Podcasts about International arbitration

Gaela and Nicole – along with special guest, Diego Duran de la Vega of Hughes Hubbard & Reed – interview Mexican Federal Judges Angelica Ortuño Suarez, Hilda Elizabeth Plascencia Carrasco, Marlene Angeles Tovar about the sweeping judicial reform that is planned for the Mexican judiciary over the next years. Perhaps the most striking aspect of the reform is subjecting all of Mexico's Federal Judges to election by popular vote. While there are many unknowns with respect to the exact implementation of the reform, one thing is certain: uncertainty. We dive into the uncertainty, what this means for the current judicial bench, the future of the Mexican courts, and whether this might signify a great shift away from Mexican courts and toward international arbitration. With special thanks to Andrea Rodriguez Escobedo, Director of International Programs at Georgetown University Law Center for providing translation during this episode. Please note, the positions and opinions expressed by the speakers are strictly their own, and do not necessarily represent the views of their employers, nor those of the D.C. Bar, its Board of Governors or co-sponsoring Communities and organizations. To learn more about or join the D.C. Bar International Law Community, ⁠⁠⁠CLICK HERE.⁠⁠⁠

Renewable energy projects require substantial front-end investment as well as complicated permitting and licensing in order to operate, but what happens when there are disputes in the sector? In 1994 the European Union signed the Energy Charter Treaty which provided for International Arbitration through the World Bank ICSID Court. However, earlier this year the EU signalled it's intent to leave the Treaty, citing its support for traditional forms of energy. Why then are nearly all of the outstanding claims in renewable energy? And what impact will leaving the Treaty have on renewable investor confidence in Europe?As an example, we will discuss the Spanish Renewable Awards. Spain has defaulted on more than 25 international arbitration awards amounting to €1.56 billion in compensation for the retroactive withdrawal of renewable premiums. This amount is further increased by over €315 million in legal and financial overcosts resulting from non-compliance with the rulings. The situation has become so bad that numerous enforcement procedures and asset seizures are in play through courts in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Australia, and the United States.The Spanish Government has been accused of taking an ideological position to refuse to settle these claims and has attempted to persuade the European Commission to retrospectively declare these awards as 'state aid'. If this is proven to be the case, what message does this give to large renewable investors about the rule of law in Europe?Join us for this important and lively discussion with renewable energy investors, senior litigators and European officials.Organised by: Aream Group SAMedia Partner: Euractiv

John Quinn is joined by Karl Hennessee, Senior Vice President and Head of Litigation, Investigations, and Regulatory Affairs at Airbus.  Karl supervises Airbus's criminal investigations, regulatory cases, product liability cases, and commercial arbitration disputes, covering incidents as significant as air crashes, as well as other disputes.  He discusses the importance of maintaining a "hundred-year view" of issues that includes overseeing issues that arose 50 years in the past while preparing for regulatory challenges 50 years in the future.  His team includes specialists in AI, aircraft certification, and arbitration, all of whom share a "democracy of ideas" approach to developing case strategies.  Karl identifies three core principles that guide Airbus's dispute management: viewing disputes as tools for managing risk rather than ends in themselves; "strategic empathy" — understanding opposing interests and perspectives to improve outcomes; and humility in handling high-stakes, high-profile cases. In house lawyers need to earn trust by translating legal issues into actionable insights for business leaders, often by first understanding the technical aspects of Airbus's products.  Public relations play a critical role in managing disputes, especially for a company under constant public scrutiny.  There must be close collaboration with communications teams to present balanced narratives and build public trust even in adverse situations.  John and Karl also discusses emerging areas of concern such as ESG regulations and the recent breakdown of international norms of comity and deference to foreign judicial decisions, especially with respect to the effect of international sanctions.  Karl has extensive experience in international arbitration and is the former Chairman of the Governing Body of the ICC Court of International Arbitration.  He offers his insights about potential improvements in arbitration, particularly requiring shorter case timelines, having early case assessments to weed out hopeless frivolous  cases and other suggestions summarized in a recent paper published by the London Court of International Arbitration.  Finally, he shares advice on work-life balance, emphasizing the importance of dedicating time to personal interests and preserving a sense of fulfillment in both professional and personal life.Podcast Link: Law-disrupted.fmHost: John B. Quinn Producer: Alexis HydeMusic and Editing by: Alexander Rossi

John is joined by Philippe Pinsolle, Head of International Arbitration for Continental Europe and partner in Quinn Emanuel's Geneva office, and Simon Vorburger, partner in Quinn Emanuel's Zurich office. They discuss the €14 billion international arbitration award, one of the largest arbitration awards ever, that Philippe and Simon obtained for Quinn Emanuel client, Uniper, a German gas supplier, against Gazprom Export, a Russian gas company. The case began in mid-2022 when Gazprom unexpectedly halted gas supplies to Uniper, which severely impacted the German energy market, as Gazprom had been supplying 40% of Germany's gas. Uniper then had to purchase gas at prices as high as ten times the previous price to fulfill its obligations, leading the company to the verge of bankruptcy. Gazprom's justification for stopping the gas was based on force majeure, claiming that unforeseen events, such as the ongoing war in Ukraine and damage to the Nord Stream pipeline, made it impossible for Gazprom to deliver the gas. These justifications lacked credibility because, for among other reasons, some of the claimed force majeure events occurred after Gazprom stopped delivering the gas. Philippe explains that the arbitration process moved quickly with the arbitration beginning in November 2022. The arbitration hearings were held in The Hague, but Gazprom did not participate directly, opting to obtain an anti-arbitration injunction from a Russian court. Despite Gazprom's absence, the team had to rigorously prove up their case, because default judgments are not permitted in international arbitration. This made the Uniper claimant's burden more challenging in some ways in that without an opponent making specific claims, the Quinn Emanuel team had to convince the arbitrators that there were no plausible defenses to Uniper's claims, and despite every force majeure event, Gazprom had asserted, it still could have fulfilled the contract at issue. Another key legal challenge was Uniper's "take-or-pay" contracts, which required Uniper to pay for gas whether it was delivered or not. The team convinced the tribunal to allow Uniper to terminate these contracts. Philippe addresses the challenge of staying focused on the contractual claim at issue despite the broader geopolitical context of the arbitration, including the 2022 European energy crisis and Russia's role in manipulating gas supplies to Europe. The podcast concludes with a discussion about the German government's bailout of Uniper and that the proceeds of the arbitration will benefit the German state.Podcast Link: Law-disrupted.fmHost: John B. Quinn Producer: Alexis HydeMusic and Editing by: Alexander Rossi

In this episode, we discuss how overseas investors can protect their investments through the use of investment treaties. We explore the importance of treaty protection in the face of increasing political and regulatory risks, and explain the substantive protections and dispute resolution mechanisms which investment treaties afford. 在本集播客节目中，我们讨论境外投资者如何通过投资协定来保护他们的投资。我们探讨在政治和监管风险日益增加的情况下，投资协定保护的重要性，并解释了投资条约提供的实质性保护和争端解决机制。 Speakers: Ye Weina (Partner, Herbert Smith Freehills Kewei Joint Operation), Gerald Leong (Senior Associate, International Arbitration, London), Nicole Jiang (Associate, Herbert Smith Freehills Kewei Joint Operation) 主讲人：叶微娜 (合伙人, 科伟史密夫斐尔联营办公室), Gerald 梁伟强 （伦敦办公室国际仲裁部资深律师），江晨艺 （科伟史密夫斐尔联营办公室律师）

Andrew Tetley welcomes Prof. Dr. Eckart Brödermann, Managing Partner of Brödermann Jahn (Hamburg), to discuss the UNIDROIT Principles. The conversation delves into Eckart's long-standing connection with these Principles, his authoritative commentary on them, and his practical experience applying them in business and arbitration. The discussion also touches on the benefits of the Principles and offers a glimpse into Eckart's life beyond the law.

In this episode of The Digital Executive Podcast, Brian Thomas sits down with Annie Lespérance, Head of Americas at Jus Mundi, a leading legal tech company revolutionizing the fields of international law and arbitration with AI-powered solutions. Annie shares her journey from her extensive legal background to her current role at Jus Mundi, where she oversees strategic initiatives across the Americas.She discusses the transformative impact of generative AI on legal research, arbitration, and how Jus Mundi's innovative AI tools are driving efficiency, accuracy, and accessibility in the legal industry. Annie also explores emerging trends in international arbitration, particularly in the Americas and Latin America, highlighting the increasing use of technology, the rise of specialized arbitration centers, and the focus on diversity and sustainability in the field. Tune in to discover how AI is reshaping the future of legal services and what lies ahead for the industry.

Global chair of Reed Smith's international arbitration practice, Peter Rosher, welcomes Latin Lawyer's 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award winner (and former chair of the Reed Smith international arbitration practice) José Astigarraga for a conversation reflecting on José's arbitral career to date. José shares his advice to young lawyers entering the profession, his motivation for focusing on international disputes, his career milestones and his insights on future trends in the field.

John is joined by two experts in international arbitration, Philippe Pinsolle, partner in Quinn Emanuel's Geneva office and Head of International Arbitration for Continental Europe, and Stephen Jagusch KC, partner in Quinn Emanuel's London office and Global Chair of the firm's International Arbitration Practice. Together, they discuss the specialized field of international arbitration, including factors to consider when opting for arbitration, strategies for crafting arbitration provisions, how to select the best arbitrators, challenges to final judgments, and issues regarding the subsequent enforcement of awards.Podcast Link: Law-disrupted.fmHost: John B. Quinn Producer: Alexis HydeMusic and Editing by: Alexander Rossi

In this special edition of our series of commercial litigation update podcasts, we discuss the Hague Judgments Convention 2019, which the UK has now ratified, and consider its implications for the UK as a jurisdiction of choice for international dispute resolution. This episode is hosted by Maura McIntosh, a professional support consultant in our litigation team, who is joined by Andrew Cannon, who is Global Co-Head of our International Arbitration and Public International Law practices, and by Ajay Malhotra, who is a partner in our disputes team specialising in financial services litigation.

NYIAC Executive Director Rekha Rangachari discusses the NYIAC's mission, structure, and initiatives with International Arbitration partner J.P. Duffy.

