List of all meetings

A discussion of confidentiality

Our fellow members, Jeff Zaino and Luis Martinez, will lead a discussion of various issues that have arisen out of the Resolution Roundtable, a weekly blog that is presided over by Jeff and created by him in 2016, The blog features weekly arbitration-related questions many of which will be discussed at the Club meeting. 

Our first speaker, Catherine Rogers, who will speak on “Say What?: Arbitrator Speech, Ethics, and the Edges of Impartiality.” The presentation will feature a lively session exploring when arbitrators’ words cross the line. Members are invited to take a short, anonymous multiple-choice quiz—based on real cases—to test their instincts on what speech might justify a successful challenge to an arbitrator. Results of the quiz and the underlying cases will be revealed and discussed at the meeting, along with insights from Catherine Rogers’ forthcoming article Arbitrator Speech.

All members (regardless of whether you plan to attend the July 17 meeting) are encouraged to take the quiz in advance—anonymous, quick, and guaranteed to spark debate!

Our second speaker will be Prof. Giuseppe De Palo, an international JAMS mediator, who will speak on “Mediating Across Worlds: Why Culture and Law Matter More Than You Think.”

Our fellow member, Kim Landsman, will lead a discussion on “The 2025 Queen Mary White & Case Survey: Its Methodology and Reliability.”

A fireside chat on Fabricated Evidence in International Arbitration: What to do about it now that AI is here. With:

Lee Rovinescu, a partner with the Freshfields firm in New York. Lee’s practice focuses primarily on acting for clients in international commercial and investment arbitrations across a wide array of sectors. He previously spent time working at the firm’s offices in Paris and Dubai, and also spent time seconded to the legal department of a large energy company in Houston.

Christina Doria, a partner in the BakerMcKenzie Toronto office. She specializes in international litigation and arbitration.

The meeting will consist of a fireside chat with U.S. and International Arbitrator Gary L. Benton, C.Arb, the founder of the Silicon Valley Arbitration and Mediation Center (SVAMC), on cryptocurrency disputes in international arbitration. Gary has served as an arbitrator on some of the most significant international arbitrations in the field. The discussion will address the unique way this cutting-edge sector does business and considerations with respect to arbitration seats, jurisdiction, choice of law and other procedural and substantive matters.

Our fellow member, David Zaslowsky, will participate in the discussion as a principal commentator.

Peter Skoufalos, a partner in the firm of Brown Power & Fromm LLP, will lead a discussion on pre-award security and other remedies in New York maritime arbitration and their potential broader applicability, joined in by our fellow member, Louis Epstein, General Counsel of Trammo, Inc., and other members of the Club.

Neeti Sachdeva, Registrar & Secretary General of the Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration, will speak about arbitration developments in India and about the current public consultation on revised MCIA Rules.

 Are there problems with the ways in which international arbitration proceedings are conducted today?  Time for a reset?

Speakers:  Chris Bogart, CEO of Burford Capital; our fellow members, John Fellas and Lawrence Newman; Larry Shore of Seladore Legal of London and Milan

1. Our fellow members, Kabir Duggal and Melida Hodgson, will lead a discussion on “diversity, equity and inclusion in international arbitration: where has it gone and where is it going?“

2. Our fellow member, Ted Lynch, the leader of the jury that has been engaged in the process of determining the winner(s) of the Smit-Lowenfeld prize for 2023, will be announcing the winner or winners of the award and will describe the process by which they were selected.

3. Eva Chan of Skadden, the Co-Chair of Young ICCA, will talk to us about Young ICCA and its composition and activities.

Judge Charles N. Brower in a conversation/interview on the conduct of international arbitration. 

Our first speaker, Russ Bleemer, is the longtime editor of Alternatives to the High Cost of Litigation, a 41-year-old monthly newsletter on commercial conflict resolution published by the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution, in New York. Russ will discuss, Alternatives at CPR: Covering ADR’s Hot Topics for the Legal Community, covering both trends and hot topics in the ADR world.

 Our second speaker, Mohannad A. El-Murtadi Suleiman, is counsel at Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP, and a member of the firm’s International Arbitration Group. Mohannad will lead a discussion on Interim Measures of Protection by International Arbitral Tribunals.

John Buckley, will discuss Security for Costs in Investor-State Arbitration: The Investor’s Right to Pursue Claims Versus the State’s Right to Recover Legal Costs. This presentation will explore the evolution of ICSID Rules and jurisprudence on security for costs, the effect of third-party funding on the developing legal regime, and the balance to be struck between the risk to the State respondent of an unsatisfied cost award and the right of the investor claimant to submit its claim to the tribunal. It will also touch upon security for costs in international commercial arbitration.

