This book offers an in-depth study of the role of culture in modern day arbitral proceedings. It contains a detailed analysis of how cultural miscommunication affects the accuracy, efficiency, fairness, and legitimacy in both commercial and investment arbitration when the arbitrators and the parties, their counsel and witnesses come from diverse legal traditions and cultures. The book provides a comprehensive definition of culture, and methodically documents and examines the epistemology of determining facts in various legal traditions and how the mixing of traditions influences the outcome.

Valentina Vadi assesses whether cultural heritage has and/or should have any relevance in international investment law and policy.

Examining a developing culture of international commercial arbitration and the implications for the evolution of contract law, this book includes case studies and analysis from interviews with international arbitrators and national court judges, and identifies trends to explain and predict arbitration decisions on issues of substantive law.

The last few years, even months, have seen radical changes in commercial arbitration in almost every Latin American jurisdiction. International Arbitration in Latin America is a first of its kind publication that provides the lawyer, arbitrator, and businessperson with a thorough overview of the current status of international arbitration in the region. Freshfields Bruckhans Deringer's Nigel Blackaby, Clifford Chance's David Lindsey, and Argentine lawyer Alessandro Spinillo have joined with others in the field of arbitration in Latin America to compile the first comprehensive review of commercial arbitration in major Latin American jurisdictions as well as notable developments in the use of arbitration mechanisms contained in bilateral and multilateral investments treaties and free trade agreements. The book provides not only a detailed analysis of the law, but also insight from local practitioners into the culture of arbitration and how the law is applied. Features of the book include a comprehensive and thorough overview of commercial arbitration in Latin America; a detailed analysis of the law and insight from local practitioners from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela; a brief look at the rules and peculiarities of the proposed Mercosur International Commercial Arbitration Agreements entered into by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, and Chile, whose eventual ratification and coming into force is contemplated; an examination concerning the adoption of arbitration as a method of dispute resolution for investors against states under bilateral investment treaties, over 300 of which have now been signed in the region; the text of the key sections of the international conventions to which reference is made (Panama Convention, NAFTA, Mercosur); and it also describes the increasing use of alternative dispute resolution in Latin America and how it might be best used as a complement for arbitration proceedings, with an emphasis on complex projects where staged dispute resolution might be appropriate.

Most literature on international arbitration is practice-oriented, technical, and promotional. It is by arbitrators and largely for arbitrators and their clients. Outside analyses by non-participants are still very rare. This book boldly steps away from this tradition of scholarship to reflect analytically on international arbitration as a form of global governance. It thus contributes to a rapidly growing literature that describes the profound economic, legal, and political transformation in which key governance functions are increasingly exercised by a new constellation that include actors other than national public authorities. The book brings together leading scholars from law and the social sciences to assess and critically reflect on the significance and implications of international arbitration as a new locus of global private authority. The views predictably diverge. Some see the evolution of these private courts positively as a significant element of an emerging transnational private legal system that gradually evolves according to the needs of market actors without much state interference. Others fear that private courts allow transnational actors to circumvent state regulation and create an illegitimate judicial system that is driven by powerful transnational companies at the expense of collective public interests. Still others accept that these contrasting views serve as useful starting points of an analysis but are too simplistic to adequately understand the complex governance structures that international arbitration courts have been developing over the last two decades. In sum, this book offers a wide-ranging and up-to-date analytical overview of arguments in a vigorous nascent interdisciplinary debate about arbitration courts and their exercise of private governance power in the transnational realm. This debate is generating fascinating new insights into such central topics as legitimacy, constitutional order and justice beyond classical nation state institutions.

Over the last half-century, as UNCITRAL official, professor, arbitrator and father of the Willem C. Vis Arbitration Moot, Eric Bergsten has been at the forefront of progress in international commercial arbitration. Now, on the occasion of his eightieth birthday, the international arbitration and sales law community has gathered to honour him with this substantial collection of new essays on the many facets of the field to which he continues to bring his intellect, integrity, inquisitive nature, eye for detail, precision, and commitment to public service. Celebrating the long-standing and sustained contribution Eric Bergsten has made in international commercial law, international arbitration, and legal education, more than fifty colleagues - among them quite a few of the best-known arbitrators and arbitration academics in the world - present 45 pieces that, individually both engaging and incisive, collectively present a thorough and far-reaching account of the state of the field today, with contributions covering international sales law, commercial law, commercial arbitration, and investment arbitration. In addition, nine essays on issues in legal education mirror the great importance of the renowned Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, Eric's Vienna project which has offered a life-changing experience for so many young lawyers from all over the world.