Gautam Bhattacharyya welcomes arbitrator and independent practitioner, Manini Brar in this “Spotlight on…” episode. We discover what drew Manini to the law, who her greatest mentors and inspirations have been, and how she developed an interest in international arbitration. The conversation then turns to Manini's launch of Arbridge Chambers and the differing roles of counsel and arbitrator, before closing with Manini's views on achieving greater diversity, equity, and inclusion.   ----more---- Transcript: Intro: Hello and welcome to Arbitral Insights, a podcast series brought to you by our International Arbitration Practice lawyers here at Reed Smith. I'm Peter Rosher, Global Head of Reed Smith's International Arbitration Practice. I hope you enjoy the industry commentary, insights, and anecdotes we share with you in the course of this series, wherever in the world you are. If you have any questions about any of the topics discussed, please do contact our speakers. And with that, let's get started. Gautam: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to our Arbitral Insights podcast series. And our latest edition is going to be another very informative and fun one, I am sure. I'm very delighted to say our guest today is Manini Brar. Hello, Manini. Manini: Hello, Gautam. Hi. Gatuam: It's great to see you again. It's wonderful to see you. The last time I saw you was in Delhi during Global Arbitration Review's Delhi Live and as part of Delhi Arbitration Weekend. And it's lovely to see you again. Thank you for agreeing to be part of this podcast. Manini: Like I said before, when we were leading up to this, this seems to be a podcast which is very popular and has a loyal following. So I'm very happy to be here. But the other is that we got along so well over that dinner over Delhi Arbitration Week that I'm seeing this as a bit of a two-way exchange where I get some insights from you as well. So that's part of my motivation. Gautam: Well, that's wonderful to hear. And I hope I won't disappoint you. I will do my best to achieve what you hope that we could achieve in the course of this podcast. And I really am over the moon that we're doing this one together. I have a lot of admiration for you, Manini, and that's why I'm so happy that we could have you on this podcast. As I always do, I'm going to give a quick introduction to you as our guest. So Manini is a dual qualified lawyer. She's qualified in India and in England and Wales. She has worked in a variety of places and gained much experience. So both in private practice... She's worked with senior advocates in India. She's worked at arbitral institutions. She's been involved as a tribunal secretary on a number of occasions. And in 2021, set up her own chambers in Delhi called Arbridge Chambers. And is not only a wonderful counsel, but is one of that rare generation, which I love to see, female arbitrators of ethnic origin. And I make no bones about it I love that so that's a quick introduction to you Manini I hope I've done you justice in that introduction I could never do you justice because I need to take 10 or 15 minutes to go through all your wonderful accolades but I hope that's uh at at least a good summary for our listeners. Manini: No no this is great because when I hear it back it sounds you know so much better than when one has lived it. Gautam: Well, I can assure you, you've achieved a lot. And in the course of this podcast, we are going to explore, I hope, a fair bit of the things that I mentioned. And I mean, I guess a really appropriate way to start this is what inspired you to the law in the first place? Manini: So just a bit of background, I was in an all-girls school where I was the head of the debating society. So I loved to debate and I really thought I was going to get into an area which involved more public service. And what I had in mind at the time was journalism. And my father looked at me when I told him that and said, that's all right. But if you're expecting me to fund your professional journey through journalism. Gautam: That's a good leveler, right? That's a good leveler. Manini: So I said, okay, what is it that I can do where I will be immediately qualified to help the larger public good? And for me, it was an easy choice. It was becoming a lawyer. And then I got to law school and within a month of being there I knew that this is something that I wanted to do and I've never looked back. Gatuam: Now that's great and you know I suppose in many ways lawyers are in some part journalists right because we tell stories right so I dare say that in the context of your legal career you have also borne out your journalism dreams I'm sure you have. You know, one of the things that we all benefit from in the course of our careers are wonderful people who mentor and inspire us. And I know that I've got a number of people who've held those roles for me. And I'd be really interested, and I know our listeners would be, if you could just share with us some of those people who've been your greatest mentors and inspirations in your career so far. Manini: You know, I have a slightly different experience with finding a mentor only because I don't belong to a legal family and I have actually no one in my family is a lawyer and we're not even remotely connected to business. My dad was a cop. He was an IPS officer in India. So I sort of went through this journey a bit on my own. And as much as I would have loved to have one particular person who I could have, you know, tugged along with and had the benefit of the experience, that is something that I never, a point that I never really got to. But what did happen for me is that. Almost all the people that I worked with were very high level professionals. And not only the seniors that I worked with, but also my colleagues. And so I've had the good fortune of really meeting inspiring people who have set the bar very high in terms of what is expected of a lawyer and what is the kind of professional etiquette that you should have. And that is something that I have taken with me from different people at different points of time in different ways and sort of held on to. So the seniors that I worked with at the bar, some of the lawyers, some of the colleagues that I've worked with, they've been very helpful. But for me, I think the most inspiring thing has been a bunch of people who didn't know me, who had no relationship with me, who had not mentored me, not helped me, not been in touch with me professionally, but who found me out to help a total stranger. So my professional journey is one which is full of these amazing instances of... Goodwill of generosity from total strangers and that I find is something that I would really like to give back in future and I try to every day. You know I try and I try and seek out the people who I think are meritorious and I try and sort of take them along if they need any help or if there's any way that I can help them I try and do that because I know that there have been so many people who have done that for me. Gautam: You know, that in itself is really inspiring and uplifting to me, Manini. I must tell you, you know, and I'm going to just spend a few seconds because you did say to me, and I'm not one to turn down a request from you, that you wanted to hear a little bit of my thoughts. And, you know, so one thing I love is you're also first generation, I'm first generation. There was no one I could turn to. No one gave me a leg up. No one gave me any favors or anything on a plate. And I had to discover the law for myself and everything. So, I mean, I know that your family has always been a great inspiration to you. My family, of course, has been a great inspiration to me and continues to be. But also, I think professionally, it's very interesting. There have been some people along my career that I've known for the last, you know, I am older than you, over the many, many years that I've I've been doing all of this, but you know, there are some people who I look back on and who, I mean, there was, it's some people who I didn't even meet who inspired me. And I think I want to dwell on that for a few seconds, because I remember when I was very junior, there was a, someone called Shashi Rajani, who at that time, and I've never met Shashi, but he, when I began in 1991 in a law firm, he was already a senior partner in a city law firm in London. And that was a really peculiar thing, right? To see someone like that, of that age, of that level of experience at that time was really something. And that inspired me to want to be like him. The other person who inspired me at that time in 1991 is I heard of a certain person who became a very, very dear friend of mine and a great mentor of mine. And who unfortunately we lost in February of this year, Fali Nariman. I didn't meet Fali until a lot later, but I came to know of him through reading about him back in the early 90s. And I thought to myself, I really want to be like him. So it's really interesting. And I won't dwell on other people because we haven't got time, but there are so many people I owe a huge debt of gratitude to. But it's those people who I I heard about, I read about in the early stages of my career, who really gave me the drive to try to be something. And I'll always be grateful to all of them. And Uncle Fali remains, even though he's now left us, a huge inspiration to me. Manini: Can I just add to that, that, you know, one of the first things I did when I enrolled at the bar in 2010 was I went to court number one, which is the chief's court in the Supreme Court. And I sat there during the lunch recess just to sort of take it all in and you know there were these big so they have these portraits of all the chief justices and then and then of one particular judge who had done the country a great favor during the emergency and I was sitting there and I was looking at their portraits and feeling very inspired and then lunch recess got over and the first matter that came up was one where Fali was arguing. So we have that in common. I have been thoroughly inspired by him. And then I bought his book and I got someone to help me get his autograph on it. And so I read Before Memory Fades and it's one of the most influential things in my life. Gautam: Oh, I agree. That book, I've got a signed copy myself of that book. And it still inspires me just to read some of those stories, anecdotes and stuff so no no it's wonderful well no I mean and I say it's nice to know that and I probably wouldn't have found that out but for this podcast with you so that's a really nice thing. So now one of the things that you've done really well is you you've gained a lot of experience in the field of arbitration. As a practitioner, as a tribunal secretary, with institutions, and now as a practitioner and arbitrator. But how did you first discover arbitration? Or how did arbitration discover you? Manini: So I joined a litigating lawyers chamber back in 2011, about 13 years ago. It was one of the beginning, starting years of my practice. And I thought that I was going to go to court every day. But in about the third week of my being there, these three very thick binders landed on my table. And there were three different arbitrations regarding very complex hydropower project. And so for the one, one and a half years that I was associated with that chamber, I worked only on that matter. And then I said, okay, this is something that I enjoy because I really feel that as compared to court litigation, a lot visibly happens in an arbitration over good, careful drafting, over good structured arguments. And it is, shall I use the word, but a very equitable way of resolving disputes. So I was attracted to that. And then I decided to study further and do my master's in Cambridge, where I studied dispute resolution in particular. And from then on, there was no looking back. I worked as a research assistant with one of my professors, and he was kind enough to recommend me to the ICC. And I think that was when I absolutely fell in love with the practice all over again. Because one thing that the ICC taught me, and you've referred to my various experiences, is that you have to absolutely know the process and what is market best practice before you feel confident enough to start giving your opinion about it or to start using that as a legal skill or to use that to advise other people. So I think the repetition of the tasks that we had to do every day at the ICC is really where I learned that. So I said, before I start my own practice, I need to know what this whole scene is about the litigating lawyer who's doing arbitration, about the arbitration chambers that are only doing the arbitration hearings but not appearing in court, about the involvement of the government. Because a lot of arbitration in India is government facing. It's either government contracts or it has one element involving a government tender. And so I made it my mission to sort of get a perspective on everything before I felt like I was confident enough to, you know, branch out on my own. Gautam: Well, well, fabulous. And that's a perfect segue to asking you about branching out on your own, because I mentioned mine in the introduction. That you are the founder of Arbridge Chambers in Delhi. And you founded that chambers in 2021. And so just tell us a little bit about, what drove you to set up your own chambers? And, you know, tell us a little bit about Arbridge Chambers in terms of your team, and the sorts of work that you're currently involved in, of course, no names, of course, because we all respect confidentiality, but the sorts of things that you and your team are doing. Manini: So Arbridge Chambers happened because, like I said, I always wanted to get into independent practice and have a setup of my own. And the constant struggle for me was, of course, one was being sure that I know everything that I need to know, that I have the skill and the wherewithal. But the other was also that every time I spoke to someone about setting up an independent arbitration practice, they said, well, why don't you do it in a firm? You know, because firms have larger teams, they're dealing with bigger projects, and it will be easier for you to do more meaty arbitrations. And I thought that in India in particular, the firm setup inevitably involves engaging a separate council for the court-facing part of the arbitration. Most often than not, although now that is changing, but that was the setup then. And I said, I don't want to be in that system where I have to choose between which part of the arbitration I'm involved in. And so that wasn't working for me and the other thing that people said a lot was that you know you're going to be a small fish in a really big pool and I looked around myself and there were so many practitioners who were male who had their own independent practices and were identifying as arbitration practitioners and I just wondered why is it that there are no women doing this. So for me, I said, let's see, you know, that was my thought process that if it doesn't work in, say, three years or five years, I will go back and I'll do something else. But if it does work, then great kudos for us. And so I set up a chamber where the people who work for me also see themselves as independent advocates. So we work together on matters that, for example, are mine. But I also encourage them to take on independent work. And the idea is very much like a chamber for everybody to eventually develop into their own practitioner. When I started I must tell you I started in the January or January of 2021 and that is the month that I found out that I was pregnant with my first child. So I left and I thought that no I'm going to focus on client facing business development and I have so much work to do and about 15 days after I made this announcement that i'm starting in my chamber, I found out I was pregnant. And then I just kept thinking for another couple of months, how I'm going to do it. And, you know, how is this thing going to come about? And one day I was walking very furiously on my evening walk, thinking of all this and thinking, maybe this is a really bad time. Maybe I should park it for another three years. And I got a call from the Delhi High Court, from a judge who said, I have read some of your published articles on arbitration and I have a really small arbitration that I'm looking for an arbitrator for and would you be interested and this is you know one of those people who who has no connection with me I spoke earlier about the generosity of strangers and that's how I started my practice he gave me two matters one one was the small arbitration another one was a batch matter which had 18 connected arbitrations. And that actually sustained me through those initial phases of my practice. Gautam: Now, that's a great story. That really is. I mean, you know, there's so much in there, which I love. First of all, you had the courage and the desire to set up your own chambers and your own practice. Number two, you weren't put off by people saying that you'd be a small fish in a big pond. I love that. Number three, you said that there were lots of men in their own chamber, so why shouldn't there be a woman? I love that. And I love also, amongst other things, that point you just made about a stranger to you, a judge who rang you up and said, look, I've read your publications, which just shows it's really worthwhile to all the younger lawyers listening on this podcast. You can never start publishing too early. Always love the law, love the practice, write about it, add to knowledge. That's really important. Now, the fact that you did that, Manini, led to that lovely circumstance that you got these matters and then that helped you. And it's just, no, there's a lot in there that's very inspirational. And, you know, well, look, thank goodness you didn't get put off and you've certainly made a great success. So, you know, as I know, our listeners will, of course, know from you and everything you stand for. So, no, that's really interesting. And also the point that you mentioned about how you love to see colleagues of yours branch out themselves. I think that's another thing. I mean, again, I'm going to use your request to me to say a little bit about my perspective to what you say. I think that's so important. You see, you have to want people who work with you, not just to equal you, but to surpass you, right? And there's no point looking to help people and benefit people and mentor people, inspire people, if you don't want them to do really, really, really well. And so I love that message from you, Manini, there. You covered a lot of ground in that last answer, and I loved it. So then, now that you're a counsel and an arbitrator, I wanted to get your perspectives on, you know, what are the key skills that you think an arbitrator really absolutely has to have? Manini: You know, so this journey of trying to be both and wear both hats is actually a very challenging one. And I have immense respect for people who have done it before me and done it so well. Because when you're practicing in India, especially, for example, in a high court like the Delhi High Court, which has very high stakes and it's one of the most highly regarded courts in the country, you'd– on on an everyday basis you have about 50 to 60 matters listed before a particular judge so you have about three minutes to make your point and you have to do it in spite of the other lawyer sort of also trying very desperately to make his point so the entire skill involved is is to be quick, to be to the point, and to get the relief that you want loudly and quickly. And when you're being an arbitrator, the thing that you have to do is park that argumentative side of your personality completely and stop judging the matter for its merits, before they are presented to you. That essence of being a neutral, of not having an opinion about either the people who are appearing before you or the case the merits of the case that they may have without actually looking at their pleadings and and keeping a balanced view is really the the core of what you're expected to do and it is drastically different from how you think as a counsel so I think for me that is the most important thing. I don't try and go behind the party's intentions when I'm wearing the arbitrator hat. I don't try and go behind, well, why are they putting this counsel forward to argue or why did he time his application in this particular way? I don't get into that unless it is argued before me. So that's what I try and do. And I think that has worked for me so far. And it has helped me to resolve disputes efficiently because we don't get caught up in the rigmarole that a lot of, I think, other people sometimes get stuck with. Gautam: Yeah, no, I'm again, I couldn't agree more. And I think you're so right. It's just that approach. You know, when we were at GAR in Delhi together last month, you would have met, I hope you would have met Sadaf Habib, who was one of the other panelists on another panel that you weren't on at GAR. And one of the things that she mentioned about her experience as an arbitrator was about having empathy and trying to be balanced in the approach that you give and feeling, as always, that each side has the ability to feel that, you know, okay, they might have won, they may have lost, but they've been fairly heard, that they've been respectfully heard, and they've been empathetically heard. And I think that's a really important point which you've touched on there. And I think that's such an, that really, I think that's one, from my perspective, I think that's one of the things that differentiates arbitrators, because people do know who the very decent ones are in terms of character, personality, and their traits. Now, one thing I want to ask you about, Manini, is you and I both know that there are happily many more women like you coming through as arbitrators, but there aren't enough of them, right? And I think we can agree on that. There are not enough. And I know that you're also a massive champion of diversity, equality and inclusion and the advancement of women. And we, of course, I mean, I have the privilege of sitting with you on the advisory board of Indian Women in International Arbitration. And we both share that passion for the advancement of women. But in terms of. From your perspective, what more can the community do to ensure that more women get those opportunities, more women get appointments as arbitrators, more women get the recognition they deserve? What more can we do? Manini: I think this conversation has to start somewhere from recognizing the multiple roles that women play in society and recognizing that success is not a unidimensional thing. It's not really about making it to the 40 under 40 list or having your name up on Chambers and Partners when when your male colleagues are also there because you take time out as a woman you take time out to have a family you take time out to you know set up your marriage and you make decisions around those life choices so i think one of the things that absolutely needs to happen is the conversation needs to shift towards gender inclusivity in the sense of really understanding that the two genders perform very different roles in society and factoring that in when you measure success. For example, I have not set myself up for these unreasonable standards of, for example, being a senior counsel in the Delhi High Court by the age of 42. It's simply not something that I aspire towards, because I know that there are other facets to my life that I also want to take care of. And towards that, towards gender inclusivity, I think. Judges who are appointing arbitrators, institutions who are appointing arbitrators, parties who are appointing arbitrators, have to recognize that simply because a woman is not visible at every networking event or at every panel discussion doesn't mean that she's not capable or not interested. It's just that in a day, she has to do so many other things. And sometimes the priorities are different. On a particular day, your children need you more than work does. And so I know that there's a lot of pressure on being visible within the arbitration community. But I think there needs to be a certain amount of flexibility there. I mean, the example of the judge that I gave you before, right, he made the effort of going online to look at who were the new people, young arbitrators who were publishing or people who were talking about arbitration or were visible online, which kudos to him, he could have, you know, asked his juniors about who they met at the last conference who looked like a promising person, but he didn't, He made that extra effort and I think that is what we all need to do. As an arbitration community, we need to seek out women, because sometimes they're just held back by circumstances, and not really by a desire to, you know, hold back. Gatuam: I couldn't agree with you more. And I know, I just think that's, again, so inspirational. And, you know, people like you, that's what people, you are real role models for so many people, because you live and breathe those values and those aspirations and those beliefs. And, you know, and I know many people who listen listen to this podcast will feel that too.Now regrettably we've come to the - please is that something else you want to mention Manini? Manini: Yes I actually want to ask you Gautam that when you I know that you're you know also such a champion of diversity the fact that we're doing this podcast in some way is you know your step to put more people on the map and i want to ask you What is it that you see in the people around you as a quality that they should have to help diversity or to bring the community together? Gautam: Yeah, well, look, you know, thank you for that question. I think, you know, I just think that people need to be generous in their outlook. And I use that word because I think generosity is something that's very important. I think as people get more senior, more experienced, they owe it. A bit like you said earlier on in this podcast about giving back. We need to ensure that we leave our arbitration community, our legal community, our litigation community, our legal community a better place than when we arrived in it. Because one of the sayings that I remember reading many years ago was, the legal profession graces us. Lawyers don't grace the legal profession. And I think it's very important you look at it in that way, that you need to ensure that people get opportunities, not least because not everyone comes from a privileged background. Not everyone comes from the best schools, the best universities. Some people haven't got the best general knowledge, whatever you want to say. Some people haven't traveled as much as other people. But there's a real diversity in that. Some of the best people I've ever met and I've ever worked with. Are people who are unconventional, who aren't from a straight line, this background, that background. And I think that's when you've got to say a bit like you yourself said, and I'm going to steal one of your lines here, when you see good and you seek out people, because some people will actively come to you for mentorship and for help. But many people won't do that because they're not sure, they're afraid, you know, they're a bit uncertain about it. Make it easy for them, be generous and reach out to people and make sure that you leave the legal atmosphere that you've joined a much better place when you leave it. So that's what I would say. And I try to do that in the best way that I can. I'm not perfect by any means, but that's what I try to do. Manini: Inspiring. Thank you for that. That's a good tip. I'm taking it back, generosity. Gautam: No, thank you for asking me. And just so everyone knows on this podcast, these questions, which Manini are asking me are completely unscripted and I had no idea but I'm but I'm grateful to you for asking that to me. So we have regrettably come to the end of our podcast I could talk to you for hours Manini because there's so much we could talk about and and the dinner that we sat in together in Delhi last month as you yourself kindly said was a really really nice nice occasion. And I honestly could have spent hours just talking to you on many things. But we always end these podcasts with a bit of fun. And this podcast is no exception. So I want to ask you, what's your favorite sort of music? Have you got a favorite singer, a favorite group? So tell us about that. Manini: You know, these days, I've been spending a lot of time in my village in Punjab because of my kids. I like to take them there as much as I can because it's open and it's green. So I'm immensely immersed in Punjabi music. And these days, my favorite is Ali Sethi, who's a Pakistani singer. He's done some fantastic things in the past couple of years, and he's been to Coachella, and he's, you know, basically rocked the Punjabi music world. So I love that. Yeah, that's what I'm living by. Gautam: I love all that stuff. I mean, I yeah, yeah, no, know and you know I yeah I love that you know it's great to have that because it is great music someone who's played at Coachella has to be pretty cool as well just so everyone knows and the last quick question to you have you got a favorite travel place where you like to go with your husband and your children? Manini: It's actually London, London is my favorite. So yeah i think i think we have a lot in common more than more than the law beyond the law I love being in London because my sister is there and I love to shop and it's my shopping, and the other is home, Punjab. If I can get away from Delhi, it's either London or Punjab. These are my two options. Gautam: Well, dare I say, you know, one of the things I remember my dad saying many years ago is how proud he was that the rivers of Bengal ran so deep in his veins. And I dare say you would also say that you're very proud that the rivers of Punjab run deep in your veins. So, well, look, So it's been an absolute delight to do this podcast with you, Manini. Thank you very much for doing it. I've genuinely enjoyed it. I've been uplifted, inspired by you. I just think that our listeners will absolutely love hearing your perspectives and the enthusiasm and the drive that you bring to so many things. And I just want to end by saying, you know, very well done for everything you've achieved so far, and I wish you all continued success. So thank you again, Manini. Manini: Thank you so much. Thank you, Gautam, for having me. And I hope outside of this podcast, we're going to continue these conversations because I'm always looking to talk about. Gautam: We will. It's a promise. Thank you. Outro: Arbitral Insights is a Reed Smith production. Our producer is Ali McCardell. For more information about Reed Smith's global international arbitration practice, email arbitralinsights@reedsmith.com. To learn about the Reed Smith Arbitration Pricing Calculator, a first-of-its-kind mobile app that forecasts the costs of arbitration around the world, search Arbitration Pricing Calculator on reedsmith.com or download for free through the Apple and Google Play app stores. You can find our podcast on Spotify, Apple, Google Play, Stitcher, reedsmith.com, and our social media accounts at Reed Smith LLP on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Disclaimer: This podcast is provided for educational purposes. It does not constitute legal advice and is not intended to establish an attorney-client relationship, nor is it intended to suggest or establish standards of care applicable to particular lawyers in any given situation. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Any views, opinions, or comments made by any external guest speaker are not to be attributed to Reed Smith LLP or its individual lawyers. All rights reserved. Transcript is auto-generated.

In this episode, Head of International Arbitration and Dubai Partner, Thomas Snider, is joined by London Partner Richard Kiddell, Hong Kong Partner Stephen Chan, and Singapore Partner Peter Brabant to discuss themes and trends that emerged from the ICCA 2024 Conference held in Hong Kong. They discuss managing the costs that arise in international arbitration, along with methods to make the arbitral process more cost-effective and efficient for clients.  They further consider the use of artificial intelligence within the arbitral sphere, including its advantages, its challenges, and how arbitrators and practitioners should adapt to align with its future growth.  Finally, they shed light on how third-party funding and insurance products can be used to manage the costs of arbitration, while also exploring the challenges and potential hurdles involved in going down this route.

Kristin Campbell-Wilson, executive director of the recently launched Abu Dhabi International Arbitration Centre (known as arbitrateAD), talks with Dubai-based partner Antonia Birt and associate Laura Adams about the establishment and mission of arbitrateAD. They delve into how the centre fits into the global arbitration landscape, how it differentiates itself from its competitors, and what the new rules will offer arbitration users.

Explore the art of cross-examination in international arbitration with J.P. Duffy and Raj Pillai KC (3VB). In this episode, the duo discusses strategic insights, preparation techniques, tribunal expectations, and question dynamics that lead to effective cross-examination.

In this episode of our Soundshot podcast, our arbitration partner Stefan Riegler delves into the topic of "careers in international arbitration" with our distinguished guest speakers Claudia Salomon, President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, and Stefan Kröll, Director of the Willem C. Vis Arbitration Moot.Our speakers tell their personal stories and shine a particular spotlight on the significance of the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot. They share valuable insights on how to pursue a career in international arbitration, underscoring the crucial role of having an open mind. This episode serves as a useful resource, providing insights and practical tips for enhancing your professional journey in this field of law.If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at soundshot@wolftheiss.com. 