Fellow member Jim Carter will lead a discussion on the recent Olympic Games and the Arbitration Issues that Arose from it. A report on activities of the alleged “slack-chinned, necktie-smooth, multi-passported supremos” of the “secretive, opaque and stinking-as-a-spoiled-oyster star chamber,” that “magisterial, back-scratchy mess” known as the Court of Arbitration for Sport at the Paris Olympics.

Our first speaker will be our fellow member, James Hosking, who will lead a discussion on "witness gating," the practice of an arbitral tribunal's limiting or eliminating witness testimony. The discussion may also touch on other techniques to limit hearing evidence, such as the non-examination of a witness who has submitted a witness statement, restrictions on the scope or duration of cross- examination, and documents-only arbitrations.  

Our second speaker will be our fellow member, David Martowski, in our series, “What Else Do You Do?" on other lives of our members apart from their involvement in international arbitration. David, a distinguished maritime arbitrator, will talk to us about his early career as a “narc” for the Drug Enforcement Administration including tales of drug “busts and buys,” and related activities in parts of New York City seldom frequented by member(s) of this Club, at least for the same purpose. 

Catherine Rogers, Professor at Bocconi University, a world recognized authority on ethics in international arbitration and one of the reporters for the Restatement of International Commercial and Investment Arbitration, will lead a discussion based on her recent article, “Reconceptualizing the Party-Appointed Arbitrator and the Meaning of Impartiality.”
 

Our second speaker will be our fellow member, David Martkowski, in our series, “What Else Do You Do?" on other lives of our members apart from their involvement in international arbitration. David, a distinguished maritime arbitrator, will talk to us about his early career as a “narc” for the Drug Enforcement Administration including tales of scheduled drug “busts and buys,” and related activities in parts of New York City seldom frequented by member(s) of this Club, at least for the same purpose. 

Grant Hanessian and Galina Zukova, a Paris arbitrator, will discuss their experiences helping to organize the Arbitration and Mediation Center of Armenia (AMCA), which began operations at the end of last year principally funded by the European Union, and issues confronting arbitration institutions in CIS countries. Grant is the first president of AMCA’s Arbitration Council, and Galina is a member of AMCA’s Arbitration Council, and a Vice-Chair of the Arbitration Council of the Georgian International Arbitration Centre

We will also be welcoming Serena K. Lee, the new CEO and President of CPR. In addition to introducing herself to those members who have not yet met her, Serena will be sharing her initial thoughts on the future of CPR. She will discuss the creation of CPR’s Dispute Resolution Services (DRS) division and its implications for the Institute’s mission. She will also provide some insights into the CPR Roster of Distinguished Neutrals. Finally, she looks forward to hearing from the members who would like to share their perspectives on the role that CPR has played in the past and how it may best serve the legal community, given its unique role as an organization dedicated to thought leadership in ADR.

Boaz S. Morag and Katie L. Gonzalez, who are the co-chair of the Working Group and assistant to the Working Group, respectively, of the New York City Bar Association that drafted the recently published City Bar Report on the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements (COCA Convention), Hague Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters (Judgments Convention), and United Nations Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation (Singapore Convention), will present on these three private international law treaties that the United States has signed but has yet to ratify and implement.  The presentation will address the provisions of the treaties, the Working Group’s proposal as to their implementation in the United States and the impact of these Conventions on international arbitration.

Members, Peter Bekker and Robert Smit, will give a joint presentation on "Tracing New York Arbitration's Dutch Roots: From Peter Stuyvesant to Hans Smit and Beyond." 

We will be honored by the participation in the program of the Consul General of the Netherlands in New York, Mr. Ahmed Dadou. 

Dutch treats will be provided. 

Prior to the presentation there will be time for members to recount reminiscences in appreciation of the arbitration career of our late member, Gerry Aksen.

A fireside chat moderated by Larry Newman and participated in by Club members with our fellow member, Professor George Bermann of Columbia Law School and Professor August Reinisch of the Law Faculty of the University of Vienna, both of whom have served as arbitrators in the field of investor-state arbitration.

The fireside chat will delve into the practical aspects of investor-state arbitration from arbitrators' point of view in proceedings in the United States and Europe.

The annual dinner in honor of the winners of the Smit-Lowenfeld Award for the best article published in English in the field of international arbitration in 2022. This year, we are honored to celebrate the award to Rekha Rangachari, Kabir Duggal and Adam Masurovsky for their article, One Size Fits All? Comparing Civil Law and Common Law Approaches to Evidence and Its Application in International Arbitration. 

