a little over a year since its creation on January 1, 2018, the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund has received 4139 requests for representation in sexual harassment claims. However, the U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted the Federal Arbitration Act to enforce mandatory arbitration clauses for employment claims, including sexual harassment claims—an interpretation that prohibits employees from pursuing litigation …

The Constitutionality Of Ouster Clauses: Nagaenthran A/L K Dharmalingam V Attorney-General [2018] Sghc 112, Benjamin Joshua Ong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Section 33B(4) of Singapore’s Misuse of Drugs Act purportedly partly ousts judicial review of the Public Prosecutor’s determination of whether a drug trafficker has substantively assisted the anti-drug enforcement agency. This paper argues that Singapore’s High Court erred in holding this provision constitutionally valid. Ouster clauses are unconstitutional vis-à-vis Articles 12(1) and 93 of the Constitution; the High Court’s view does not accord with the law on non-justiciability and is premised on a flawed theory of legislative intention. It is no answer that judicial power is subject to a ‘balance’ which renders a partial ouster clause constitutionally valid. The High …

Old Ethics In New Wineskins? Examining The Ethical Difficulties In Court Online Dispute Resolution, Dorcas Quek Anderson

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This post is based on a presentation made at the National Mediation Conference, Canberra, April 2019. The presentation has been drawn from two articles, Ethical Concerns in Court-Connected Online Dispute Resolution (2018) 1-2 International Journal of Online Dispute Resolution 20, and The Convergence of ADR and ODR within the Courts: The Impact on Access to Justice (2019) 38(1) Civil Justice Quarterly 126.

Michael Buenger’S Great Keynote Address At The Aba Court Adr Conference, John Lande

Faculty Blogs

This post discusses the keynote address at the ABA Court ADR Conference, delivered by Michael Buenger, the executive vice-president and chief operating officer of the National Center for State Courts. His talk, Rethinking the Delivery of Justice in a Self-Service Society, focused on the changes needed to deal with social and technological changes in the present and future. He described the reality that the courts and “alternative” dispute resolution are becoming increasingly integrated, and he argued that we need to plan better so that this combined system can better serve the public.

The Cold War And The Discipline Of Negotiation, Bazil Cunningham

Global Tides

The Cold War period is perhaps one of the most tumultuous periods in modern history apart from the calamity of World War I and World War II. The juxtaposition of two world superpowers and the proliferation of nuclear arms resulted in extreme tension, uncertainty, and fear during the Cold War era. Although nuclear warfare was averted, experts all unanimously agree that the world barely escaped unscathed. This paper will provide detail surrounding the history of the Cold World Era, an in-depth discussion regarding the application of Negotiation theory to this conflict, and any conclusions that can be drawn. The synthesis …

Alternatives To Investor-State Dispute Settlement, Lise Johnson, Jesse Coleman, Brooke Güven, Lisa E. Sachs

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Proponents often explain support for international investment agreements (IIAs) for their ability to: (1) promote investment flows; (2) depoliticize disputes between investors and states; (3) promote the rule of law; and (4) provide compensation for certain harms to investors – objectives of varying degrees of importance to multinational enterprises, home states, host states, and other stakeholders.

While each of these objectives may seem desirable, it is important to consider what exactly they mean and whether IIAs are optimally tailored to achieve them.

This two-part series aims to consider just that. In the first blog installment, we asked of investor-state dispute …

Bargaining In The (Murky) Shadow Of Arbitration, Jill I. Gross

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Disputing parties who are unable to settle their differences will end up before an adjudicator (typically a judge or jury) who will decide their dispute for them. Dispute resolution scholars have long theorized that disputants bargain in the shadow of this adjudicated outcome, predicting what would happen in court substantively and procedurally, and negotiating based on an assessment of the strength of “bargaining endowments” derived from applicable legal norms. The increasing use of arbitration to resolve commercial disputes in the U.S. means that more and more disputants are negotiating in the shadow of arbitration, not litigation. This Article explores how …

Investment Treaties, Investor-State Dispute Settlement And Inequality, Lisa E. Sachs, Lise Johnson

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

International investment treaties entrench and exacerbate intra-national inequality by:

1. Providing stronger substantive legal rights to a certain class of actors that in turn strengthen the legal force of their economic rights and “expectations”, with potentially negative impacts on the competing rights and interests of other stakeholders; and
2. Providing unequal procedural rights to a certain class of actors, easing their ability, through ISDS, to challenge regulatory measures negatively impacting their economic interests, while other individuals and entities continue to face relatively high legal and practical barriers to using litigation to protect and/or enhance public interest objectives.