This episode is recorded in Russian. In this Russian-language edition of our ISDS podcast series, Sultan Seidalin and Aitmaganbet Ospanbekov provide a comprehensive overview of the most significant developments in investment treaty arbitration during the latter part of 2023. This episode is a Russian-language translation of our previous episode “Investment treaty arbitration: 2023 in review” hosted by Suzie Savage and Patrick Beale.  ----more---- Transcript: Intro: Hello and welcome to Arbitral Insights, a podcast series brought to you by our International Arbitration practice lawyers here at Reed Smith. I'm Peter Rosher, global head of Reed Smith's International Arbitration practice. I hope you enjoy the industry commentary, insights and anecdotes we share with you in the course of this series, wherever in the world you are. If you have any questions about any of the topics discussed, please do contact our speakers. And with that, let's get started.  Aitmaganbet: Здравствуйте и добро пожаловать на наш первый выпуск серии подкастов на русском языке. Я напомню, что это по-русски урегулирование споров между инвестором и государством или сокращенно, как его называют «УСИГ». Меня зовут Айтмаганбет Оспанбеков, и я являюсь юристом в группе по международному арбитражу в офисе Рид Смит в городе Астана. Я рад, что ко мне присоединился мой коллега Султан Сейдалин, старший юрист по международному арбитражу, также работающий в астанинском офисе Рид Смит. Здравствуйте, Султан.  Sultan: Здравствуй, Айтмаганбет. Очень приятно вести с тобой этот подкаст. Всегда интересно, конечно, проверить и подвести итоги того, что произошло за последние шесть месяцев, и что нас ждет в перспективе.  Aitmaganbet: Да, определенно интересно, и нам есть о чем поговорить начнем с Договора к энергетической хартии. Ранее государства-члены ЕС выразили намерение выйти из ДЭХ. Европейская комиссия в своем прошлогоднем решении настаивала на скоординированном выходе ЕС, Евроатома и всех государств-членов из Договора к энергетической хартии. Намерение выйти из ДЭХ связано с обеспокоенностью общества о том, что ДЭХ представляет защиту инвестициям, осуществленным в сектора горючих полезных ископаемых. В результате чего ДЭХ находится в кризисе, а его будущее не определено. Что-то изменилось с тех пор Султан?  Sultan: Да, Вы правы, Айтмаганбет одиннадцать стран уже уведомили о своем выходе или намерении сделать это. И седьмого июля Комиссия Европейского союза предложила скоординированный выход TC, его государств-членов и Евроатома из Договора к энергетической хартии. Более того, в сентябре Правительство Великобритании объявило, что пересмотрит членство Великобритании в договоре и рассмотрит возможность выхода из него, если соглашение по изменённым условиям не будет достигнуто к ноябрю две тысячи двадцать третьего года. Если государства Европейского союза осуществят скоординированный выход, это вдвое сократит число подписавших сторон и, следовательно, географический охват мер защиты, предусмотренный ДЭХ. Тем не менее, на заседании Конференции Энергетической хартии в ноябре прошлого года секретариат ДЭХ указал, что они желают возобновить свою политику консолидации и расширения привлечений, так называемое CONEXO, путем рассмотрения потенциального сотрудничества с ОПЕК. Это может указать намерение расширить членство в ДЭХ за счет государств ОПЭК.  Aitmaganbet: это все представляет большой интерес, учитывая всю неопределенность относительного будущего ДЭХ. Существует ли альтернатива для инвесторов, которые считают, что маршрут защиты инвестиций через ДЭХ для них закрыт?  Sultan: Да, конечно, инвесторам следует определить, имеется ли соответствующее двустороннее инвестиционное соглашение предполагающее защиту аналогичную ДЭХ. Если нет, они могут рассмотреть возможность реструктуризации своих инвестиций через оставшиеся государства, подписавшие Договор к энергетической хартии. Они также могут попытаться усилить договорную защиту посредством соглашения с правительством принимающей страны. и в качестве альтернативы, если государство инвестора и принимающее государство являются участниками Европейской конвенции о правах человека, существует еще возможность для них сослаться на положения о защите собственности, содержащиеся в статье 1 Протокола 1 к этой Конвенции. К примеру, группа акционеров ЮКОСа успешно подала иск против России до ее выхода из Конвенции по ЕСПЧ и получила компенсацию в размере почти два миллиарда долларов США. Ну и, наконец, может быть рассмотрен вариант страхования от определенных рисков.  Aitmaganbet: Спасибо, Султан. Приятно осознавать, что у инвесторов есть и другие варианты. Теперь предлагаю обсудить кратко другой вопрос это процедуру исполнения арбитражного решения. Недавно в английских судах рассматривалось крупное дело по этому вопросу. Не так ли, Султан? Sultan: Совершенно верно. В деле Инфраструктурные услуги Люксембурга против Испании Английский коммерческий суд отклонил попытке Испании воспрепятствовать исполнению решения ДЭХ, вынесенного в пользу инвесторов, учрежденных в Европейском союзе. Aitmaganbet: Дело в том, что в этом отношении английский суд не последовал решениям Суда Европейского союза по делам Achmea и Комстрой, который определил, что внутриевропейское арбитражное разбирательство в рамках ДЭХ противоречило законодательству ЕС.  Sultan: Все правильно. Позиция Европейского союза заключается в том, что он является окончательным арбитром по всем вопросам, касающимся интерпретации и применения правового порядка Европейского союза. Однако судья по делу Инфраструктурные услуги Люксембурга против Испании установил, что договоры Европейского союза не имеют приоритета над положением о разрешении споров в статье 26 ДЭХ. Соответственно, арбитражное решение против Испании имело возможность быть зарегистрированным и исполненным в Великобритании. Что касается внутренних дел Великобритании, произошло еще одно весьма интересное событие. Так, Комиссия по законодательству провела пересмотр закона об арбитраже Великобритании 1996 года.  Aitmaganbet: Да, это так, и Комиссия по законодательству опубликовала свои рекомендации в сентябре прошлого года. Предложения и поправки были разработаны после консультаций с арбитражными юристами и всеми заинтересованными лицами. Кстати, включая Рид Смит, чьи рекомендации были процитированы в отчете Комиссии по законодательству по этому вопросу. Законопроект об арбитраже был затем включен в речь короля в ноябре прошлого года. Это означает, что его будут рассматривать на следующей законодательной сессии.  Sultan: интересно, а какие основные рекомендации заинтересуют практикующих юристов, занимающихся инвестиционными спорами, с твоей точки зрения? Aitmaganbet: несмотря на то, что существует несколько примечательных рекомендаций, в том числе в отношении упрощенной процедуры урегулирования иска и обязанности арбитов раскрывать информацию о любых потенциальных конфликтах интересов или любую соответствующую информацию, которая может повлиять на их беспристрастность, я думаю, что больше всего юристов-практиков по инвестиционным спорам заинтересует предполагаемые изменения оспаривания вопроса материальной юрисдикции трибунала.  Sultan: А можешь подсказать о том, какую реформу предложила Комиссия по законодательству?  Aitmaganbet: Да, конечно, цель состоит в том, чтобы упростить процесс оспаривания материальной юрисдикции арбитражного суда. Основной целью предлагаемой реформы является обеспечение, чтобы если трибунал уже вынес решение о своей юрисдикции, а возражающая сторона участвовала в этом процессе, то любое последующее оспаривание решения, согласно статье 67. то есть из-за отсутствия материальной юрисдикции должно осуществляться только путем пересмотра, а не полного повторного слушания, как это происходит в настоящее время. Цель состоит в том, чтобы снизить риск несправедливого и расточительного повторного слушания, который потенциально может возникнуть в результате полного повторного слушания. Возможность предоставить новые аргументы или доказательства, или пересмотреть старые доказательства будет ограничена только исключительными ситуациями.  Sultan: Да, в этом есть смысл. А как было воспринято это предложение? Aitmaganbet: Спасибо за хороший вопрос Существует опасения, что оспаривание по статье 67, не являющееся полноценным повторным слушанием, может оказаться недостаточным для возникновения эстопеля в отношении вопроса при исполнении арбитражного решения за рубежом. Тогда возражающая сторона может начать еще одно оспаривание юрисдикции в иностранном суде, исполняющем решения. Возникшие в результате этого задержки и возросшие расходы, скорее всего, будут намного больше, чем экономия, полученная за счет отказа от повторного рассмотрения дела в Англии. Неопределенность и процессуальная несправедливость также будут гораздо выше, что сделает реформу статьи 67 пирровой победой. Однако комиссия по законодательству не была убеждена в значимости этого риска, отчасти потому, что ожидает, что иностранные суды все равно могут найти основания для возражения по делу даже в отсутствие полного повторного слушания. Ну что ж, время покажет, насколько обоснованы эти опасения.  Sultan: Давай вернемся к индо-тихоокеанскому региону. В июле прошлого года Великобритания подписала всеобъемлющее и прогрессивное соглашение о транстихоокеанском партнерстве (CPTPP), и у нее есть двенадцать месяцев на ратификацию соглашения, вступления в силу которого ожидается во второй половине 2024 года. В торговый блок входит Австралия, Новая Зеландия, Япония, Сингапур, Малайзия, Бруней, Вьетнам, Канада, Мексика, Чили и Перу.  Aitmaganbet: У меня возник вопрос, включает ли CPTPP положение об урегулировании споров между государствами и инвесторами.  Sultan: CPTPP является первым соглашением о свободной торговле после Брексита, подписанным в Великобритании, которое включает положение об урегулировании инвестиционных споров. Тем не менее, у Великобритании уже есть действующие двусторонние инвестиционные соглашения с Сингапуром, Малайзией, Перу, Чили, Вьетнамом и Мексикой, которые также содержат арбитражные оговорки между инвестором и государством. Однако Великобритания вела переговоры о дополнительных соглашениях с Австралией и Новой Зеландией, с которыми у нее нет существующих двусторонних инвестиционных соглашений для того, чтобы исключить применение УСИГ (ISDS) в рамках CPTPP. Aitmaganbet: А как рассматриваются иски УСИГ (ISDS) в рамках CPTPP? Sultan: Стандартная процедура иски рассматриваются трибуналом в составе трех арбитров по одному арбитру назначается каждой сторон, и председатель назначается совместно сторонами, если иное не согласованно сторонами.  Aitmaganbet: Есть ли какие-то особенности механизма урегулирования споров между государством и инвестором в данном случае, о которых слушателям будет полезно узнать?  Sultan: Да, я думаю, что интересно знать следующие основные моменты. В соглашении предусмотрен обязательный шестимесячный период для переговоров, так называемый «cooling-off» период.  Инвесторы могут подавать иски CPTPP без предварительного обращения к национальной судебной системе, хотя есть оговорка о подсудности, которая не позволяет инвесторам обращаться в арбитраж против Чили, Мексики, Перу и Вьетнама, по искам, которые уже были поданы в национальные суды или административные трибуналы этих государств.  Также уведомления об арбитраже направленные на любой сторон, подписавших договор должны сопровождаться письменным отказом от права на возбуждение или продолжение рассмотрения тех же исков в любом суде, административном трибунале или другом органе по разрешению споров. И одна особенность, на которую следует обратить это срок исковой давности Он ограничен сроком в 3.5 года.  Aitmaganbet: А как насчет материальной защиты, предлагаемой данным договором?    Sultan: Ну, здесь для некоторых секторов, к примеру, здравоохранения присмотрено исключение из стандарта национального режима. Соглашение представляет государствам право отказать в применении Главы договора об инвестициях, касающихся государственных мер по контролю за табаком и табачной продукцией и недискриминационных регуляторных актов, направленных на достижение общественного благосостояния. Это не рассматриваются как косвенная экспроприация. Aitmaganbet: Султан, а какие правила применяются к арбитражу в рамках CPTPP? Sultan: здесь могут рассматриваться и применяться регламенты МЦУС или ЮНСИТРАЛ, а также любые другие арбитражные регламенты, которые будут согласованы между сторонами.  Aitmaganbet: Большое спасибо, Султан. А теперь давайте перейдем от Индотихоокеанского региона к Америке и поговорим больше о раскрытии информации в США. Верховный суд США недавно пришел к выводу о том, что помощь в раскрытой информации в США в соответствии со статьей 1782 Кодекса США не распространяется на иностранный частный коммерческий арбитраж или специальный арбитраж между инвестором и государством. Верховный суд постановил, что на статью 1782 можно слаться только в том случае, если иностранный трибунал является правительством или межправительственным судебным органом  Sultan: Да, и это оставило вопрос о том, можно ли использовать статью 1782 для поддержки арбитражных разбирательств в рамках МЦУИС. Aitmaganbet: Совершенно верно. Однако следует уточнить, что Верховный суд не дал конкретного теста или критерия, которому должны следовать нижестоящие суды в таких случаях. Sultan: Да, я бы хотел отметить в данном случае решение по делу Webuild S.P.A, рассмотренное в Южном округе Нью-Йорка, в рамках которого был отклонен запрос истца о предоставлении доказательств для использования перед трибуналом МЦУИС. Судья данного суда пришел к заключению, что содействие по сбору доказательств в рамках статьи 1782 недоступно истцам в арбитраже МЦУИС по в рамках ДИС между Панамой и Италией.  Aitmaganbet: Совершенно верно, и это решение теперь обжаловано во Втором апелляционном округе. Подготовка аргументации завершена в августе прошлого года, включая докладную записку, предоставленную Соединенными Штатами, которая утверждает, что арбитражный суд между инвестором и государством, созванный в соответствии с Конвенцией МЦУИС, не является иностранным или международным трибуналом в соответствии со статьей 1782.  Sultan: Да, будет интересно посмотреть, как второй апелляционный округ решит подойти к этому вопросу. И я думаю, что мы обязательно вернемся к данным событиям в нашем следующем выпуске. Aitmaganbet: Давайте теперь поговорим о реформе УСИГ (ISDS). Рабочая группа №3 UNCITRAL рассматривает широкомасштабные реформы системы. В октябре прошлого года Рабочая группа рассмотрела проекты положения о процедурных реформах и так называемых сквозных вопросах. Sultan: именно так, Айтмаганбет, и секретариат сейчас представил проект положений, которые могут быть включены в существующие или будущие международные инвестиционные соглашения, или в качестве дополнения к арбитражного регламенту ЮНСИТРАЛ. Они рассматривают многие вопросы, которые были спорными.  Sultan: Текущие предложения сгруппированы в три раздела. В первом разделе рассматриваются условия ограничения подачи требований. в рамках инвестиционных споров, например, инвесторы обязаны инициировать разбирательство в судах, принимающих государств в отношении оспариваемых мер, прежде чем они смогут прибегнуть к инвест арбитражу. Также существует требования к инвестору отказаться от права инициировать или продолжать любое другое производство по разрешению споров, касающееся оспариваемых мер.  Предполагается предусмотреть срок исковой давности, продолжительность которого еще не определена.  Предусматриваются подробные положения, касающиеся обстоятельств, при которых государство может отказать инвестору в преимуществах МИС, в том числе, когда инвестиции были сделаны в нарушение законов и правил государства или национальных или международных принципов добросовестности или были сделаны путем коррупции, мошенничества или обмана. Также предусмотрено четко выраженное право договаривающихся сторон урегулировать спор в общественных интересах и принимать меры для обеспечения того, чтобы инвестиции осуществлялись с учетом защиты общественного здоровья, окружающей среды, а также поощрения и защиты культурного разнообразия. Ну и, наконец, в этот раздел включено право государство определяет встречные иски, что является очень важным моментом. Aitmaganbet: В дополнении ко всему, второй раздел посвящен проведению разбирательств, в том числе и в отношении бифуркации, обеспечительных мер досрочного прекращения дела, обеспечения расходов и финансирования арбитражей третьими сторонами, так называемый «third party funding». Третий раздел содержит положение, регулирующие оценку трибуналом ущерба и компенсации. Они требуют, чтобы трибунал учитывал вину истца, его неспособность смягчить убытки или ущерб. В нем также рассматривается вопрос об оценке ущерба в случаях осуществления инвестиций на ранней стадии, т. е. без истории ведения бизнеса, чтобы снять опасения по поводу иногда спекулятивного характера таких исков. Обсуждение будет продолжено на следующей встрече, которая состоится уже совсем скоро двадцать второго января текущего года в Вене.  Sultan: Спасибо. Я думаю, мы будем ждать остальных событий, которые будут в этом году в ближайшей перспективе. Я думаю, что на этом мы завершим выпуск. Я надеюсь, что это был интересный и полезный обзор недавних и ожидаемых событий в инвестиционном арбитраже Большое  Aitmaganbet: спасибо, что слушаете наш подкаст. Мы надеемся, что вам также будет интересен следующий выпуск нашей серии подкастов и особенно следующий подкаст, посвященный системе урегулирования споров между инвесторами и государством. На нашем сайте вы можете узнать больше об опыте работы Reed Smith в Лондоне, Париже, США, Астане и других странах по вопросам инвестиционных споров.  Outro: Arbitral Insights is a Reed Smith production. Our producer is Ali McCardell. For more information about Reed Smith's Global International Arbitration Practice, email arbitralinsights@reedsmith.com. To learn about the Reed Smith arbitration pricing calculator, a first of its kind mobile app that forecasts the cost of arbitration around the world, search arbitration pricing calculator on reedsmith.com or download for free through the Apple and Google Play app stores. You can find our podcast on Spotify, Apple, Google Play, Stitcher, reedsmith.com and our social media accounts at Reed Smith LLP on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.  Disclaimer: This podcast is provided for educational purposes. It does not constitute legal advice and is not intended to establish an attorney-client relationship, nor is it intended to suggest or establish standards of care applicable to particular lawyers in any given situation. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Any views, opinions, or comments made by any external guest speaker are not to be attributed to Reed Smith LLP or its individual lawyers.  All rights reserved.

This Week's Guests: Author - Carl Unegbu Comedian - Boris Khaykin Episode 310 The World's Famous comedy Cellar presents "Live From America Podcast" with Noam Dworman and Hatem Gabr. The top experts and thinkers of the world and the best comics in the Nation get together weekly with our hosts to discuss different topics each week, News, Culture, Politics, comedy & and more with an equal parts of knowledge and comedy! Carl Unegbu is a lawyer and journalist. He currently runs the blog ocarlslaw.com and was an editor at news site Comedybeat.com. Previously, he hosted the industry forum Comedy Dialogue, a quarterly series held in Manhattan's Upper West Side, featuring stand-up comedy performances and panel discussions involving some of the comedy industry's best and brightest talents. Prior to his work at Comedybeat, he was a reporter in New York City, and over the years his articles have appeared in The Real Deal Magazine, Gotham Gazette, City Limits, World Policy Journal, the New York Review of Magazines, Leverage Magazine, Journal of International Arbitration, Reuters Forum Journal, and the New York County Lawyer newspaper. He is also the author of Comedy Under Attack: The Golden Age and the Headwinds (2013). Carl studied journalism at Columbia after graduating law school at the University of Miami. Before being admitted to the New York bar, he served as a law clerk at the International Court of Arbitration, Paris, and then practiced law in Miami. He currently lives in New York City and volunteers his free time for community development and civic affairs in his Manhattan neighborhood, where he serves on the Community Board. Follow Live From America YouTube www.youtube.com/channel/UCS2fqgw61yK1J6iKNxV0LmA Twitter twitter.com/AmericasPodcast www.LiveFromAmericaPodcast.com LiveFromAmerica@ComedyCellar.com Follow Hatem Twitter twitter.com/HatemNYC Instagram www.instagram.com/hatemnyc/ Follow Noam Twitter twitter.com/noam_dworman #ComedyGoesToCourt #SuingStandUpComedian #StandUpComedy

In this special episode of International Law Talk: Patricia Shaughnessy, Professor at Stockholm University and John Fellas, independent full-time arbitrator. The episode is a recurrence of John Fellas' speech ‘the future of arbitration: evolution or revolution?', presented during the 20th Anniversary Conference of the International Commercial Arbitration Law program in Stockholm in August 2023. John Fellas' speech has been nominated for the 2024 GAR Awards. Stay informed on https://arbitrationblog.kluwerarbitration.com/ This podcast episode is part of International Law Talk. Wolters Kluwer will bring you insightful analysis, commentary, and discussion from thought leaders and experts on current topics in the field of International Arbitration, IP Law, International Tax Law, Competition Law and other international legal fields. Music tune: Scuba, Metre. #internationallawtalk