  Speakers -

Dr. Dorothee Schramm, an independent arbitrator from Geneva, Switzerland and leader of a Project Team from the Swiss Arbitration Association and Jus Mundi that is building a global Tribunal Secretary Platform from which international arbitration tribunals will be able to identify and work with qualified tribunal secretaries; and

Our fellow member, Andrew Riccio, the Co-head of the Baker McKenzie North American International Arbitration Practice Group and a co-author of the Young ICCA Guide on Arbitral Secretaries (2015)

Topic:  

Toward Professionalized Collaboration of Arbitrators and Tribunal Secretaries in International Arbitration.

The principal speaker will be Nadia Darwazeh, a partner in Clyde & Co in London, who will be interviewed in a “fireside chat“ on “The Seven Commandments to tackle corruption and illegality including money laundering.”

Ms. Darwazeh is an experienced advocate and arbitrator in international commercial and investment arbitration with international law firms based in Paris, Frankfurt and London, as well as Shanghai, and with deep  experience with the ICC, where she led the Europe, Middle East and Africa team for three years.

Fireside Chat with Honorable Bridget McCormack, the President of the American Arbitration Association

Dmitry Pentsov, a partner in the law firm of MLL Meyerlustenberger Lachenal Froriep Ltd in Geneva, Switzerland, will be leading a discussion on Bifurcation in International Arbitration Involving Joint Ventures.

Mia Levi, Vice President of CPR Dispute Resolution Services at CPR Dispute Resolution, and Helena Erickson, Senior Vice President of Dispute Resolution Services and Corporate Secretary at CPR Institute, will be leading a discussion on CPR Today: How It Has Changed and Where It is Going.

 John Tredennick, founder and CEO of Merlin Search Technologies, will lead a discussion on Ways to Use ChatGPT for Investigations and E-Discovery

Professor Jody Kraus, the Alfred McCormack Professor of Law at Columbia Law School.  Professor Kraus is an expert on contracts and commercial law and is the co-author of a leading contracts casebook, Contract Law and Theory (fifth edition), and has published extensively in both law reviews and peer-reviewed journals.  Professor Kraus will discuss Binding Non-parties to Agreements to Arbitrate and his recent experience as lead counsel for appellant in Trina Solar US, Inc. v. Jasmin Solar Pty Ltd, 954 F.3d 567 (2nd Cir. 2020).

Hernán Pérez Loose, the Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations, a founding at Coronel & Pérez Law Firm, registered arbitrator, and Delegate of Ecuador before the Arbitration Commission of the ICC. Mr. Pérez will discuss The UN Sanctions Regime and International Arbitration.

We will be joined by Mark Kantor, a retired partner of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy (now Milbank LLC), an international arbitrator in investment and commercial disputes, an Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, and the Editor-in-Chief of the online journal Transnational Dispute Management.  Mr. Kantor will discuss "A New Damages Model for an Uncertain World," positing that a model partly based on previously invested capital and rate of return may reduce uncertainties more than the widely used discounted cash flow method.

We will also be joined by David Cowen, a vice president in Charles River Associates' Forensic Services Practice, with over 25 years of digital forensics, information security and cyber incident response experience.  Mr. Cowen will lead a discussion on "Chat GPT for Litigators, Arbitrators, and Experts," addressing how professionals are making use of artificial intelligence to act as their paralegal, first year associate research assistant and contract technical writer.  Mr. Cowen will provide a demonstration of how to effectively use Chat GPT in your own work and the security considerations you should keep in mind when dealing with sensitive data.

 Katherine Forrest, former U.S. District Court Judge, current partner at Paul Weiss, and frequent writer and speaker on algorithmic bias and the use of artificial intelligence in the practice of law will lead a discussion on “The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Dispute Resolution."  We will also be joined by Eric Tuchman, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of the American Arbitration Association, who will present on the topic of, “Perils for Arbitrators and Institutions: Litigation and Other Threats."

Caline Mouawad, a Partner at Chaffetz Lindsey, and Jessica Bees und Chrostin, a Partner at King & Spaulding, the winners of this year's Smit-Lowenfeld Prize for best article in the field of international arbitration will speak. They will discuss their prize-winning article “The Illegality Objection in Investor-State Arbitration,” which was published in 37 Arbitration International 57 (2022), and which examines the soaring number of allegations of illegality and how tribunals deal with those allegations. A copy of the article is attached. We will also be joined by Ezequiel Vetulli, Executive Director of the Cross Examination Moot (www.crossmoot.com) and a Senior Associate at Freshfields. Mr. Vetulli will lead a discussion on The Moot, a competition for university teams with an exclusive focus on cross-examination techniques in international arbitration.