This Working Paper, adapted from …

New Services For Families In The Dc Superior Court, Amy Applegate, Jeannie M. Adams, Connie J. Beck, Amy Holtzworth-Munroe, Fernanda S. Rossi

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Until recently, because of concerns about safety and parties’ abilities to make good decisions in cases with a history of high intimate partner violence or abuse (IPV/A), in the District of Columbia’s Superior Court such cases were screened out of mediation and sent back to the family court. But two big program additions — videoconferencing and shuttle mediation — have allowed parties in these cases to consider mediation. The Multi-Door Dispute Resolution Division of the DC Superior Court (Multi-Door) implemented this change after several years of preparation: its administrators added safety measures, provided in-depth training for staff and mediators, and …

The Art And Science Of The (Survival) Deal: The Role Of Administrative Agencies In Protecting The Public Against Unreasonable Risks, Irma S. Russell

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

The Ethics Of Non-Lawyer Advocacy: Expectations, Rules, And Complications, John F. Wirenius

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

The article examines the ethical challenges and legal complexities surrounding nonattorney advocacy in labor relations, particularly under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and similar state statutes. It highlights the tension between holding non-lawyer union representatives to attorney ethical standards and the need for simpler, practical norms. The analysis emphasizes the importance of balancing due process for pro se parties with maintaining the integrity of advocacy roles, suggesting that resorting to fundamental statutory values and reciprocal duties can provide a baseline for ethical conduct.

Ethical Concerns In Court-Connected Online Dispute Resolution, Dorcas Quek Anderson

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article examines the burgeoning trend of creating court ODR systems, focusing on the design aspects that are likely to raise ethical challenges. It discusses four salient questions to be considered when designing a court ODR system, and the resulting ethical tensions that are brought to the fore. As a fourth party, the ODR system not only replaces existing court functions, but enlarges the scope of the courts’ intervention in disputes and increases the courts’ interface with the user. Furthermore, certain ethical principles such as transparency, accountability, impartiality and fairness take on greater significance in the court context than in …

Enforcement Of Mediated Settlement Agreements In Asia – A Path Towards Convergence, Eunice Chua

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In 2014, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) first considered a proposal for the development of a multilateral convention on the enforceability of international commercial settlement agreements reached through conciliation (defined to include mediation). The goal of this project was to encourage international mediation in the same way that the New York Convention facilitated the growth of arbitration. UNCITRAL Working Group II has since completed its work on a convention on international settlement agreements resulting from mediation and amended model law on international commercial mediation and international settlement agreements resulting from mediation. The UNCITRAL Commission has also …

Mediation, Self-Represented Parties, And Access To Justice: Getting There From Here, Jacqueline Nolan-Haley

Fordham Law Review Online

Mediation is enthusiastically promoted as a vehicle for providing access to justice. This is as true in developing countries as it is in the United States. For individuals, mediation promises autonomy, self-determination and empowerment; for courts, there is the lure of procedural and administrative reforms—reduced dockets and greater efficiencies. Unburdened with formal discovery, evidentiary and procedural rules, pleadings, and motions, mediation is thought to generate access to justice at a faster pace than litigation. Commentators sing its praises while bemoaning its underutilization. I argue that claims about mediation’s ability to provide access to justice should be more modest because mediation …

Nfl 3-0 In Federal Appellate Court Challenges To Player Suspensions: A Pattern Of "Substantial Deference" To The Nfl Creates And Uphill Battle For Players, Kara Crawford

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal (1994 - )

No abstract provided.

Innovative Financing Solutions For Community Support In The Context Of Land Investments, Sam Szoke-Burke

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Communities affected by agricultural, forestry, and other resource investments urgently need increased funding for legal and technical support. Without support, communities risk losing access to critical land and resources, suffering human rights violations, or missing opportunities to benefit from investments. A lack of community support can also lead to conflict and challenges that are damaging for companies and host governments.

Donors and support providers have found ways to finance support for communities, but such efforts can only extend so far. Promising new opportunities exist for filling the financing gap, yet they will require sustained efforts by a range of actors. …

The Impact Of Epic Systems In The Labor And Employment Context, Lise Gelernter

Journal Articles

In Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, 138 S. Ct. 1612 (2018), the Supreme Court ruled that an employer did not violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) when it required employees to agree to arbitrate all claims against the employer and also waive their rights to bring a class or collective action against the employer. The Court reasoned that class or collective actions were not the type of "concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection” that Section 7 of the NLRA protects. This comment, part of a three-part discussion on the impact …