This episode is recorded in Spanish. Rebeca Mosquera and Isabella Lorduy welcome Elina Mereminskaya, head partner at Wagemann Arbitration and chair of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA) Americas Initiative, for a conversation exploring the strides and struggles of women in arbitration toward achieving equity. They then discuss the collaboration between the ITA and the Reed Smith Latin America Business Team in creating the 2023 ITA Latin American Arbitral Institutions Guide and Scoreboard, along with the insights gained. ----more---- Transcript: Intro: Hello and welcome to Arbitral Insights, a podcast series brought to you by our International Arbitration practice lawyers here at Reed Smith. I'm Peter Rosher, global head of Reed Smith's International Arbitration Practice. I hope you enjoy the industry commentary, insights and anecdotes we share with you in the course of this series, wherever in the world you are. If you have any questions about any of the topics discussed, please do contact our speakers. Welcome to our Women in Arbitration podcast mini series, a platform for women's voices across the global international arbitration community. I am Lucy Winnington-Ingram, an international arbitration lawyer based in Reed Smith's London office. In these episodes, we will hear from leading women in the international arbitration space and discuss industry news, trends, developments and matters of interest. And with that, let's get started. Isabella: Welcome to Arbitral Insights. Mi nombre es Isabella Lorduy Asociada de Reed Smith en el Grupo de Energía y Recursos Naturales Es un gusto estar hoy en este espacio grabando nuestra primera serie Podcast en español. Hoy precisamente nuestro tema de conversación se enfocará en Latinoamérica específicamente en la guía del Institute for Transnational Arbitration, comúnmente conocido como el ITA sobre las instituciones de arbitraje en América Latina. Y hoy estaremos conversando sobre sus principales conclusiones frente a la diversidad de género. Para esto tenemos dos invitadas muy especiales. En primer lugar, tenemos a Rebeca Mosquera, quien es asociada senior en la oficina de Nueva York de Reed Smith con más de una década experiencia en arbitraje internacional, comercial y de inversión. El trabajo de Rebeca, la ha hecho merecedora de numerosos reconocimientos, incluyendo un lugar en la lista de Latinx de las cien mejores abogadas de América Latina en arbitraje y litigios por cuatro años consecutivos. Además, Rebeca es miembro de la junta directiva de Arbitral Women y representante de ICC YAF para Norteamérica, entre otras instituciones. Por otro lado, tenemos a Elina Mereminskaya. Elina, Disculpe por la pronunciación del apellido de antemano. Elina es socia de Wagemann Arbitration, presidente de la ITA para las Américas, Doctora en Derecho de la Universidad de Göttingen en Alemania y Magisterio en Derecho de la misma universidad. Ha concentrado su ejercicio profesional asesorando a grandes empresas nacionales, latinoamericanas y europeas en varios proyectos. Además, pertenece a la lista de árbitros en diversos centros arbitrales, incluyendo la Cámara de Comercio de Chile, el ICDR y entre otras instituciones. Elina también es Fellow del Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. Sin más preámbulo, quiero empezar explicándole un poco a la audiencia que es el ITA o ITA, el cual ya he mencionado varias veces. Este es un foro educativo para el intercambio de ideas y el desarrollo de las mejores prácticas entre abogados, árbitros y profesionales involucrados en el arbitraje internacional, comercial y de inversiones. La guía que hoy estaremos discutiendo se basa en una rigurosa encuesta que no sólo rastreó el crecimiento de las instituciones arbitrales en América Latina, sino que también identificó factores claves que son actualmente temas candentes en el arbitraje internacional. Estos incluyen el aumento de la designación de mujeres árbitros tanto en los tribunales como en las listas institucionales, la disponibilidad de árbitros de emergencia y el cálculo de honorarios, entre otros temas de gran interés para la comunidad arbitral. Daniel Ávila, asociado de Reed Smith y coautor de esta guía, fue de hecho que tuvo la iniciativa e idea de encontrar un espacio para enfocar la conversación en una de las conclusiones más importantes de la guía. Tendremos que buscar otros espacios para seguir comentando esta gran publicación, pero por ahora quisiera empezar preguntándole a Elina cuál fue la metodología que usaron para llegar a las conclusiones de esta guía.  Elina: Muchas gracias, Isabella. Muchas gracias por la presentación. Excelente pronunciación de mi apellido. Tengo que aclarar que soy socia de Wagemann Arbitration una oficina boutique con sede en Santiago de Chile y bueno, respondiendo a tu pregunta, yo tengo el privilegio de dirigir ser Chair de la American Iniciative del ITA Institute for Transnational Arbitration y en el año dos mil once, la Iniciativa de las Américas de y ITA prepararon la primera versión de esta guía. Daniel Ávila tuvo la fantástica idea de acercarse al ITA y ofrecer el apoyo de Reed Smith y de bueno de él personalmente para hacer una versión actualizada. Y lo que hicimos con él fue, primero, hacer un levantamiento de las instituciones arbitrales existentes nuevas. Para eso consultamos en el ITAFOR, consultamos con nuestros delegados en distintos países delegados del ITA y una vez validadas las instituciones, las invitamos a participar de esta encuesta. Asimismo, actualizamos las preguntas con respecto a lo que fue el año dos mil once. Incluimos muchas preguntas nuevas y entre ellas las preguntas de género en el dos mil once no fue un tema tan relevante como lo es hoy. Y bueno, enviada la encuesta a las instituciones, se recibieron respuestas de un porcentaje significativo de las instituciones, lo que nos ha permitido elaborar esta guía como un informe final que va acompañada de gráficas de conclusiones. Así que invito a todo el mundo descargarla de la página web de ITA para poder conocer estas conclusiones generales y particulares sobre el estado del arbitraje institucional en América Latina.  Isabella: Sí, de acuerdo. Creo que es una guía que vale la pena revisar porque tiene información actualizada de todo lo que está sucediendo en estas jurisdicciones y, de hecho, adentrándonos un poco al enfoque de diversidad de género. Ustedes resuelven la pregunta de qué porcentaje de la lista internacional son mujeres? La mayoría de las instituciones que respondieron a la encuesta de la Guía contestaron que en menos del veinticinco por ciento de sus listas nacionales e internacionales contienen árbitros mujeres. Y aunque las cifras siguen siendo bajas, el nombramiento global de mujeres es mucho mayor en comparación con décadas anteriores. Y esto hay que reconocerlo. En esta línea, la guía también destaca que frecuentemente el árbitro único o el presidente del tribunal es nombrado por las instituciones, lo que podría resultar en el esfuerzo institucional para aumentar el nombramiento de mujeres y que esta cifra suba. Quería preguntarte en este punto Elina, estás de acuerdo con el nombramiento de mujeres por las instituciones como un mecanismo para combatir la inequidad de género en el arbitraje internacional?  Elina: De todas maneras, sí Isabella. Yo creo que en las instituciones recae la función de ir profesionalizando el arbitraje. Cierto, porque son se encuentran en la mejor posición para efectuar el nombramiento de los árbitros con conocimiento de la materia. Y en ese sentido tienen la misión, me atrevería, a decir, de aportar también a la diversidad en el arbitraje, promoviendo el nombramiento de las mujeres.  Isabella: Gracias, Elina. Ahora, continuando con un poco el tema de la creación de igualdad de oportunidades, hay una tesis que dice que la promoción de la mujer en el arbitraje no parte del principio de pretender lograr el mismo número de árbitras y árbitros. Más bien busca crear igualdad de oportunidades para aquellas mujeres preparadas para desempeñarse en estos puestos. Elina, tú estás de acuerdo con esta premisa y si estás de acuerdo, qué herramientas podrían ser implementadas para crear un mayor acceso a estas oportunidades y que las mujeres lleguen a este puesto de árbitras?  Elina: Muy buena la pregunta, Isabella. Muchas gracias. Bueno, la premisa en sí es bastante interesante si consideramos que las aulas universitarias hoy en día están pobladas por un cincuenta por ciento de hombres, cincuenta por ciento de mujeres, si consideramos que entre los asociados de los estudios norteamericanos, aproximadamente un cuarenta por ciento constituyen mujeres. Por qué no deberíamos tender hacia el número cercano, al igual de hombres y mujeres? Pero bueno, aceptando tu premisa como premisa correcta, es decir que no se busca lograr el mismo número de árbitras de árbitros, vamos a desarrollar bajo esta premisa, que es lo que se puede hacer desde mi perspectiva. La carrera habitual conducente a asumir el papel de árbitro ha sido lograr primero la posición de socia en un estudio jurídico litigante en arbitraje. Pero como sabemos, los porcentajes de mujeres que llegan a ser socias, incluso en los países llamémoslo desarrollados, no fuera de América Latina, son bajísimos. Según Legal 500, en el Reino Unido corresponde al dieciocho por ciento, en Alemania diez por ciento, en Estados Unidos Equity Partners mujeres son un veinte por ciento y no Equity Partners ascienden a treinta por ciento. Al mismo tiempo, hay muchas abogadas asociadas, directoras, ocasos todos estos diversos títulos que demuestran que son indicativas de la madurez de la profesional pero que la separan de ser socia. Y todas estas abogadas tienen la experiencia necesaria para desempeñarse como árbitras. Entonces lo que yo creo es que hay que hacer. Hay que desvincular la figura del árbitro, del árbitro, del rol de socia. Son habilidades no relacionadas de ninguna manera. Y de lo contrario, si los mantenemos, si las mantenemos vinculadas, las mujeres se ven doblemente castigadas. Por un lado, no llegan a ser socias y por otro lado, no llegan a ser árbitras. Y bueno para lograrlo yo creo que hay que promover esta idea tal como lo estamos haciendo ahora y más que nada, darle visibilidad a estas mujeres con talento y experiencia. Y para ello la teoría sociológica política acepta el uso temporal de las cuotas como algo muy establecido y creo debería implementarse también en el arbitraje. Personalmente, a mí no me ofendería ser nombrada como árbitro debido a que existe una cuota de participación femenina. Estaría agradecida que para cumplir con la cuota me elegirían a mí habiendo tantas otras candidatas. Igualmente tendría certeza que me nombran por mis cualidades y no por ser mujer. Ningún hombre asume que lo nombran por ser hombre y creo que la misma actitud corresponde que sea tomada por mujeres.  Isabella: Muchísimas gracias por la respuesta, Elina. Creo que es muy interesante y es importante que todas las mujeres empecemos a oír este tipo de ideas desde ya, porque es la manera un poco de no castigarnos, sino darnos cuenta hacia dónde tenemos que ver y digamos, siguen un poco tu línea y los comentarios. Creo que ha quedado claro que la diversidad de género encapsula muchos más factores que simplemente el hecho de ser mujer o no. También se debe tener en cuenta la edad, la nacionalidad, entre otros factores. Y pongo un ejemplo, a veces hay mujeres muy capacitadas y también hombres que por la edad, de pronto encuentran una barrera en ser, digamos, en conseguir cierto tipo de reconocimientos opuestos en el campo del arbitraje, igualmente con la nacionalidad, con la diferencia de factores y de factores, de dónde vienen y de las oportunidades que han adquirido. Y en este punto, quería preguntarte cómo abordar estos factores en las iniciativas que ya existen para crear mayores oportunidades en el campo del arbitraje internacional. Crees que deberían ser abordados como tema de género y tema de edad aparte? O tratar de combinar un poco todos estos factores para crear iniciativas que aborden más las problemáticas? Cuál es tu perspectiva de cómo cobijar tantas cosas, pasando al mismo tiempo?   Elina: Si desde mi perspectiva el grupo minoritario en el arbitraje son las mujeres, el grupo minoritario más importante son las mujeres. Si empezamos a considerar diversidad regional, por ejemplo, hay diversos grupos minoritarios, cierto. América Latina se ve menos, con excepción de Brasil, que es asna, se ve menos representada en el arbitraje internacional. Lo mismo se puede decir de Asia. Lo mismo se puede decir de África. Entonces hay un conjunto de ámbitos geográficos y ese conjunto no es homogéneo. Entonces crearon una iniciativa para promover este conjunto heterogéneo, cuyos elementos se encuentran en distintos en distintas etapas de desarrollo de arbitraje en distintas etapas de acumular la experiencia como comunidad arbitral. A mí me parece difícil. Ahora hay iniciativas puntuales muy importantes para acoger la diversidad regional, que pueden ser muy valiosas. Lo que yo creo que en América Latina tenemos que poca otra región tiene es la ventaja del uso común del idioma. Creo que deberíamos apuntar a crear una mayor movilidad de los árbitros dentro de América Latina. Habiéndose aquí la primera opción para un nombramiento fuera un candidato, una candidata de la región y una vez que logremos un pool de árbitros y árbitras latinoamericanos que se desempeñen con facilidad en el arbitraje internacional, ahí podríamos competir a nivel global. Pero en esta materia me parece menos factible la introducción de cuotas, por ejemplo, no, porque podríamos estar interfiriendo con requerimientos que plantea un caso arbitral en cuanto al idioma. En cuanto a la formación legal, todas estas situaciones que pueden ser fácilmente superadas cuando estamos mirando un universo de mujeres.  Isabella: Entendido. Muchas gracias, Elina. Creo que hay tantas cosas que quisiera preguntarte sobre todo lo que acabas de decir. Lastimosamente no tenemos suficiente tiempo, pero creo que estos son el tipo de espacios que simplemente nos abren la puerta para seguir discutiendo este tema tan importante. Creo que mi última pregunta hacia ti, que también se la quiero hacer a Rebeca, es el valor agregado sobre la diversidad de género. Porque hay autores en el campo del arbitraje internacional que argumentan que no hay ningún consenso o estudio que demuestre que se mejore la calidad de los laudos o la eficiencia del arbitraje como proceso por tener árbitros, mujeres, entonces un poco. La tesis es como no importa si son mujeres, si son hombres, simplemente necesitamos un buen laudo. Por qué la necesidad de tener estos personajes como a manera de cuota? Para ti, Elina, cuál es el valor agregado que representa tener más mujeres, árbitros y representantes de parte en los casos de arbitraje internacional?  Elina: Bueno, sería algo atrevido sostener que la incorporación de las mujeres mejora la calidad de laudos? No, tampoco somos casi iba a decir súper hombres, pero no somos superhéroes súper heroínas. Eso es para mí la principal ventaja central, ventaja y valor agregado es la atracción de talento que de lo contrario habría quedado invisibilidad invisibilizado debido a las restricciones del sistema que ya discutimos. Y es simplemente un sistema injusto de alguna manera, la que no permite surgir a las mujeres talentosas. Y es lo que las cuotas pretenden corregir. No mejorar los laudos, sino que abrirse a la entrada de más árbitras árbitros árbitras que están que se encuentran en condiciones para hacer buenos laudos. Cierto. Hay estudios que indican que las mujeres, por ejemplo, tienden a tener un mejor manejo en la interacción en las relaciones sociales y tienen una mayor capacidad para lograr beneficios sistémicos. Es decir, se en un pequeño punto cuando piensan que finalmente pueden obtener un logro sistémico mayor. Y lo anterior sin duda podría generar tribunales arbitrales más cohesionados. Deliberaciones más fluidas. Pero para mí todas esas ventajas son adornos nada agradables. Lo relevante es la atracción de talento que se está perdiendo.  Isabella: Creo que en eso estamos todos completamente de acuerdo. Lo que mejora un proceso es tener más talento, descubrir nuevas caras que puedan aportar excelencia a estos procesos. Entonces creo que ahí se demuestra claramente cuál es el valor agregado sobre abrir las oportunidades a nuevas caras. Con esto creo que terminaríamos nuestra ronda de preguntas. Agradecemos nuevamente tu acompañamiento y todos los comentarios en esta sesión y esperamos que podamos vernos y seguir comentando estos temas pronto. Muchísimas gracias por el tiempo, Elina.  Elina: Muchas gracias a ti, Isabella.  Isabella: Ahora, continuando con nuestra conversación, quiero preguntarle a Rebeca sobre los actores involucrados en esta discusión. Y es comúnmente aceptado que la equidad de género en el arbitraje internacional es, en general, un tema que involucra a todos. Y en tu criterio, Rebeca, quiénes son los actores más determinantes para cerrar la brecha de equidad de género en el arbitraje internacional?  Rebeca: Hola, Isabella. Antes que nada, me da un grato placer estar acá conversando contigo acerca de la diversidad de género en el arbitraje internacional. Y te agradezco mucho esa magnífica introducción y bueno, como bien has dicho con respecto a los actores más determinantes para cerrar la brecha de equidad de género en el arbitraje internacional, pues todos y todas somos actores determinantes a todos los niveles, somos responsables y jugamos un rol determinante en concientizar y cerrar esa brecha. Por ejemplo, yo soy una gran partidaria de listar mujeres en las listas de árbitros que se preparan para sugerirle a los clientes, lastimosamente a lo largo de mi trayectoria como abogada, pues la mayoría del tiempo no he tenido tanto éxito, ya sea por sesgo de parte del propio cliente o como me dijo algún socio alguna vez, en que esa persona pues no tenía gravitas o que bueno, la escuché hablando y habla muy bajo y claramente ese es un momento en donde es el abogado el que tiene quizás una gran responsabilidad en educar al cliente y viceversa en algunos casos para poder cerrar esa brecha claramente. Ninguna de las aseveraciones, pues, que he escuchado en el pasado, tienen algo que ver con el profesionalismo o preparación de estas mujeres. Y más que nada, esta es una tarea muy importante porque, por ejemplo, en el 2020, el Grupo de Trabajo Interinstitucional sobre la Diversidad de Género en los Nombramientos y Procedimientos Arbitrales publica un informe a través de la ICCA que documenta los avances hacia la consecución de una mayor diversidad de género entre los árbitros. Este informe fue actualizado recientemente, en el dos mil veintidós y este informe confirma en que creo lo que hemos venido hablando en este podcast de que ha habido mejoras en los nombramientos institucionales. Sin embargo, los nombramientos de por parte de las partes no han tenido una gran mejora. Las instituciones son en sí, posiblemente los defensores con la voz más alta de la diversidad en el arbitraje y quizás uno de los actores más eficaces. Creo que en este sentido también deberíamos hablar que los bufetes de abogados deben aumentar la visibilidad de sus abogadas invirtiendo en su formación, presentándola ante sus clientes. Esto que vayan a conferencias, participen en paneles. Los bufetes también deberían, pues mejorar. Y esto quizá sea parte de otro espacio. La retención y promoción del talento femenino es imprescindible tener mujeres en posiciones de liderazgo en los bufetes, tomando decisiones importantes y de hecho, hablando de los actores determinantes, creo es importante mencionar una anécdota que tengo de una buena amiga mía, árbitro, que era parte de un panel de árbitros donde ella era la única mujer, no solamente de ese panel de árbitros, sino también de los abogados de parte. Y ella consideró que los abogados la habían designado como una muestra de diversidad, dada la notable ausencia de mujeres estos participantes en ese arbitraje. Y basándose en eso, el tribunal consideró si se debía imponer costas a las partes por la falta de diversidad en sus filas. Entonces eso me pareció bastante interesante y si me parece de repente, que sea no como un tema o un punto importante que discutir. O quizás también tener en cuenta a la hora de que el tribunal los está viendo a los no, a las, a las partes, a los abogados de parte, quiénes son las personas de cada lado que tienen un rol importante. Y en ese sentido, me parece que los hombres también tienen un papel que desempeñar, sobre todo porque constituyen la mayor proporción de los altos cargos de en la industria y con ese poder tienen la gran responsabilidad de hacer valer el cambio a favor de grupos diversos y de la equidad de género.  Isabella: Muchísimas gracias Rebeca por esa cantidad no sólo de consejos prácticos, sino también reflexiones que se pueden aplicar en el día a día desde diversas perspectivas, no sólo desde el cliente, sino también desde el panel arbitral hasta los mismos abogados que son los que nominan a su y le presentan a su cliente los árbitros muy interesantes todos estos tips, como los veo yo y como le decía a Elina uno podría quedarse hablando de todo esto por horas, pero en vista del tiempo quisiera pasar a la segunda pregunta. Y es que en este momento hay varias iniciativas que promueven esta cerrar esta brecha de género y que si las sabes Rebeca, tu opinión frente al impacto que estas iniciativas como ArbitralWomen y Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge, entre otras, tienen frente a la causa de la que estamos hablando. Consideras que son efectivas para fomentar la que te genio el sector? Piensas que están, digamos, moviéndose hacia el lado que todos esperamos o deberían tener algún twist, cuáles son tus opiniones? Y, sobre todo, porque estás internamente involucrada. Entonces nos interesa mucho saber cómo funciona y cuáles son los planes a futuro.  Rebeca: No, claro que sí. Isabella, esto mira, en efecto, yo precisamente por formar parte de la junta directiva de ArbitralWomen. No tengo duda que organizaciones como ArbitralWomen, iniciativas como el ER Pledge, entre otros, fomentan conversaciones y concienciación en torno a la actividad de género y al concepto de diversidad en términos más amplios. Por ejemplo, ArbitralWomen, este año cumple treinta años. Es más, hace dos días cumplió esos treinta años y en esos treinta años nuestra membresía ha crecido a más de mil miembros en más de cuarenta países. Además de crear redes y actividades sociales, ArbitralWomen se ha encargado de mantener un directorio de mujeres árbitros, patrocinar a mujeres estudiantes de derecho en competencias de tribunales simulados y trabajar con organizaciones sin ánimo de lucro para identificar a estudiantes prometedoras para becas y pasantías. Y lo cierto es que esta clase de organizaciones e iniciativas que promueven la equidad de género y diversidad en un término más amplio tienen que existir. Pero como me preguntabas acerca de los planes a futuros y voy a usar las palabras de Louise Barrington, que es cofundadora de ArbitralWomen junto con Mireze Philippe es que ellas esperan que en los próximos treinta años haya tal conciencia e inclusión tanto de mujeres como de otros grupos diversos a todos los niveles y esferas del arbitraje internacional. Que ArbitralWomen y otras iniciativas similares no tengan ya razón de existir. Entonces para mí eso me parece un gol, una meta que alcanzar en los próximos treinta años, en los que todos los que estamos involucrados en estas iniciativas trabajamos conjuntamente y al día a día para que eso pueda suceder. O sea, me imagino un mundo en donde no tengamos que tener ArbitralWomen porque es tan normal poder, por ejemplo, esto elegir a una mujer árbitro o tener más mujeres en las filas de los abogados de parte y demás. Y eso me pareció unas palabras con mucho peso y una meta quizás y probablemente alcanzable, que lo Barrington mencionó a base de los treinta años que estamos cumpliendo. Y es que, ArbitralWomen mientras tanto, verdad? Mientras tanto, seguiremos en ArbitralWomen y en otras organizaciones, seguiremos con nuestro arduo trabajo de ofrecer una plataforma a las mujeres a grupos diversos en donde puedan alzar su voz sin sentirse aislados. Hay tantas otras iniciativas como mencionabas que siguen avanzando la equidad de género en nuestra industria, que me parece que necesitaremos otro podcast u otro espacio para alistar cada una de ellas. Y el arduo y magnífico trabajo que siguen realizando respecto a la diversidad tenemos REAL que es el Racial Equality for Arbitration Lawyers lo con un enfoque en la diversidad racial de los miembros de la comunidad ArbitralWomen con un enfoque en la promoción de la mujer profesional del arbitraje y en la equidad de género. También tenemos a RAI Rising Arbitrators Initiative, que está enfocada en árbitros jóvenes o en sus primeras elecciones como árbitro, el ERA Pledge, enfocada en la equidad de género en las elecciones de árbitros. El ERE Pledge con un enfoque en la equidad de género en la selección de expertos. Y también tenemos Mute Off Thursdays, que es una plataforma en línea creada o que nació durante la pandemia por cuatro miembros de ArbitralWomen, en donde mujeres en el arbitraje con más de siete años de experiencia se reúnen todos los jueves por treinta minutos para llevar a cabo un intercambio de conocimiento e ideas. Recientemente, como habrás escuchado, Mute Off publicó el compendio de unicornios es una guía mundial de mujeres árbitros. Y este compendio pretende disipar ese mito de que existe un déficit de oferta de mujeres cualificadas para ejercer como árbitros. Y seguro habrás visto a ciertas mujeres que llevamos un pin de un unicornio. Y es precisamente por la mención que hizo alguna vez un árbitro de que buscar a una mujer cualificada árbitro en el arbitraje internacional era como buscar a un unicornio. Entonces, esto existen esos pins. Si. Si consigo más, pues te mando unos o podemos contactar directamente a Lucy Greenwood, que es la que los reparte. Y esto con respecto a todas estas iniciativas. Isabella, yo la verdad, para mí es un verdadero orgullo que Reed Smith es signatario de muchas de estas iniciativas y sus abogados, muchos de ellos son miembros en casi todas de ellas.  Isabella: Bueno, estaré esperando este pin con ansias.   Rebeca: Total.  Isabella: Creo que bueno, la verdad es que soy testigo también del impacto que este tipo de iniciativas generan en el ámbito del arbitraje internacional y cómo impactan individualmente, pero también a manera de colectividad. Entonces también comparto el orgullo de que Reed Smith sea signatario de varias de estas iniciativas y ojalá esperemos deseando que se acaben estos grupos pronto para que no tengan mucho muchas causas. Y Rebeca también quería hacerte una pregunta que le hice a Elina. Y es sobre la tesis que algunos autores en el campo argumentan sobre el hecho de que no hay un consenso o estudio validado que demuestre que se mejore la calidad de los laudos o la eficiencia del arbitraje por tener árbitros. Mujeres para ti. Cuál es el valor agregado que representa tener más mujeres, árbitros y representantes de parte en los casos de arbitraje internacional?  Rebeca: Bueno, antes que nada, yo sí pienso que el valor agregado es que le da más legitimidad al proceso. Creo que tener la perspectiva no solamente de una mujer, sino de un árbitro, no de grupos diversos. Esto ofrece una perspectiva distinta, quizás a la que no hemos estado, pues anuales o no lo hemos afrontado porque no lo hemos tenido. Yo, por ejemplo, he tenido la dicha de tener al menos una mujer en varios de los paneles, no de los que yo estoy presentando mi caso. Y si bien, pues todos los árbitros siempre han estado a un nivel de profesionalismo, no perfecto. Sí he notado, por ejemplo, que las mujeres tienden a ir un poco más al detalle a ciertas cosas que quizás en otras ocasiones podríamos pasarle por encima, por decirlo así. Y creo que eso tiene que ver más también por la perspectiva que traemos al caso. Entonces, si bien no hay un consenso, creo que tener esa perspectiva agregada o ese potencial de porque estamos hablando no solamente de género, sino esa interseccionalidad de género cultural, raza, esto, lenguaje, cultura o no de venimos de otros países y eso todo es un valor agregado que enriquece y le da una legitimidad al proceso que creo que deberíamos seguir desarrollando y aumentando.  Isabella: Totalmente de acuerdo y muchísimas gracias Rebeca, por esta información, por tus respuestas, por tus experiencias. Lo apreciamos muchísimo y esperamos poder seguir siendo parte de estos proyectos de seguir comentándolo y spread the word en la comunidad internacional de estas iniciativas tan importantes. De nuevo. Muchas gracias por estar acá y esperamos verte pronto.  Rebeca: Gracias, Isabella. Un placer. Outro: Arbitral Insights is a Reed Smith production. Our producer is Ali McCardell. For more information about Reed Smith's Global International Arbitration practice, email arbitralinsights@reedsmith.com. To learn about the Reed Smith Arbitration Pricing Calculator, a first of its kind mobile app that forecasts the cost of arbitration around the world, search arbitration pricing calculator on reedsmith.com or download for free through the Apple and Google Play app stores. You can find our podcast on Spotify, Apple, Google Play, Stitcher, reedsmith.com and our social media accounts at Reed Smith LLP on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Disclaimer: This podcast is provided for educational purposes. It does not constitute legal advice and is not intended to establish an attorney-client relationship, nor is it intended to suggest or establish standards of care applicable to particular lawyers in any given situation. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome, any views, opinions, or comments made by any external guest speaker are not to be attributed to Reed Smith LLP or its individual lawyers.  All rights reserved. Transcript is auto-generated.