In the context of harmonisation of arbitration law and practice worldwide, to what extent do local legal traditions still influence local arbitration practices, especially at a time when non-Western countries are playing an increasingly important role in international commercial and financial markets? How are the new economic powers reacting to the trend towards harmonisation? China provides a good case study, with its historic tradition of non-confrontational means of dispute resolution now confronting current trends in transnational arbitration. Is China showing signs of adapting to the current trend of transnational arbitration? On the other hand, will Chinese legal culture influence the practice of arbitration in the rest of the world? To address these challenging questions it is necessary to examine the development of arbitration in the context of China's changing cultural and legal structures. Written for international business people, lawyers, academics and students, this book gives the reader a unique insight into arbitration practice in China, based on a combination of theoretical analysis and practical insights. It explains contemporary arbitration in China from an interdisciplinary perspective and with a comparative approach, setting Chinese arbitration in its wider social context to aid understanding of its history, contemporary practice, the legal obstacles to modern arbitration and possible future trends. In 2011 the thesis on which this book was based was named 'Best Thesis in International Studies' by the Swiss Network for International Studies. “What distinguishes this work from other books on international arbitration is its interdisciplinary perspective and comparative approach...this book makes a remarkable contribution to the understanding of arbitration in China and transnational arbitration in general. Academics, scholars and students of international arbitration, comparative studies and globalisation may all find this book stimulating. It also provides useful guidance for practitioners involved or interested in arbitration in China.” From the Foreword by Gabrielle Kaufmann-Kohler This title is included in Bloomsbury Professional's International Arbitration online service.

The book is the first of its kind in seeking to make students "practice ready" for representing parties in international arbitrations. It covers the full scope of the role of arbitration counsel in advising clients, from drafting arbitration clauses to representing clients in arbitrations to prosecuting and defending court actions at the enforcement stage. Throughout the book, the authors make students come alive to the ethical problems faced by arbitration practitioners on a day-to-day basis, with the objective of preparing them for the choices arbitration lawyers actually have to make. The book provides a distinctive way to teach central transferable skills that are vital for the success of any junior practitioner. It provides opportunities to practice client counseling, clause drafting to achieve client goals, and the composing of advice of how to respond to proposed contract language received during negotiations. It further provides opportunities to engage in drafting of documents that are less frequently included in the law school curriculum but are vital to the practice of law. These documents include requests for the production of documents, requests for the production of electronic documents, motions requesting emergency relief (temporary restraining orders), as well as dispositive motions and affidavits. The book therefore assists law schools in making available alternative ways in which to achieve basic institutional learning outcomes. The book is one of the first to teach students how to engage in a global practice of law through simulations inspired by real life disputes. The global practice of law involves challenges that exceed those encountered in the domestic setting. Questions of legal culture, applicable law, and client expectations differ markedly in global practice. This book is one of the first to provide students with a practical means to deal with such challenges. It is thus particularly well suited for use in classes with an LLM contingent as the simulation scenarios permit LLM students to bring in their home country experiences fully into simulation exercises. By teaching these transferable skills, the book provides an engaging way to introduce students to the skills they will need to perform well on the Multistate Performance Test as part of their bar examination. The Multistate Performance Tests asks students to draft a specific piece of work product based on a closed packet of materials. The chapters are set up in such a way that students will be exposed to that way of encountering new kinds of work product and dealing with such work product on the basis of a closed packet of materials. This experience thus also has significant bar study benefits. In order to achieve these benefits, the book uses a simulations approach. To prepare students for the problems faced by arbitration counsel, the book introduces them to different simulations that present real-world practice problems. Though many of these problems are discrete, certain simulations are referred to multiple times to show students that procedural choices made in the beginning of an arbitration have significant implications for later stages of proceedings. This flexible use of the simulation method introduces students to the need to address some discrete problems for clients while also alerting them to the fact that client advice can have a long half-life. The authors are seasoned arbitration practitioners and academics. The authors have in fact handled numerous arbitrations together and have tried to make available their best practices in this book. Michael Nolan is a partner in the Washington, DC office of Milbank LLP. He has served as counsel in more than a hundred disputes. He serves as an arbitrator in a wide range of cases and is a member of the International Advisory Committee of the American Arbitration Association. Michael Nolan also teaches as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown Law Center. Frédéric G. Sourgens is a Professor of Law at Washburn University School of Law. He is the author of more than 60 publications, including approximately a dozen books on arbitration or arbitration-related subjects. His work has been cited as authority by numerous arbitral tribunals and counsel. Frédéric Sourgens also remains active in arbitrations in a number of different capacities. Though flexible in how it can be used, the book is specially designed for use in arbitration skills classes. It further can support arbitration clinic students in learning the basics of arbitration and can further support arbitration seminars looking to take a more detailed look at the inner working of one of the most controversial areas of law judging by the constant stream of U.S. Supreme Court cases on the subject matter.