In this “Spotlight on…” episode, host Gautam Bhattacharyya welcomes arbitrator and SVAMC AI Task Force chair Benjamin Malek (FCIARB) to discuss what led him to a career in international arbitration. The pair discuss the challenges and opportunities presented by new technologies like AI, and how to maintain and improve the effectiveness of arbitration in an ever-changing legal landscape.----more---- Transcript: Intro: Hello and welcome to Arbitral Insights, a podcast series brought to you by our International Arbitration practice lawyers here at Reed Smith. I'm Peter Rosher, global head of Reed Smith's International Arbitration Practice. I hope you enjoy the industry commentary, insights and anecdotes we share with you in the course of this series, wherever in the world you are. If you have any questions about any of the topics discussed, please do contact our speakers. With that, let's get started. Gautam: Hello everyone and welcome back to our Arbitral Insights podcast series, and thank you for joining us. I am delighted to have with us as our guest today,  Ben Malek. Uh Hello, Ben. Ben: Hi Gautam, thank you for having me. Gautam: It's great to have you with us. Now, I'm gonna introduce Ben, but I'm gonna preface this by saying I love to see new arbitrator talent emerge and I'm unashamed about that. I love to see it. And Ben epitomizes this new number of arbitrators that I just love to see. Ben has got a very interesting background. Uh he's based in New York, but he – I'm gonna share some interesting stuff about him with you all. He's obviously a practitioner of arbitration. He's also an arbitrator and he has great experience of being in private practice and also working for institutions who deal with arbitration. And we'll come to that in the course of our discussion. He also speaks an incredible number of languages, which would, which certainly is something worth noting. So, so obviously, not only apart from English, but he also speaks fluent German, Romanian, Spanish and French, and he can also turn his hand very ably to Italian, Hebrew, Mandarin and Korean. And I'm just in awe of that, Ben. But so obviously, you can see we're talking uh to, to someone who's truly international. We'll talk a little bit about what you do Ben in the course of this podcast but for our listeners, Ben is with T.H.E Chambers in New York. And as I said, prior to his current role, he has worked in private practice at some major law firms and also with arbitral institutions. So, on that note, a huge welcome again to you, Ben and I'm much looking forward to our discussion. So let me ask you the first thing a little bit about your background because you, you do have a very interesting background just based purely on your geographic origins, your languages and how the world has just seen so much of you. But could you just tell us a little bit about your background and how you found the law and arbitration or conversely how law and arbitration found you. Ben: Thank you so much Gautam for inviting me such an honor to be on your podcast. I always look forward to the new episodes you have so it's uh it's truly a pleasure. Thank you. So I grew up in Germany. I was born and raised in Germany to Romanian parents and my maternal grandparents wanted to talk German to us because that's what first generation immigrants do. However, they spoke a very broken German because they're German just wasn't that good. So my mother had the idea of them talking to me in Romanian, which was their maternal language. And this way, I would have two languages once I hit kindergarten, which is exactly what happened. I talked Romanian at home until I started kindergarten, which is where I learned German. So that was the beginning of my duality, I guess. Later on my parents decided that an international school would be best for my brother and I, I have a twin brother by the way. So we went to an international school where languages was really emphasized. I was taught everything in English. English was my maternal language, German was my first foreign language. And that's when I started to really learn my other languages. French became my second foreign language, Spanish became my third foreign language. So by the time I graduated high school I was fluent in five languages. So that was uh extremely helpful at that time, and, uh, that's when I knew that I needed to do something with languages. Unfortunately, and just to give a little more background, I decided to pursue dentistry. I'm not sure if you knew that Gautam.  Gautam: No, I didn't know this. You're a man of many, many hidden talents. Ben, I had no idea. I I know now. Ben: So I went to dental school and because, because I grew up in, in Germany to Romanian parents, I always wanted to, to understand my origins and see where I'm from. So I went and studied uh dentistry in Romania. So while in Romania, I graduated dentistry, I came back to Germany and actually started practicing dentistry. At which point I realized that that might really not be the best career. And I'll explain why. I loved the attention to detail. I loved the artistry of it. But the one thing that I really couldn't deal with was talking to the walls. And what do we, what do I mean by that? When patients sit in the chair before you and you talk and their mouth is open, they cannot respond. And I never realized how much that would impact me psychologically. I felt like I was in isolation, I was talking to them and I talked to them in so many languages, but nothing was coming back. So at that point, I realized with my first year of practice that even though I like what I do, I don't think I could do that for the rest of my life. So I decided to go back and study law. And during my last year of law school, I got a job at BDO in Romania. And because of my languages, I was on-boarded on an arbitration which was held in English with a German party and a French party. And because they had somebody that spoke German and French, they decided to save some costs and have me translate. So that was my introduction to arbitration. And I thought it was wonderful. It was absolutely delightful, especially in a country where the judicial system is sometimes questionable in the sense that you may win for your clients, but you win such a small insignificant amount that you can't really consider it to be a win. I realized that arbitration is a true fairness out there and it is accessible. So it was that moment during that arbitration that I realized and decided to pursue a master's in arbitration, which I ultimately did. I went to the University of Miami where I pursued my LLM. I had the privilege to study under Jan Paulsson, Marike Paulsson, Carolyn Lamm, Jonathan Hamilton. And I really did have the privilege to study under Martin Hunter who has passed away just a few years ago. So it was, it was an amazing masters and that really gave me the basis to start my career in arbitration. Gautam: Well, now that's an incredible journey and a truly uh a diverse background, a truly a diverse professional background you've had and you know, thank you for sharing those great thoughts. Now figures while you're in international arbitration, because you truly are international Ben, in the truest sense of the word. Now you've mentioned some amazing teachers that you had in the law who are truly not just first class, they're world class in terms of names. But um I'm most interested to hear from our guests as to who they would say have been their biggest mentors and inspirations in their career. So if you were to look at your legal career, and it's not often that I do a podcast with someone who's a qualified dentist as well as a qualified lawyer. But there's always a first for these things. But in your career as a lawyer, I wonder if you could share with us some of those names who have been your great mentors and inspirations. Ben: Absolutely. I think all of us owe our entry especially in arbitration to someone as the saying goes, we we need somebody to open the door, we gotta walk through it ourselves, but somebody is always there to open the door. For me I really had, John Fellas was an amazing mentor. I got to know John during my masters and we've kept in touch ever since. What struck me about John was his humbleness and his absolutely striking kindness. I mean, I was a mere student who just got my feet wet and he always made the time, always respected my time, always trying to see how and where he can help me or brainstorm what to do or where to do. It was a true mentorship. And I value that, especially after so many years, I, I wouldn't be here without him. One more mentor that I can think of is Crenguța Leaua. She's um with LDDP in Romania. Over the years, we've got to know each other. She's just such an amazing practitioner who has truly shown me what there is to do and has helped me or help me guide my way into arbitration. So uh without those two, I wouldn't be where I am. But I would also say I really, I consider that every, every person I worked for in the past, every boss I had potentially got me into where I am. So that being said when I worked at the American Arbitration Association or the ICDR to be more, more precise, Tom Ventrone was an amazing mentor. I mean, I learned so much from that and it was interesting because I only got to know him once I was at the ICDR. I did, I quite frankly and uh I don't know if I should say this out loud, but I've never heard of him before. Um However, when I was there, I realized that I don't think the ICDR would be where it is without Tom Ventrone and his team. So that was absolutely outstanding. Gautam: Thank you very much. And you know, some really great names there, Ben that you've given, who've been your real guiding lights in your career so far and you, you're very fortunate to have had all of those people. Now, you've alluded to it in your answer that you just gave and I mentioned it in the introduction that you've worked at major law firms and you've worked for arbitral institutions. I wonder if you could share with us a few things that you've learned by having had the benefit of working on both sides of the fence, so to speak. Ben: I would say at first when I started off at institutions and in all disclosure, I didn't start my career at the American Arbitration Association, I actually started at CPR Institute in New York. I filled in this case manager after which shortly after I got the opportunity at the ICDR. The one thing I learned was really what an impact an institution can make and what a driving force it is in arbitration. Of course, I've learned and I've been part of adhoc arbitrations and that's when you really start to appreciate institutions and what they can do. So I really do value institutions for what they are. I believe the work is truly in vain. And during my time at the ICDR, I mean, it was high volume, in the sense that we administered many cases. And when COVID hit, it felt like those cases doubled even though they didn't. It was just that the traffic of email because nobody had any, any place to be. There was no traveling, there were no dinners, there were no vacations. Everybody was on their email all the time. But it was uh truly valuable. You learn how to manage your time, you learn how to manage other people's time and you learn how to truly value time and deadlines and how to set them fairly. During my time at the American Arbitration Association, I was truly privileged to be part of what they call IARC which on the international part is the International Administrative Review Committee. Where different challenges are being discussed and decided upon. So having been part of that and having seen many cases come in and out and the decisions thereof have really helped me to make better decisions as counsel. Once I, I left the institution. Gautam: I think that amazing kaleidoscope of experience that you had in private practice and with institutions brings us nicely to the next question I wanted to ask you. And this and again, I'll preface it with, again saying how much I love to see new arbitrator talent coming through. I love to see it because we need new talent, fresh blood coming in and you are certainly one of that group. And so I was mentioning that you are with T.H.E Chambers in New York. And I'd love you to tell us a little bit about the work of T.H.E Chambers where you are an arbitrator and including, first of all, if you wouldn't mind what T.H.E stands for a Ben. Ben: Thank you, Gautam. Absolutely. So, as a young arbitrator, I think it's interesting to see that there are not many out there and if they are, it is always combined with some sort of additional workload, whether that is tribunal secretary or they still work as an associate somewhere else or consultant. It, it it is self explanatory why that happens. Uh But I am privileged, I believe to be part of a small group of young arbitrators. And I, I think it's, it's highly important to understand that even young arbitrators do have a specific know-how that we would not have had 20-25 years ago whenever I'm approached or I'm asked about my expertise, I do unfortunately get the answer oftentimes that people didn't realize that a young practitioner could have so much experience or could have the pertinent know-how. And I think that's where arbitration really expanded and advanced in the last decade or two. We have master degrees at, at so many universities throughout the world. We have so many courses and we have so many practitioners willing to talk and mentor people that it is truly possible at a younger age to become an arbitrator. Gautam: I completely agree and if I'm not mistaken, the, you know, the, T.H.E Chambers stands for Tribunals, Hearings and Enforcement, is that correct Ben? Ben: That is correct. Absolutely. Yes, thank you. So, when I started off sitting as an arbitrator, I was approached and, and I happily work with Arbitra International out of London as a transitional member as they call it. And when thinking about it, I had two options. I could either say this is Benjamin Malek arbitration or I could start something bigger. And that was my goal. So when starting T.H.E Chambers, which as you said, stands for Tribal Hearings and Enforcements, the big challenge was what I call it. And despite the fact that T.H.E, it, it looks very nice together as ‘the', um it does stand for tribunal hearings and enforcements. And that is because I believe that those are the core points that any practitioner will always look for. Uh you need to have a tribunal for an arbitration, you need to have a hearing, any sort of hearing un unless it's a paper arbitration. Um And then the, either the arbitrator or the parties waive the hearing and you gotta make sure that any award is enforceable. So from my council of work that I started off with at the beginning of T.H.E Chambers, that was my expertise, the enforcement part of it. Uh that was also one of the most important aspects that I dealt with while at the ICDR when a case comes in that was the first question. How does the case look and will the award be enforceable? So that is one thing that I definitely learned at the institutions and that I carried with me to always look at the arbitration from the end rather than from the beginning, which is the enforcement stage. T.H.E Chambers -  that's what it stands for. Currently it is set up to on board more younger arbitrators worldwide because of COVID and then changes in COVID, we haven't gotten there yet but I hope we'll get there very soon. Gautam: I've got no doubt you will. And you know, and as the saying goes, if anyone's good enough, they're old enough. And there's no doubt that you and the team bring a lot of great energy and insight into arbitration and it's certainly not something that should be homogenous. So it's fantastic to know that you can bring all your talents to bear. I want to turn next to another aspect of what you do because I know that you are a member of the Silicon Valley Arbitration and Mediation Center and particularly its Artificial Intelligence task force. Now, one of the things that all of us will be very well aware of is that artificial intelligence, AI, is an incredibly happening concept. It's developing and it'll develop more and more and it has its role and will have its role in arbitration. I know that you've been part of the team that's been looking at guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence in international arbitration. And I wonder if you could just share some of your thoughts as to what the potential usage of artificial intelligence might be in international arbitration and some of the risks and issues that we should be aware of. Ben: Yes, thank you. So I have been a part of the Silicon Valley Arbitration Mediation Center for quite some time and um when the New York case versus Avianca came out where the claimants council used chatGPT to come up with cases and, and I use that word deliberately, ‘come up' with cases to use against Avianca. It turned out that all of those were in fact made up by chatGPT as uh what we would call hallucinations. The judge dismissed the case and uh actually sanctioned the attorneys. To that point, I realized that it is only a matter of time until this issue flows into arbitration, especially arbitration. We work in so many jurisdictions with so many different parties. And specifically, since COVID, most arbitrations have been online, some have stayed online, some still have a hearing component in person, but most of it is online. And the big question was, do we need guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence in arbitration? So I had discussed that with the leadership at the Silicon Valley Arbitration Mediation Center and they gave me carte blanche to see what we can come up with so I was privileged to have a team of experts help me draft the guidelines for the use of  AI in arbitration. My team was composed of Elizabeth Chan in Hong Kong, Orlando Cabrera in Mexico, Sofia Klot in New York, Dmitri Evseev in London, Marta Garcia Bel, which now is in New York, Soham Panchamiya and Duncan Pickard in New York. I was truly blessed, I would say to have these colleagues. It became a true adventure that we all went on when we started discovering what AI could potentially do and what could potentially be prevented. So we took around nine months to draft guidelines. We had no timeline, but we did come up with what I would say good guidelines or a good basis of guidelines in October, we have put it out for the public to comment on. Uh the commenting period is still open until December and institutions can comment until February. And the goal is not to come up with guidelines that people can use, but to get a full consensus of the arbitration community on how they would like to use these guidelines and what they believe is relevant. If something is not relevant, then there's no reason for us to have it in there. So that was the whole idea behind it. The other aspect we were looking at was when it came to cybersecurity, each institution came up with their own guidelines and quite frankly, they use different words, but they're saying the same thing. And we are hoping to avoid having several guidelines on AI and to comprise it all into one. I think it's gonna be a very difficult task. I'm not sure we will succeed, but we are giving all institutions the opportunity to give their input or it submits their commentary to the guidelines so that every practitioner could look into the commentary for the respective institution when the case goes to arbitration. We were looking at several aspects regarding the use of artificial intelligence in arbitration. Two main aspects are disclosure and confidentiality. With regards to disclosure, we actually have an open option for the community to vote on. And that is whether a two prong test should be used to decide whether a party or the arbitrator should disclose the use of artificial intelligence or whether it should always be up to the parties to decide or to as the tribunal for opposing party to disclose the use of artificial intelligence. We weren't sure internally, we debated heavily and we came to the conclusion to leave that question up for the public to decide on. Um it did come back or as of now, the results are interesting, which is that in Europe, there is a more libertarian approach. Whereas uh the US and some common law jurisdictions voted for a two prong test, which I believe to be quite interesting, uh quite frankly. Um if this continues to be open ended, we might leave it up to the parties to decide which option they would ever put in. But ultimately, the goal is to draw awareness of the use of AI to let parties and arbitrators as well as council understand that artificial intelligence is not open ended. That if it's used outside a closed circuit information can be leaked or can be disclosed one way or another and to just draw attention to the fact that A I can only be used to disclose information, but also to create other sorts of the information that would otherwise not be there. Whether that is good or bad will be up to the parties to decide, but it is important to understand what AI can do and what the consequences are. Gautam: I agree with you and it's something that's gonna develop and develop. There's no doubt about that and we've not seen the last of it. I mean, it's gonna be happening for sure. And we just have to see what does transpire, but look, thank you for your great work on everything you're doing. You're not just, you know, doing arbitrations, you're doing thought leadership, you're driving all of these things and it's really great. And uh I'm just, you know, and I look forward to talking to you more about these things as these things progress. Now with these podcasts, we, we always end our podcast with a little bit of lighthearted conversation because I think our listeners will have got a really good handle on your incredible talent in the course of this podcast, your thoughtfulness and your experience. What I want them to also get a feel of is some of the more fun side of things. Now, I know Ben that you are a very proud daddy to a couple of daughters, one of whom is really a newborn. And uh, and I've, and I'm just so ecstatic for you and Rebeca on your two daughters. But let me ask you this when you do have some spare time from not being a, a very busy daddy as well as a very busy arbitrator. What sort of music do you particularly enjoy listening to? Have you got any favorite bands or groups or singers or even a favorite album that you love to play? Ben: Regarding music that's an interesting topic. Before I went on my dentistry career I actually worked in music management. Gautam: you are so multitalented. It's unbelievable. Go on. Sorry. I just could not resist saying that. Ben: Yeah. No, thank you. It's uh I, I just like life. I like life. Life is important. It's what drives us. I will say this and, and you know, thank you for the question. But we all live to work, but we also work to primarily live. And I think it's really important to, to, to know that I always believe that one of the most important things in life is to live and to know how to live. So, uh I did get into music management very early in my life. We were host to several big names, but to answer your question, my favorite music, as I always said is good music. I especially nowadays where the charts are filled with explicit lyrics. I actually like to go back to the Beatles. The Beatles are one of the foundations I believe of modern music. Now, given the fact that a new song was actually just released with the help of AI, I think that it's, it's worth to go back and, um, and really understand the changes that as Sir Paul McCartney, um and his colleagues have made. Yeah, I would definitely call The Beatles my favorite music. Gautam: Oh, fantastic. Well, it's, you know, that's a great choice. And, uh, you know, again, as a first, I've never done a podcast with someone who worked in music management, then who, who became a dentist and then became a lawyer and who can speak about 10 languages. So this is a complete first for me. So let me just ask you one last question in this podcast. So, you know, you are a very international person and we ascertain that just from speaking to you in the course of this podcast and you've no doubt traveled very widely because you've worked around the world in many places. Is there one place apart from where you grew up, okay, so excluding that, is there one place in the world - and excluding New York where you live - ok, Is there one place that you just love traveling to? Ben: Oh. That's a difficult question. I would have to say, I've always enjoyed traveling to London. My brother is actually a physicist and he did his PhD in Cambridge. I thought those were the most fun trips I've ever had. To fly to London Cambridge is, is amazing. Uh Whoever hasn't been uh it is really missing out. London is just stunning. I mean, the amount of history and just the culture and the multiculture you have. It's, it's just, it's great. Um I guess uh deep down I am a European so London is always there. Paris is absolutely yeah, romantic. I mean, I am married with two kids so Paris is always, it is always a good idea. Gautam: Yes. Ben: Yeah. The only thing I would add is I love, I would love to see more of the world. I do want to travel and see places. I I've never been, I haven't been to Australia yet, but in general, I would love to go see, I hope to go to Hong Kong maybe during ICA, maybe not, but just to see Hong Kong and see uh see more than I have seen yet. Gautam: Fantastic. Well, look, Ben. Thank you. It's been an absolute delight to speak to you in this podcast. Thank you for being such a superb guest and for sharing all of your stories and your background, your thoughts. And uh I look forward to seeing you very soon. You know, I hope you'll because we're recording this podcast on a Friday. So I hope that you will have a great weekend and I look forward to seeing you in person soon. Thank you. Ben: Thank you so much Gautam, Likewise. And if I may just end on one note, I do wanna thank my wife. I don't think I would be the person I am without her. And she inspires me to be a better person every day. Gautam: You know that I, I think that's so fitting Ben. And I'm gonna say this in response, I'm going to say two quick things in response to that. One, you're absolutely correct because I have the great honor and privilege of knowing Rebeca. And I know that she's a wonderful, wonderful lady and you are indeed very lucky to have her. And I also will say the second thing I will say is that many years ago, a judge got sworn in as a Supreme court judge here and one of the former Supreme court judges who was giving a speech when he became a judge said that behind every successful man, there's a surprised woman and Rebeca shouldn't be surprised at how successful you've been. But you know, you are very fortunate to have her. So thank you for mentioning her. Ben: Thank you. And thank you for having me, Gautam. It was an absolute pleasure looking forward to meeting you in person. Gautam: Looking forward to that. Outro: Arbitral Insights is a Reed Smith production. Our producer is Ali McCardell. For more information about Reed Smith's Global International Arbitration practice, email arbitralinsights@reedsmith.com. To learn about the Reed Smith Arbitration Pricing Calculator, a first of its kind mobile app that forecasts the cost of arbitration around the world, search arbitration pricing calculator on reedsmith.com or download for free through the Apple and Google Play app stores. You can find our podcast on Spotify, Apple, Google Play, Stitcher, reedsmith.com and our social media accounts at Reed Smith LLP on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Disclaimer: This podcast is provided for educational purposes. It does not constitute legal advice and is not intended to establish an attorney client relationship nor is it intended to suggest or establish standards of care applicable to particular lawyers in any given situation. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome, any views, opinions or comments made by any external guest speaker are not to be attributed to Reed Smith LLP or its individual lawyers. All rights reserved. Transcript is auto-generated.

In this episode, we talk tea with Claudia Salomon, the first woman President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration in its 100-year history.  We get a glimpse into what it is like to be at the helm of one of the world's leading and most trusted international arbitration institutions, the ICC's recent Guide for Disability Inclusion in International Arbitration and ADR, the future of  and challenges facing the ICC, and the importance of authenticity and effective communication in leadership. To learn more about or join the D.C. Bar International Law Community, ⁠⁠CLICK HERE.⁠⁠ Please note, the positions and opinions expressed by the speakers are strictly their own, and do not necessarily represent the views of their employers, nor those of the D.C. Bar, its Board of Governors or co-sponsoring Communities and organizations.

In the second episode of our Inside Arbitration Podcast, we cover the latest news that the UK government plans to reverse the ruling in Paccar v Road Haulage Association. We first provide a recap of the Supreme Court judgment in Paccar and the implications of that decision, and then look at how the relevant legislative regime for alternative fee arrangements and third party funding interacts with international arbitration. This podcast is hosted by Vanessa Naish, Professional Support Consultant and Liz Kantor, Professional Support Lawyer, and in this episode they are joined by Maura McIntosh, who is also a Professional Support Consultant in the Herbert Smith Freehills litigation team.

In the latest episode of our Greener Arbitrations podcast series, Alison Eslick and Vanessa Thieffry moderate a spirited debate between Michelle Nelson (Dubai) and Clément Fouchard (Paris) as they explore the pros and cons of electronic signatures and notification of awards, including discussion on recognition and enforcement, cost savings, technology challenges, convenience, security risks and resistance to change. ----more---- Transcript: Intro: Hello and welcome to Arbitral Insights, a podcast series brought to you by our International Arbitration practice lawyers here at Reed Smith. I'm Peter Rosher, global head of Reed Smith's International Arbitration Practice. I hope you enjoy the industry commentary, insights and anecdotes we share with you in the course of this series, wherever in the world you are. If you have any questions about any of the topics discussed, please do contact our speakers. Welcome to our Greener Arbitrations podcast miniseries where Reed Smith's International Arbitration lawyers will be exploring the legal and technical issues involved in reducing the environmental footprint of arbitrations. I'm Alison Eslick, an International Arbitration lawyer at Reed Smith's Dubai office and I am Vanessa Thieffry, an International Arbitration lawyer at Reed Smith's Paris office. In these episodes, we will hear from leading arbitration practitioners and external speakers and discuss insights, news and trends relevant to greening arbitration and the challenges that are entailed. We hope you enjoy this episode. Vanessa: Welcome back to another exciting episode of Reed Smith's Arbitral Insights. I am Vanessa Thieffry and together with Alison Eslick, we are delighted to host the sixth and final episode of our Greener Arbitrations miniseries in which lawyers of Reed Smith debate, how to reduce the environmental footprint of arbitrations. In 2022 Reed Smith launched an initiative to reduce the environmental footprint of our arbitrations. We quickly identified the need to raise awareness both internally and externally and organizing a podcast miniseries on greener arbitrations appeared as an obvious tool to do that. In the five first episodes, we addressed arbitration agreements and whether they should include sustainability measures, the campaign for greener arbitrations model procedural order and whether it was unavoidable. The topic of hard copied submissions in which we wondered if they were a thing of the past witness and expert preparation and whether video conferencing can match in person meetings and in person hearings and whether they are still worthwhile. If you haven't listened to them yet, they are available on Reed Smith's podcast channel, Arbitral Insights. Alison: Thank you, Vanessa. Now, in this episode, we focus on the entire points of going to arbitration and that is of course obtaining an enforceable award. So recently we see more and more institutions notifying awards by email and arbitrators signing awards electronically. Now this may well be greener, but when it comes to something as important as the final award, is green always better? So that is the question that our debaters will tackle today. I do have a short disclaimer as we always do with these debates, our debaters have been assigned the positions that they are advocating and this is so they can fully advocate for or against the proposition. The debate is of course role playing and none of the views expressed during the debates should be attributed to Reed Smith, the debaters themselves or of course any of our clients. So joining us today for this challenging topic, uh Reed Smith partners Michelle Nelson and Clément Fouchard who will present their primary positions and then each will have a chance for rebuttal. Vanessa: Thanks Alison. Let's see what our first speaker has to say. Clément Fouchard is up. Clément is a partner in Reed Smith's Paris office in the Energy and Natural Resources Group, focusing on international commercial and investment arbitration. He has over 16 years experience advising on major litigation and arbitration proceedings in particular in complex disputes in construction, energy and infrastructure, mining defense and distribution sectors. As well as considerable experience with joint ventures, imposed acquisition disputes. In addition to acting as counsel Clément acts as an arbitrator in domestic and international arbitration. Clément, the floor is yours. Clément: Thank you, Vanessa and Alison. I'm very happy to be with you today and to argue in favor of green arbitration, electronic signature and notification of rewards. Is green always better? So yes, green, that is the use of electronic signature and electronic notification of rewards is always better. And I will explain why. First a definition, an electronic award or e-award is an arbitral award that is signed digitally by the arbitral tribunal and emailed to the parties directly or if an institution is involved for transmission to the parties by the institution. First, I will start by saying that the appeal and desirability of electronic awards cannot be denied. In a survey published last year in the Journal of International Arbitration, questions were asked to leading arbitration institutions regarding the use of and practice of electronic awards. The participants overwhelmingly agreed that electronic awards are faster, 95% of the response. Cheaper, 85% and better for the environment, 80%. So let's look at those three criterias. First of all speed, while it is true that in some jurisdictions, it may take time to obtain a detailed signature for the first time. It cannot be denied that an award can be signed by the three arbitrators and sent to the parties by email in a manner of minutes. The same cannot obviously be said for hard copies awards that need to be printed out, circulated among tribunal members for signature and hard copy original notified by courier service. As to cost, now again, there is little doubt that an electronic awards are most certainly cheaper since they can often be prepared at no cost at all given that one, e-signature software are often for free and two, the sending being done by email, there is no additional cost and this is to be compared with courier service costs for all the back and forth required to have the award being signed by all members of the tribunal and then harm to the environment when electronic awards save paper because they do not need to be printed. This is abuse and reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses because they do not require physical transportation. Of course, electronic rewards are not entirely without carbon footprint, either data storage and related energy consumption have a certain, albeit, I submit a very small impact on the environment, however, the data storage needs of a paper award are in practice greater than those of electronic award. As to the COVID-19 crisis, put the world on hold. The legal community, and international arbitration in particular had to adapt and they actually adapt in a new way of working where online meetings and online hearings, it became the norm. So looking at e-signature of arbitral awards, there is clearly a growing trend amongst the major arbitration legal system, the vast majority of arbitration laws and institutional rules require the award to be in writing and to be signed. These requirements have primarily evidentiary functions and they have therefore little to do with the written text in digital or tangible formats. And this is the same situation regarding e-signature awards which will depend upon the electronic signature law, which in most cases would in principle allow the e-signature of arbitral awards. The New York Convention does not prohibit the electronic signature of awards and therefore most reductions should permit the arbitral award to be signed with any signature of awards. The issue of e-signature should be assessed, therefore, as the applicable at the applicable law level in this respect, we note that there is a growing number of jurisdictions allowing the signature of arbitral awards electronically. Looking first at France, Article 1366 of the French civil code provides that an electronic document has the same evidential value as a paper document provided that the person from whom it originates can be duly identified and that it is drawn up and stored in conditions that guarantee its integrity. So as we can see, the focus is made on the originality and the integrity of the electronic documents. Once this requirement is satisfied, French law grants the electronic document the same evidential value than a paper document. The legal framework dealing with the authentication of e-signatories has been based in France on the requirements of the EU regulation which deals with electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market. So we have actually a legal framework in place and I could continue with the United States with the Uniform Act of 2000 which requires that an award must be signed or otherwise authenticated by an arbitrator. An arbitrator can therefore sign an award with an electronic signature. In the UK, the draft reform of the English Arbitration act explicitly unfazed that there was no need for an explicit reference to electronic signature and notification of words as these are already authorized and I can continue on and on. As to e-notification, the arbitral award uh is also on the rise. Taking again the example of France Article 1519 paragraph three of the French Code of Civil Procedure states that notification of international arbitral awards shall be made by service,  meaning by bailiff, unless the parties agree otherwise. This means that the parties can agree to another means of notification such as in the context of ICC arbitration, the electronic notification of awards by ICC Secretariat. So in conclusion, I submit that those solutions in e-notification and e-signature of rewards are more and more used and should be the preferred way in the international arbitration practice. Alison: Thank you very much Clément, some excellent points made there. And I do remember printing those thousands of pages back in the day. So let's see what our second speaker Michelle Nelson has to reply. Michelle Nelson is a partner in Reed Smith's Dubai office. She sits in our global Energy and Natural Resources Group. Michelle is a specialist arbitration lawyer with 27 years of experience advising a variety of clients on oil and gas and construction disputes. She is a qualified solicitor advocate. She sits as arbitrator on regional disputes and also has rights of audience before the DIFC courts. And I do have to mention that she is the only female in the Legal 500 Hall of Fame for Construction and has been ranked in the 2024 edition of  Who's Who Legal for the Arbitration category. So Michelle take it away. Michelle: Thank you very much, everyone and I'm delighted to participate in this Greener Arbitration podcast series and particularly on the topic of e-signatures and e-notifications of arbitral awards. I've been tasked today with arguing against the proposition that my colleague Clément put forward and specifically why in the case of e-signatures and e-awards, a greener approach is not always best. So my colleague Clément made some interesting points but there are fundamental reasons why parties should cautiously approach e-signatures and e-notifications of awards, even if they are better for the environment. A point which certainly from my side is itself is debatable, but there's specifically three points against the proposition that I'm going to be considering in some detail. First, the end goal of any claimant in arbitration is to have an enforceable award. And I think Clément agrees with that proposition. Whilst e-signatures and e-notifications of awards may well be a greener option, they will not necessarily be valid and enforceable in every jurisdiction and this requires a cautious case by case approach. If the award is unenforceable, then greener clearly is not better. Secondly, parties and tribunals who accept e-signatures and e-notification of awards open themselves up to a host of potential cybersecurity and data integrity risks. Even the largest law firms and the most prominent barristers chambers have been victims of hacking and data leaks. And as the world becomes increasingly more reliant on digital technology, these risks are expected to increase. This is the downside or perhaps I should say the dark side of opting for e-signatures and e-notification of awards. Thirdly, I have to question whether my opponent's claims that e-awards are demonstrably better for the environment at all. I suggest that in practice, the positive environmental impact of signing an award with an e-signature or notifying an award by email has perhaps been grossly exaggerated by my opponent. Whilst one could argue that every little bit counts, there are several other areas of arbitration and we've, we've, we've heard about those in terms of the printing of bundles and thousands of pages of submissions and issues of virtual hearing e-bundles and the like which certainly I would suggest should be prioritized. So taking down each one of these points. Firstly, the issue of enforcement now arbitration, in contrast to other ADR mechanisms has the advantage of a binding decision at the end, making it a viable and well established alternative to traditional litigation. Any doubts about enforceability of an award puts at risk, the whole purpose of the arbitration itself. The use of e-awards and e-signatures is particularly risky in the context of international arbitration. Each jurisdiction has its own different requirements as to the validity of enforceability of awards ranging from the need for a wet ink signature to an originality requirement where it will be expected that a hard copy original award will be provided. Awards with e-signatures, or that have notified by email only, will not suffice and are likely to lead to increased costs and prolonged legal battles around enforcement. Now, my opponent Clément gave a shopping list of examples of countries which theoretically allow for e-awards. Yet the countries mentioned only included Western European countries and the U.S. So I do have to ask, what about the rest of the world? e-Awards may not be enforceable in a number of countries. So care must be taken. Whilst I accept my friend's argument that national courts of some countries are moving towards acceptance of digital methods, we simply aren't there yet. The suggestion that scholars may argue that e-awards cannot be challenged will not give clients much comfort when a court says no. Here in the UAE for example, there are currently a number of cases in the courts and have been sent to the courts where nullification proceedings have been put on hold. Whilst the tribunals have actually been told to go away and reissue awards and sign them in wet ink, which not only of course, is increased time, it causes increased cost as well. And the risk the award will not be enforceable in any event. I should note that the Chartered Institution of Arbitrators has also given some reluctance in its guidance and said that even though digital technology is rapidly becoming a widely accepted business and legal tool, it's advisable to keep key procedural documents in both soft and hard copies containing signatures of participants where necessary. So again, this is suggesting a cautious approach. So the bottom line, I would say any party considering use of an e-award or e-signature perhaps should obtain an opinion from local council first to make sure that there is not a risk in that individual jurisdiction. Clearly greener is not better if the award is unenforceable. Secondly, although data security risks are inherent in any form of electronic communications, the stakes are higher when it comes to e-awards due to their commercially sensitive and confidential nature. Confidentiality is one of the many factors that makes arbitration more attractive than litigation. Yet, a cybersecurity threat puts this at risk. Big businesses may well have excellent firewalls but many arbitration parties are smaller businesses without top class IT support. When it comes to a final award there are good reasons why it's worth having a hard copy in your office safe. And doubts could also be raised as to the authenticity of e-signatures used and the award itself. For example, courts may question whether the integrity of the e-award has been preserved and whether or not the award was safeguarded against later modification. One can imagine an enforcement scenario where a fraud has been committed and local courts do not have the means to authenticate thee-award, even if the local law ordinarily permits its enforcement. Now, I accept my friends point that some jurisdictions including the EU and specific EU countries like France have taken regulatory steps towards developing a framework to protect against forgery and other mischief involving e-signatures. But again, this does not include the majority of the world's countries. And in fact, underscores the very real risks that e-signatures present. And statistically, I think it's right to say that much of the world's users of arbitration is not necessarily in the EU. As for e-notifications, email does not provide the same level of certainty as a courier delivered and signed for paper award, a standard email will not inform the sender as to whether or not the recipient had received it, the email might be shown as sent however, there's no certainty as to whether it has in fact been delivered and given the sheer volume of email traffic, one could even imagine a scenario where a party misses that all important email. And if the award needs to be annulled time will be ticking to file those proceedings with irreversible consequences if a time bar is missed. So lastly, even if one were to disregard all of the things that I've said so far, we need to consider whether or not e-awards make a significant difference for sustainability. My friend was keen to point out the benefits of online hearings, general correspondence and so forth. But this debate is focused on e-signatures and e-awards. Now I accept that it is not ideal to fly several copies, an arbitration award around the world to be signed by three arbitrators and then delivered to the parties. Yet in the grand scheme of an arbitration carbon footprint, it is a relatively small package being carried on a large airplane that was making the trip anyway. While arbitrations do have a significant carbon footprint, studies show that energy use powering law firm offices and air travel for in-person hearings are the top two biggest causes of CO2 emissions in arbitrations. Apparently 92.7% of carbon emissions for hearings come from flights alone that if we really want to make arbitrations greener, our priority should be on those areas instead. So in closing, it comes down to a cost benefit exercise. Parties should ask themselves whether the benefit of a small reduction in paper waste and CO2 emissions is worth the risk of an unenforceable award. Indeed, a recent Queen Mary International Arbitration survey confirmed that participants are generally not overly enthusiastic about receiving an e-award. Only 14% stated that they wanted awards to be signed electronically. It seems that people have spoken and would agree with me that when it comes to e-awards, greener is not always better. Thank you. Vanessa: Thank you, Michelle. There are some very compelling arguments here. Both sides have made extremely strong arguments but how do we tell them apart? Well, it's time for rebuttal starting with Clément. Clément, what do you have to answer to Michelle? Clément: In response to Michelle's very interesting points I will limit myself to the following three remarks. First, as to enforcement of awards. As I said earlier, the question of enforcement must be resolved by looking at the applicable law and national solutions may vary from one region to another. That said, I also note that one, the New York Convention is silent on the delivery of the awards to the parties and two, although the risk regarding enforcement of e-awards has been expressed in relation to the formal requirements of an award, question of due process or international public policy, the reality is that e-awards cannot in fact be seriously challenged on those grounds. As mentioned earlier, formal requirements have in reality very little to do with the format digital or tangible of the substantive text of the award. As to due process requirements, a party must be given proper notice of an arbitral proceedings. And nowadays, emails are an accepted mode of giving notice while there are issues such as being unable to prove when a party receives an email. Email software has made it simpler for a sender to be notified if the receiver of the email opens a particular email by creating provisions of read receipts. And for instance, in another instance, the High Court in India has held that a notice sent on WhatsAppp was actually good service. And finally, the rendering of e-awards does not breach international public policy as we actually failed to see what would be the valid ground in this respect. Two on cyber security and online arbitration, I've listened to the legitimate concerns raised by my learned colleague. While these concerns should not be ignored, I submit the risk is that link, again I would say, to the form of the original award electronic or paper because in either case, the arbitrators can be hacked and the award tampered with. The reality is that both wet ink and e-signatures can be forged. And the difference lies in reality in the way in which the fraud is proven or discovered for a paper signature with the help of an expert, a graphologist expert, and for the electronic signature with the help of an IT specialist. The real issue is how to ensure that the signature on the award is not forged. As to online signatures are used additional requirements may be imposed. In application of the EU regulation mentioned earlier, French law, for instance, has created four different levels of security in which signatures can be categorized. The two highest levels are recommended to companies for their contracts and agreements where e-signatures are certified as having the same value of a paper hand signature. And there are numerous specialized IT platforms, and I will mention for instance, DocuSign, which has been certified by the French government to ensure the integrity of e-signatures. Last points, e-signatures and notification of awards in arbitration constitute a means to tackle the climate change problem. As it allows to reduce, reducing the impact of arbitration on the environment. They have a direct effect on paper consumption. And two, they have also an impact in reducing the need for air travel. As we know every step count and as international arbitration is taking the green transition turn e-signature and e-notification of rewards must be adopted on a wider scope. Thank you very much. Alison: Ok. Our time is up for this episode and we would like to thank warmly Michelle and Clément for their time and precious insights on this topic. Vanessa: This was our last episode for this miniseries on how to reduce the environmental impact of arbitration. But we will revert soon with a new topic. Until then, thank you for listening to our Arbitral Insights Greener Arbitrations podcast series. We hope you enjoyed it. Outro: Arbitral Insights is a Reed Smith production. Our producer is Ali McCardell. For more information about Reed Smith's Global International Arbitration practice, email arbitralinsights@reedsmith.com. To learn about the Reed Smith Arbitration Pricing Calculator, a first of its kind mobile app that forecasts the cost of arbitration around the world, search Arbitration Pricing Calculator on reedsmith.com or download for free through the Apple and Google Play app stores. You can find our podcast on Spotify, Apple, Google Play, Stitcher, reedsmith.com, and our social media accounts at Reed Smith LLP on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Disclaimer: This podcast is provided for educational purposes. It does not constitute legal advice, and is not intended to establish an attorney-client relationship,  nor is it intended to suggest or establish standards of care applicable to particular lawyers in any given situation. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome Any views, opinions, or comments made by any external guest speaker are not to be attributed to Reed Smith LLP or its individual lawyers. All rights reserved. Transcript is auto-generated.