Written by today’s leading arbitrators and counsel, this remarkably candid guide provides insight into the practitioner’s approach, conduct, style, and techniques that have proven most effective. While the facts and the law are fundamental, a successful outcome is the product of painstaking document review, witness interviews, legal research, strategizing and focusing the case, and developing compelling written and oral presentations. How to properly perform these tasks is the subject of this book. And where the first edition focused mainly on the cultural differences in advocacy performed in various regions of the world, this new edition expands on this theme by addressing each functional aspect of an international arbitration and the techniques that have been developed for good written and oral advocacy. Intended to assist both the novice in learning the techniques of advocacy, and the experienced advocate in improving his skills, this is an essential reference.

The nature and magnitude of the growth in China-Africa economic relations in recent years is unprecedented and extraordinary. According to recent estimates, the value of China’s trade with African nations grew from a mere USD 10 million in the 1980s to USD 55 billion in 2006, and to more than USD 100 billion by the end of 2009, at which time nearly 1,600 Chinese companies were doing business in Africa with a direct stock investment of about USD 7.8 billion. The accelerating impetus of China-Africa trade has overtaken some crucially important features of an effective trade regime, most notably a fully trustworthy dispute resolution system. It is the current and potential future efficacy of such a system that is taken up in this book with great understanding and skill. The author evaluates existing mechanisms of dispute resolution in all aspects of China-Africa economic relations in light of the parties’ economic and cultural profiles and their evolving legal traditions, and goes on to propose a comprehensive institutional model of dispute resolution that takes full account of the economic needs and legal cultures of both China and the various African countries. Among the topics and issues that arise in the course of the book are the following: suitability of the WTO’s dispute resolution mechanism for China-Africa trade relations; domestic, bilateral, regional, and multilateral law sources affecting China-Africa commerce; the role of intra-Africa bilateral investment treaties; competing interests that underpin international investment law; relevant legal, economic, and political challenges and cultural barriers; permissible scope of regional trade regimes; national treatment versus duty to compensate; and harmonization initiatives—model laws, incoterms, restatements. The author includes in-depth analysis of how China-Africa economic relations fare in the varieties of dispute resolution methods available at the major arbitral European and American institutions—ICSID, AAA, ICC, LCIA, PCA—as well as under the rules of the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC) and the important arbitral fora in Cairo, Kuala Lumpur, and Lagos. Endorsing institutional arbitration as the most appropriate form of resolving trade, investment, and commercial disputes arising between China and African countries, this ground-breaking analysis outlines the obstacles and shortcomings of the available means of dispute settlement, both in international and domestic contexts, and offers deeply informed recommendations for improvement of the existing system. Although the book will be welcomed by interested scholars and practitioners for its detailed discussion of how China-Africa trade relations are situated within the global trade regime, its most enduring value lies in its thorough evaluation of the available options and its proposals for structuring a legal framework within which future disputes will be effectively resolved.