James Willn, Ana Ulseth, Chris Edwards and Mathilde Adant debate the environmental impact of in-person vs. remote hearings. Hosts Alison Eslick and Vanessa Thieffry moderate the session in which debaters discuss technological issues, security challenges and the financial and psychological impacts of remote hearings.  ----more---- Transcript: Intro: Hello and welcome to Arbitral Insights, a podcast series brought to you by our International Arbitration practice lawyers here at Reed Smith. I'm Peter Rosher, global head of Reed Smith's International Arbitration practice. I hope you enjoy the industry commentary, insights and anecdotes we share with you in the course of this series, wherever in the world you are. If you have any questions about any of the topics discussed, please do contact our speakers. Welcome to our Greener Arbitrations podcast miniseries platform where Reed Smith's international arbitration lawyers will be exploring the legal and technical issues involved in reducing the environmental footprint of arbitrations. I am Alison Eslick, an international arbitration lawyer at Reed Smith's Dubai office. And I am Vanessa Thieffry, an international arbitration lawyer at Reed Smith's Paris office. In these episodes, we will hear from leading arbitration practitioners and external speakers and discuss insights, news and trends relevant to greening arbitration and the challenges that are entailed. We hope you enjoy this episode. Alison: Welcome back to another episode of Reed Smith's Arbitral Insights. I'm Alison Eslick and together with my colleague, Vanessa Thieffry. We are delighted to host the fifth episode of our Greener Arbitrations mini series where lawyers of Reed Smith debate how to reduce the environmental footprint of arbitrations. In 2022, Reed Smith launched an initiative to reduce the environmental footprint of our arbitrations. And we quickly identified the need to raise awareness both internally and externally and organizing a podcast mini series like this on Greener arbitrations appeared a really obvious tool to do that. In the first four episodes, we address these topics: arbitration agreements and whether they should include sustainability measures, the campaign for Greener Arbitration's Model Green Procedural Order and whether it was unavoidable, the topic of hard copy submissions and whether they were a thing of the past, and witness and expert preparation and whether video conferencing can really truly match in person meetings. So if you haven't listened to the podcast yet, please do tune in. They're all available on Reed Smith's podcast channel, Arbitral Insights. Vanessa: Thank you, Alison. So in this episode, we focus on the hard part hearings and more particularly whether in person hearings are worth their while. As compared to virtual hearings with the COVID-19 pandemic, we kept on arbitrating and the arbitration community got into the habit of virtual hearings. Although at first voices of concern and caution were raised in the aftermath of the pandemic. Virtual hearings remained and in-person hearings often have a drastic environmental impact. A case study recently revealed that for a given arbitration, the in-person hearing gave rise to 19 times the carbon footprint of a virtual hearing. Mostly because of the flights of the arbitrators, experts, counsel and witnesses, et cetera, all these people involved with the hearing to get to the hearing venue. So a few, few years back, let's take stock. Are in-person hearings still worth their while? Short disclaimer, please note that for the purposes of these podcasts, our debaters have been assigned the positions that they are advocating. This is because we felt that topics would be better explored if one team fully advocated their position for or against the proposition. The debaters are thus role playing and none of the views expressed during the debates should be attributed to any of the individuals participating in the debates or Reed Smith or any of its clients. Alison: With that said Vanessa, let's start. The first speaker of each team will make their arguments for and against the proposition and a second speaker will make a rebuttal. So the first speaker up is Ana Ulseth. Ana is an associate in Reed Smith's global Commercial Disputes Group in our Miami office. Her practice focuses on international dispute resolution across a myriad of sectors including complex litigation in state and federal courts as well as international commercial and investment arbitrations. Now, Ana is also an eager Reed Smith Greener Arbitrations ambassador. So, Ana, the floor is yours. Why are in person hearings worth their while? Ana: Hello, everyone. And thank you Alison and Vanessa for the kind invitation to join you. I'm thrilled to be here discussing this pivotal topic. In-person arbitration hearings are worth their while. And when I say this, I rely on two main points. First, it is easier to safeguard due process concerns in in-person hearings. As we know, a hearing is one of the most pivotal important junctures in an arbitral proceeding. Generally, a hearing encompasses the exchange of arguments and evidence. The ability to be heard and mount your case or defense is a cornerstone of due process and the requirements of procedural equality and fairness permeates all faces of an arbitration. Article five of the New York convention sets forth limited grounds on which recognition and enforcement of an award may be refused. One of those grounds includes when a party is otherwise unable to present their case as a ground for refusal. Being able to present arguments and evidence in person significantly aids in the conduct of a proceeding that is compliant with due process principles and that helps to secure the sanctity of an award. Everyone from council to the tribunal has more control over the proceeding during in-person hearings. Things like cross examinations and breaks along with any last minute issues that may arise are easier to address when you have everyone in one room. Now, due process or equality may be infringed upon by technological issues experienced by parties during a virtual hearing. For example, if one party is affected by technological issues but not the other this may infringe equality in an ongoing proceeding. Additionally, although the tribunal has the discretion depending on the arbitration agreement and applicable rules or treaties to assist the parties with the determination of whether hearings will be in-person or virtual. This raises potentially challenging questions regarding how the tribunal can make the right call when the parties are in disagreement. Some questions that might arise here are, how will the tribunal ensure that the decision making process is fair to both parties in determining whether to require in person or virtual hearings? What test can be applied and how will the burden of proof be taken into consideration to ensure the ruling is fair and equitable? At the end of the day as council, we have a responsibility to provide zealous advocacy and act in the best interests of our clients. Certainly, this includes preserving the sanctity of an award and indeed, this is more easily achieved in-person. As to my second point which is closely related to the first, in-person hearings provide counsel with more control over the entire proceeding. Various surveys have shown that parties have trepidations about virtual hearings. These trepidations include beliefs that it is harder to concentrate during a virtual hearing than it is during an in person hearing, that virtual hearings may be less secure or confidential. But the impact of any witnesses cross-examination might be diminished by virtual hearings. And that if virtual hearings are to be widely used changes will be required to the civil procedure and arbitration laws of certain jurisdictions. Additionally, virtual cross examination may also not be helpful if there are audio or video distortions, freezing of images or time lapse. Certainly behaviors observed virtually can more easily be over-interpreted or simply erroneously interpreted. Moreover, as advocates, our opening and closing statements are physically and intellectually demanding performance tests. There is a tangible advantage to subjecting opposing counsel and witnesses to these demanding experiences in person. There is no question that virtual hearings are more comfortable for everyone but comfort is not our guiding principle. And while virtual hearings are certainly greener and better for the environment, we should only opt for them if and when it is in the best interests of the client and their case or defense. Lastly, on this point, nonverbal communication is very challenging to understand in virtual hearings. Our job as advocates is to facilitate the tribunal's decision making process. A variety of studies has shown that a range between 55% to 93% corresponds with non-verbal communication. And this is facilitated in in-person hearings in the same room as the tribunal, the witnesses, the parties and the experts. In essence, to sum up my argument, the potential for connectivity issues, frequency of breaks and unexpected interruptions are higher with virtual hearings and have the potential to affect the due process of a proceeding. Vanessa: That is a very strong argument. But let's see what our second debater, Mathilde has to reply. Mathilde is an associate in our Paris office and her practice focuses on international commercial arbitration, especially in the construction and energy sectors. She is a part of our Energy and Natural Resources Group. Matilde will now advocate the position that in-person hearings are not worth their while. Mathilde: While Ana has made a compelling case for the enduring merits of in-person hearings, I will present the reasons why their benefits do not outweigh the virtues of virtual hearings. My starting point is maybe the most obvious downside of in-person hearings which is their environmental impact. International arbitration generally involves parties from different countries or continents. And in this context, virtual hearings minimize travel for all participants including arbitrators, parties, council experts witnesses and court reporters. They also eliminate the need for extra physical infrastructure such as venues and offices which typically contribute to a significant carbon footprint. Second, contrary to what we can sometimes hear making an environmentally conscious choice in favor of virtual hearings does not have to go against efficiency, due process or the client's best interests. Nowadays, technological advancements have made virtual hearings effective and secure. We now have access to high quality video conferencing, secured through robust encryption mechanisms and cybersecurity measures as well as advanced tools for evidence presentation. These technological advancements are perfectly able to ensure the integrity and fairness of the arbitration process. Any concerns regarding technological glitches and data security can be mitigated through continuous improvement and investment in robust technology infrastructure. Furthermore, technology has evolved to bridge the gap in conveying nonverbal communication through, for example, uh video conferencing, screen sharing and advanced virtual collaboration tools. Virtual appearance can also be less intimidating for witnesses which may look for a more open and honest communication. A third point in favor of virtual hearings, which may be more convincing to clients in particular is the fact that they allow parties to save time and costs. As we know, traditional in-person arbitration hearings can be very expensive. They add to the already significant legal costs, costs of travel, accommodation, meals, as well as the costs of renting the hearing venue. All these costs are significantly reduced in a virtual hearing. Virtual hearings can also save a considerable amount of time. They eliminate the travel time for all participants and substantially reduce the time spent on logistics and administrative matters such as securing venues, making travel arrangements and so on. Beyond this, the flexibility and convenience of virtual hearings means that they can be scheduled more easily and that they can be conducted more efficiently. For example, because they allow for the use of time saving tools such as simultaneous interpretation, shared screens or chat features. This reduction in time spent by arbitrators consulting experts also reduces costs for clients. And this decrease in costs also means that individuals or entities with financial constraints can participate without incurring travel and accommodation costs. This makes arbitration which is often considered expensive, more accessible as a dispute resolution method. So as demonstrated by these numerous benefits, the incorporation of technology into legal proceedings makes virtual hearings not only a formidable contender but the ultimate victor over in-person hearings. Alison: Thank you very much, Mathilde. Wow. I mean, I find myself conflicted and agreeing with both Ana and Mathilde at the same time. So let's test these arguments further. We now move on to rebuttal. Uh and Chris Edwards will take the floor. Now, Chris is a council in our Dubai office and a member of the Energy and Natural Resources Group. He has over a decade of experience advising clients on the complete life cycle of construction projects and disputes across the Middle East, Africa and Asia. So Chris, I believe you will advocate for the affirmative. Chris: Hi everyone and thank you to Vanessa and Alison for inviting me to join this podcast today. I want to start by addressing the presumed environmental impact of virtual hearings. And I think there are a number of assumptions that are made about the green credentials of virtual hearings and also in person ones for starters virtual hearings may still require travel, virtual hearings are rarely ever conducted from each person's home. Participants will often congregate across hubs. For example, arbitrators may sit together or the parties and their respective lawyers in their respective officers and equally travel for in-person hearings can be limited, for example, by appointing arbitrators, lawyers experts, all of those can be appointed on the ground in the location of the hearing. It's also an assumption to suggest that travel is necessarily polluting. You could take a Tesla, you could offset your carbon footprint of airplane travel or you could even walk and you may laugh at the latter. But I did walk to a hearing recently. It's also a misnomer to say that you're necessarily eliminating the need for physical infrastructure. As I mentioned, previously, participants still gather physically and ultimately, in terms of the venue, the venue can deploy green practices. It's really a question of what those are in the specific location where you're sitting. For example, a venue in office, if those are chosen, could use a green protocol or green practices such as electronic bundles technology platforms to display evidence and the use of laptops instead of paper pats and no bottles. So it's not necessarily correct to suggest that eliminating the need for a physical office or venue would in itself be green or not green. The next point in terms of environmental impact is the use of electronic bundles. It's often suggested that virtual hearings go hand in hand with electronic bundles. I don't think that's always the case. I've known arbitrators to request hard copies for virtual hearings and equally hard copies are often exchanged leading up to virtual hearings as well. I've also seen in-person hearings use the electronic bundles, in fact, if I think back to the last in-person hearing that I sat in with hard copy bundles it was almost 10 years ago. So technology has really changed in terms of in person hearings as well. In terms of some of the other points not relating to the environmental impact of in-person and virtual hearings I think there's an assumption that these technological advances in terms of virtual hearings are necessarily entirely effective and secure. Whilst there have been improvements, a virtual hearing cannot compete with an in-person hearing in terms of security. Participants still and also just generally, in terms of effectiveness, participants still struggle to navigate breakout rooms and find that pesky mute button and they will never be more secure than sitting together in a single room. On bridging the gap of nonverbal communication, nothing can beat sitting face to face as we found earlier when we were trying to put this podcast together, took us 10 or 15 minutes to start. Finally on time and cost whilst hiring a venue may be more expensive. Again, this is not necessarily given and in any event, it's not generally significant compared to the overall cost that a party might spend on arbitration as a whole. In respect of time, I'd suggest that focusing everyone in one place can be much more efficient than virtual hearings, which often end up being scheduled across weeks or even months. So I think in terms of which is favorable, I think the general practice of in-person hearings is really returned to the scene and that in itself shows that that's the preference of practitioners at this stage. Whilst virtual hearings have their place in terms of, for example, things like CMCs, full blown hearings are still best in person. Vanessa: Thank you, Chris. There were some strong points in there, fun points and real arguments to each side. We still have one last speaker who may actually help to the scale. James Willn. James will rebut Ana's arguments that in-person hearings are worthwhile. James is a partner in our Dubai office and a member of our Energy and Natural Resources Group. He is an arbitration lawyer with more than 14 years experience and his practice centers on complex disputes and international arbitrations largely within the construction, the offshore oil and gas and other energy industries. In addition, James is recognized for his asset tracing and recovery litigation work as well as his work on contentious and non-contentious sanctions issues. So James, what is your answer to Ana? James: Yeah, thanks. Thanks for that, Vanessa. No, that is really useful and um completely valid points and yes, having been through several hearings, uh interlocutory hearings CMCCs hearings during the COVID period. I can definitely say that they work um in that sense, there is some efficiencies there, time costs and savings. But I um I think where I come from is that real efficiency element of, of, of the of the virtual sense of things. So I, I see this quite a lot. Uh typically from barristers, I have to say who say, well, you know, virtual is fine um up to a point. But you know, you can't beat a good in-person, the whole witnesses the see the, the whites of their eyes and all that kind of stuff. And I, and I sometimes think that that's more about the drama than actually the rub of the dispute or, or getting to the actual evidence. Look, I love a good, full blown bluster hearing myself. You know, it's like a like a day trip to the theater, isn't it? The drama, the excitement, the tension, good witnesses, bad witnesses. Um It's, it's all good fun, but whilst we might be enjoying it as the lawyers and I know certainly some of the clients enjoyed it as well. Ultimately, there's a cost there and with these more, bigger uh more global, more, more complicated arbitrations where, you know, the legal team is four or five individuals. Um The witness team could be six or eight, your expert team, two or three. And then even the client side could be three or four individuals um often from, you know, all around the globe. Um It's very rare that in an international arbitration, all parties are, are located in one jurisdiction. Uh notwithstanding that the seat of the arbitration might be somewhere completely different anyway, So in reality, you're talking travel, you're talking hotels, lack of management, time, uh key individuals away from their, from their day jobs. That that's a, that's a huge cost. So for me, COVID taught me and, and I was as surprised as many that the the virtual hearings really do work. I did a huge multiparty, multidisciplinary, multi jurisdiction uh construction arbitration in the middle of, of COVID uh different languages, some Koreans in there, some Libyans, some Arabic speakers with the whole blown technology and it worked. And I think I was as surprised as many. So where I've seen complicated, difficult, complex time consuming arbitrations work in a virtual context, for me, notwithstanding the drama, the theater and the excitement, the reality is they are just as effective as the, as the in-person and obviously cost a whole lot less. Alison: Thank you, James. Look, our time is up for this episode and we would like to warmly thank Ana, Mathilde, Chris and James for participating in this podcast. Stay tuned for episode six where we tackle perhaps the most important part of arbitration, uh besides the hearing, and that is the award. Our debaters will uh go head to head on the topic, Electronic signature and notification of awards: Is green always better? Until then thank you for listening to our Arbitral Insights, Greener Arbitrations podcast series. We hope you enjoyed it. Outro: Arbitral Insights is a Reed Smith production. Our producer is Ali McCardell. For more information about Reed Smith's Global International Arbitration Practice, email arbitralinsights@reedsmith.com. To learn about the Reed Smith arbitration pricing calculator, a first of its kind mobile app that forecasts the cost of arbitration around the world, search arbitration pricing calculator on reedsmith.com or download for free through the Apple and Google Play app stores. You can find our podcast on Spotify, Apple, Google Play, Stitcher, reedsmith.com and our social media accounts at Reed Smith LLP on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Disclaimer: This podcast is provided for educational purposes. It does not constitute legal advice and is not intended to establish an attorney-client relationship, nor is it intended to suggest or establish standards of care applicable to particular lawyers in any given situation. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Any views, opinions, or comments made by any external guest speaker are not to be attributed to Reed Smith LLP or its individual lawyers. All rights reserved.

Gautam Bhattacharyya welcomes Tariq Khan, registrar of the International Arbitration and Mediation Centre (IAMC), Hyderabad and adjunct professor at the NALSAR University of Law, to discuss his career path, views on international arbitration in India, and what he thinks is on the horizon for arbitration in India and beyond.

On the docket today, we delve into the complex world of international arbitration, demystifying this critical process for ESL lawyers worldwide. In this episode, we navigate the legal framework that underpins international arbitration, shedding light on its historical significance and its role in resolving cross-border business disputes. We explore the arbitration process, the key elements that make it distinct from traditional litigation, and the pivotal importance of well-drafted arbitration clauses. Dive into the advantages and drawbacks of this mechanism with real-world case examples, and learn the art of selecting the right seat for arbitration. We also discuss the critical role of arbitrators, enforcement of arbitral awards, and recent trends in international arbitration. Whether you're an ESL lawyer aiming to master the complexities of cross-border disputes or simply seeking valuable insights, this episode is your gateway to understanding international arbitration in the realm of Legal English.For the show notes for this episode, go here. Comment below the show notes if you have any questions about this episode.For more about this podcast, go here. For ways to improve your Legal English, go here.For the Intro To Legal English Course, go here. This is a free course!Have you watched our YouTube Channel? Go here.Willing to support the show? Buy Me a Coffee.---Discover Our Writing Journal - Unlock the power of effective Business English writing with our new book: 4 Business English Writing Journal: 365 Daily Prompts for Global ProfessionalsElevate your communication skills as a global professional with 365 daily prompts tailored to enhance your language proficiency. Join us on a transformative journey towards mastering Business English.To read more about or to purchase, go to the Amazon page here or read more Here.---Check out our NEW website: 4 Business-EnglishImprove Your Communication SkillsIn the modern business world, communication is key to success. Often, communication is conducted in English. Whether you are dealing with native-English speakers, or English as a Second Language speakers, you need to communicate effectively in the lingua franca of the 21st Century: English. There are many common business terms that you need to understand, and some you need to master. Often, academic English courses do not teach these business phrases or lexicon. That is where 4 Business English can help.This site is designed with business professionals in mind. People who need to improve their professional English skills - reading, writing, conversational, or even public speaking and giving formal presentations. Support the show

In this latest episode, Kiran Nasir Gore, Associate Editor of Kluwer Arbitration Blog, interviews Dr Herfried Wöss, Partner of Wöss & Partners. Herfried acts as an international arbitrator and counsel. The podcast ‘Quantifying International Disputes' centers on the issues that arise in the context of damages and valuation analyses in international disputes. To learn more about damages and valuation in international arbitration, watch for Kluwer Arbitration's forthcoming new topic on Damages and Valuation in the Practical Insights by Topic tool or learn more about Kluwer Arbitration Practical Tools. This podcast episode is part of International Law Talk. Wolters Kluwer will bring you insightful analysis, commentary, and discussion from thought leaders and experts on current topics in the field of International Arbitration, IP Law, International Tax Law, Competition Law and other international legal fields. Music tune: Scuba, Metre. #internationallawtalk

In this thought-provoking podcast, Vikram Chand, Professor of Law at the University of Lausanne and Brian Arnold, (co)author of International Tax Primer and Comparative Income Taxation, unravel the complexities surrounding Corporate Tax Incentives in the context of Pillar II, providing listeners with a comprehensive understanding of the evolving global tax environment. As countries adapt to the new rules, the conversation serves as a guide for policymakers and businesses alike to navigate the changing tides of corporate taxation. Learn more about Corporate Tax Incentives. This podcast episode is part of International Law Talk. Wolters Kluwer will bring you insightful analysis, commentary, and discussion from thought leaders and experts on current topics in the field of International Arbitration, IP Law, International Tax Law, Competition Law and other international legal fields. Music tune: Scuba, Metre. #internationallawtalk

Dr. Amar Ghimire is a distinguished lawyer with a Ph.D. in WTO Litigation and International Arbitration. In this podcast, Dr. Ghimire engages in profound discussions about life, the intricate laws that govern our existence, and the dynamics of society. He explores the philosophical dimensions of our lives and provides insights into the profound intersections of law and the human experience.

Let's talk about international arbitration, an indispensable tool for resolving cross-border conflicts. But first, forget everything you think you know about civil procedure, because home court rules might not apply. In this episode, Dave welcomes guest Aurore Nicaud, an associate with Greenberg Traurig and an international arbitration attorney. Listen in as they discuss how this fascinating field differs from standard U.S. civil practice. Discovery is more limited. There are no depositions. Direct examinations are virtually nonexistent. And when the case is over? Winning is one thing, but enforcement across borders is another, and it depends on which countries are signatories to the New York Convention. When you mix competing legal systems, contracts, and languages, things can get complicated in a hurry. Up for the challenge? Mentioned in this Episode: American Bar Association American Bar Association Litigation Section

Let's talk about international arbitration, an indispensable tool for resolving cross-border conflicts. But first, forget everything you think you know about civil procedure, because home court rules might not apply. In this episode, Dave welcomes guest Aurore Nicaud, an associate with Greenberg Traurig and an international arbitration attorney. Listen in as they discuss how this fascinating field differs from standard U.S. civil practice. Discovery is more limited. There are no depositions. Direct examinations are virtually nonexistent. And when the case is over? Winning is one thing, but enforcement across borders is another, and it depends on which countries are signatories to the New York Convention. When you mix competing legal systems, contracts, and languages, things can get complicated in a hurry. Up for the challenge? Mentioned in this Episode: American Bar Association American Bar Association Litigation Section

In this episode, IMS Senior Client Success Advisor Adam Bloomberg is joined by Professor Ian Cullimore, expert witness and patent inventor, and IMS Trial Consulting Lead Dan Martin to explain how to simplify sophisticated intellectual property into compelling presentations that judges, juries, and tribunals can comprehend. Our guests also discuss strategies for expert reports, requirements for Markman hearings and technology tutorials, collaborating with experts and graphic designers, and recent trends in patent litigation—including AI disputes.Be sure to subscribe to the IMS Insights Podcast on YouTube or your favorite listening platform. Visit our website for more podcasts and articles featuring top litigators, consultants, and industry experts.IMS has delivered strategic litigation consulting and expert witness services to leading global law firms and Fortune 500 companies for more than 30 years, in more than 43,000 cases. IMS consultants become an extension of your legal team from pre-suit investigation services to discovery and then on to arbitration and trial. Learn more at expertservices.com.

In this episode we talk to thought leaders, Sofia Klot, Orlando Cabrera and Elizabeth Chan, about their organization's proposed guidelines: the Silicon Valley Center's Proposed Guidelines for the Use of AI in Arbitration. We discuss with drafters of the AI Guidelines the impetus behind the rules, how the public is reacting to them, the hurdles they have faced, the positive feedback they have received, and how they will eventually implement them and put them into practice. To learn more about or join the D.C. Bar International Law Community, CLICK HERE. Please note, the positions and opinions expressed by the speakers are strictly their own, and do not necessarily represent the views of their employers, nor those of the D.C. Bar, its Board of Governors or co-sponsoring Communities and organizations.

The launch of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) is a momentous occasion for patent enthusiasts across Europe. With anticipation building for years, this new system promises to revolutionize patent litigation and enforcement. Gertie Schouten, Journalist, interviews Johanna Flythström, Partner at Roschier. Gertie and Johann discuss the popularity of the system in different sectors, as well as the role of national IP courts, the German dominance at the UPC and the question when the first fundamental UPC decisions can be expected. The UPC Case Law Tracker offers a powerful resource to stay informed about the latest developments in UPC jurisprudence. Learn more about the UPC Case Law Tracker. This podcast episode is part of International Law Talk. Wolters Kluwer will bring you insightful analysis, commentary, and discussion from thought leaders and experts on current topics in the field of International Arbitration, IP Law, International Tax Law, Competition Law and other international legal fields. Music tune: Scuba, Metre. #internationallawtalk

Alba Ribera Martínez, Deputy Editor of the Kluwer Competition Law Blog and Lecturer in Competition Law at Universidad Villanueva interviews Assimakis Komninos, Partner at White & Case LLP about the first actions of the European Commission on enforcing the Digital Markets Act (DMA), more particular: the designation decisions issued on 6 September 2023. Follow the developments on the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in Kluwer Competition Law. This podcast episode is part of International Law Talk. Wolters Kluwer will bring you insightful analysis, commentary, and discussion from thought leaders and experts on current topics in the field of International Arbitration, IP Law, International Tax Law, Competition Law and other international legal fields. Music tune: Scuba, Metre. #internationallawtalk

International dispute resolution is becoming increasingly institutionalized to achieve a more systematic administration of international dispute resolution processes. Esmé Shirlow, an Associate Professor at the ANU College of Law and Associate Editor of the Kluwer Arbitration Blog interviews Mariel Dimsey, Secretary-General of Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) to discuss HKIAC's views and approaches. Topics as technology and transparency are covered. Learn more about Kluwer Arbitration's Practical Insights. This podcast episode is part of International Law Talk. Wolters Kluwer will bring you insightful analysis, commentary, and discussion from thought leaders and experts on current topics in the field of International Arbitration, IP Law, International Tax Law, Competition Law and other international legal fields. Music tune: Scuba, Metre. #internationallawtalk

Singapore-based counsel Joyce Fong welcomes Head of International Arbitration for Frasers Law Company (Vietnam) Earl Rivera-Dolera to explore the international arbitration landscape in Vietnam. The duo discuss common jurisdiction and governing law clause choices for contracts involving Vietnam-based projects and the “winning formula” to maximize enforcement opportunities in Vietnam, before reviewing common grounds for challenging the recognition and enforcement of foreign awards in Vietnam and closing with a review of areas of desired reform. 

In this episode, we discuss what "net-zero" means in UK and European contexts, and what companies must do in order to meet net-zero targets. We then explore why it is important for companies operating in the United Kingdom and Europe to understand their climate-related obligations, as well as the potential consequences they may face if they don't take the right actions. Speakers: Gerald Leong (Senior Associate, International Arbitration, London), Alizee Zhang (Senior Associate, Corporate, Shanghai) and Miranda Zhang (Associate (Australia), Dispute Resolution, London) 在本集播客节目中，我们将结合英国和欧洲的情况讨论“净零排放”问题，以及企业要怎么做才能实现 “净零排放”目标。然后，我们会深入分析为什么在英国和欧洲从事经营活动的企业要了解气候相关的责任，以及如果企业不采取正确的行动，会有哪些潜在的后果。 主讲人：Gerald Leong（伦敦办公室国际仲裁部高级律师）；郑晓夏（上海办公室公司事务部高级律师）；Miranda Zhang（伦敦办公室争议解决部律师（澳大利亚执业律师））

Partner at Quinn Emanuel Mark McNeill and former legal and commercial director at Cairn Energy Duncan Holland join IMS | Z-Axis Global Consultant and Advisor Cindy Buxton to discuss the power of visuals in international arbitration and the importance of effectively communicating with the tribunal. Visit our website for more of the IMS Insights Podcast.IMS has delivered strategic litigation consulting and expert witness services to leading global law firms and Fortune 500 companies for more than 30 years, in more than 43,000 cases. IMS consultants become an extension of your legal team from pre-suit investigation services to discovery and then on to arbitration and trial. Learn more at expertservices.com.

Sofia Martins, Counsel & Arbitrator - Miranda Law Firm One of the most interesting things about international arbitration is that it is a truly global profession.  Practitioners come from a variety backgrounds, all walks of life, and from the four corners of the globe.  This week, we stop in Portugal for a conversation with Sofia Martins, the recently elected president of the Portuguese Arbitration Association.  She is part of a generation of senior practitioners in the country that is raising the reputation for the legal professionals in the field and for Portugal's place in the international commercial community.  She also shares some great tips and perspective on developing your career.    ABAP Website is LIVE, Here!   Sofia Martins Website, Here   TIME STAMPS: Opening Notes – :34 Episode Begins – 2:40 Personal Interest – 52:56 Closing Notes – 1:08:59   READING: Three Ages of International Arbitration by Mikael Schinazi   MUSIC: Best of 80s Music    Feedback and comments welcome to: TalesOfTheTribunal@Gmail.com None of the views shared today or any episode of Tales of the Tribunal is presented as legal advice nor advice of any kind.  No compensation was provided to any person or party for their appearance on the show nor do any of the statements made represent any particular organization, legal position or view point.  All interviewees appear on an arms-length basis and their appearance should not be construed as any bias or preferred affiliation with the host or host's employer.  All rights reserved.

Miami-based counsel Eduardo De la Peña Bernal welcomes CISG Advisory Council member, law professor, arbitration practitioner, and author Edgardo Muñoz to discuss international arbitration and the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). The duo provide an introduction to the CISG and explore the impact that its different provisions might have in arbitration disputes.

Dr. Amar Ghimire is a renowned lawyer with a PHD in WTO Litigation and International Arbitration. In this captivating podcast, he delves into the intricate world of federal, business, international laws, and trade. With his extensive expertise and deep understanding of legal frameworks, Dr. Ghimire sheds light on the complexities of navigating legal systems, both domestically and internationally.

In this episode of our ‘Across the Pond' podcast, Charles and Kwadwo are joined by guest Krista Lee KC, a barrister at Keating Chambers. They explore varying approaches to advocacy in the English and US legal systems and go on to discuss the importance of advocacy in making a case, particularly in International Arbitration. Our speakers then touch on the effective oral presentation of a case before an arbitral tribunal and a judge, share their thoughts on the proposed revision of the 1996 Arbitration Act and much more!  

John is joined by two experts in international arbitration, Philippe Pinsolle, partner in Quinn Emanuel's Geneva office and Head of International Arbitration for Continental Europe, and Stephen Jagusch KC, partner in Quinn Emanuel's London office and Global Chair of the firm's International Arbitration Practice. Together, they discuss the specialized field of international arbitration, including factors to consider when opting for arbitration, strategies for crafting arbitration provisions, how to select the best arbitrators, challenges to final judgments, and issues regarding the subsequent enforcement of awards.

Host Gautam Bhattacharyya welcomes the founder of the Indian Women in International Arbitration (IWIA) group Niyati Ahuja to discuss the genesis of this initiative, the IWIA's objectives, and plans for the future. The duo then discuss Niyati's career, her inspirations and mentors, and what more can done to ensure better recognition and awareness of Indian women in arbitration in India and internationally, both as practitioners and arbitrators.  

Carlotta Bruessel brings her fascinating experience of qualifying in both civil law and common law to Japan in the area of international arbitration. This is a story of an unusual career path in the law which is so important to hear. Carlotta is also passionate about connections and collaborations so it is exciting to see her idea to form a club to help bring young arbitrators in Japan together to share their expertise and have fun too. If you enjoyed this episode and it inspired you in some way, we'd love to hear about it and know your biggest takeaway. Head over to Apple Podcasts to leave a review and we'd love it if you would leave us a message here! In this episode you'll hear: How Carlotta has had quite the international itinerary before coming to Japan to a Big Four Japanese law firm The combination of civil law and common law that is bringing her an exciting career in international arbitration Carlotta shares her tips on how to master your Zoom interview for landing a legal role in Japan Carlotta's main mantra she has for every single day adjusting to her life in Japan Her favourite cafe, books and other fun facts About Carlotta Carlotta Bruessel, is an arbitration practitioner working for Nishimura & Asahi as a Gaikokuho Jimu Bengoshi to represent Japanese and international companies. At Nishimura & Asahi her practice focuses particularly on the pharmaceutical, manufacturing and construction sectors and most recently, she has been interested in the renewable energy space Carlotta completed an LL.B in England & Wales while studying in Scotland, followed by an LL.M in International Law and Trade in Geneva. As a result of this, she has experience in both civil and common law jurisdiction and is very interested in how these two legal frameworks overlap and can be utilized in arbitrations to create the best outcomes for parties. Carlotta has previously worked at HKIAC in Hong Kong and, before moving to Tokyo, was a Senior Associate at Herbert Smith Freehills in Sydney. She has also worked at two UN institutions (the International Law Commission and UNCTAD). She is admitted to practice in Australia and speaks fluent German and English, as well as basic French and Japanese. Connect with Carlotta LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlottamalenabruessel/ Links Cafe Hato The Japanese Mind Let Tokyo Eat Cake Arbitration Club link coming soon. Connect with Catherine Linked In https://www.linkedin.com/in/oconnellcatherine/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawyeronair Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/catherine.oconnell.148 Twitter: https://twitter.com/oconnelllawyer YouTube: https://youtube.com/@lawyeronair

Welcome to our 2023 Season. First up: a trailer for 'Sippin' Tea with Prof. Anne Marie Whitesell' to come later this month. This episode will air in conjunction with Georgetown University Law Center's International Arbitration Month, which the D.C.'s Bar's very own 'The Tea on International Arbitration' is proud to sponsor. Visit Georgetown's GIAS page HERE.

India Business Team Chair Gautam Bhattacharyya hosts our Middle East office managing partner, Sachin Kerur and Singapore partner and International Arbitration in Singapore: Legislation and Materials author Timothy Cooke to discuss the respective roles of the Middle East and Singapore for India-related arbitrations. The trio explore how India-related business has impacted the Middle East and Singapore generally, the subsequent bearing this has had on disputes in those regions, and what the key benefits are of conducting India-related arbitrations there.

In the third episode of S&C's Supreme Court Business Review series, hosts Judd Littleton, Julia Malkina and Morgan Ratner are joined by partner Andrew Finn, the coordinator of S&C's International Arbitration and Global Dispute Resolution Group, to discuss three arbitration cases that the Supreme Court decided last Term and the key takeaways from those decisions for businesses.