Stefano Azzali is Director General of the Milan Chamber of Arbitration (CAM), Visiting Professor of Arbitration Law at Bocconi University in Milan and at SciencePo in Paris, Fellow at the Centre for Transnational Litigation and Commercial Law, NYU School of Law and a member of the Formula One International Contract Recognition Board. The topic for his presentation in person will be: Recent Developments in Italian Arbitration Law and Practice. 

Kate Brown de Vejar is a Partner and Global Co-Chair of International Arbitration at DLA Piper based in Mexico City. She is a Vice Chair of the IBA’s Arbitration Committee, a Member of the LCIA Court and Vice President of ANZMEX (the Australia, New Zealand, Mexico Business Council). Her presentation will be on: the Development of UNCITRAL's Code of Conduct for Adjudicators and Implications for Commercial Arbitration. Please also see attached a draft commentary to the current proposed text of the Code of Conduct.

Club Members Larry Newman, co-founder of the New York Litigation Department of Baker & McKenzie, author of several publications on International Arbitration, and co-founder of the International Arbitration Club of New York, and Jim Carter, an international arbitrator and author/editor of publications in the field since the 1970s, and also co-founder of the International Arbitration Club of New York will speak.  The topic for the meeting will be: A Look Backward Through Personal Experiences in the Growth of the Modern Era of International Arbitration: A Conversation Between Jim Carter and Larry Newman. 

Club Member Pete Michaelson, a full-time neutral with Michaelson ADR Chambers, LLC, and Fellow, Chartered Arbitrator and past Institute Trustee, Co-Founder and Chair Emeritus of the New York Branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, who arbitrates and mediates international and domestic disputes primarily involving intellectual property, information technology and other technology related matters. Mr. Michaelson will discuss Setting Up For A Remote Arbitration Practice, explaining how pandemic-induced office shutdowns fundamentally and permanently changed our work modality, and providing adaptation strategies, including pertinent ergonomic and environmental considerations, proper furniture, technology, backups and cybersecurity issues.

Toby Landau QC, a barrister, advocate and arbitrator, and a member of the Bars of England & Wales, Singapore, New York, the BVI and Northern Ireland, will lead a discussion on Rethinking the Justification for, Preparation and Presentation of Witness Testimony.  Witness testimony now dominates most arbitration hearings.  Its preparation and presentation has become a lengthy and expensive exercise, and international arbitral tribunals have become increasingly skeptical about the value of the process.  All too often the exercise comprises substantial redundancy, with little impact on the resolution of the case.  Mr. Landau's presentation will critically review current practices and propose new perspectives.

Tim Nelson, a member of our Club and a Partner, International Arbitration and Litigation, at Skadden, will lead a discussion on Mega-Awards in US Courts – or Eight Figures is Not Enough.  Due mainly to investor state-awards, but also because of a few large recent commercial awards, the value of pending actions to enforce international awards has never been higher.  Tim will describe the latest from the frontlines in these cases, including:

• the status of the mega Yukos award against Russia;
• recent developments in Delaware regarding enforcement against Venezuela's state-owned enterprises (and veil-piercing);
• the latest "forum non conveniens" decisions from the D.C.. Circuit and Second Circuit (insofar as they affect arbitration award enforcement);
• the effect of sanctions on the current enforcement environment;
• other high profile award enforcement cases in the District of Columbia and Southern District of New York

We will also be joined by Dana MacGrath, a member of our Club, the President of the Board of Directors of ArbitralWomen, and a member of the Global Steering Committee of the Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge.  She will lead a discussion on Recent Efforts to Advance Diversity in International Arbitration, discussing the illustrative Steps taken by ArbitralWomen, the Arbitration Pledge and Racial Equality for Arbitration Lawyers (R.E.A.L.) and how this intersects with New York as a seat of arbitration.

We will be joined first by representatives of the Campaign for Greener Arbitrations (CGA) (www.greenerarbitrations.com). The program will begin with virtual remarks by Lucy Greenwood, an independent arbitrator (Greenwood Arbitration) who is founder and President of the Global Steering Committee of Campaign for Greener Arbitrations (CGA) (Global Steering Committee (greenerarbitrations.com).

Then Michael McIlwrath of MDisputes based in Florence, Italy, and former Vice President - Litigation of Baker Hughes (a GE company) (About us - MDisputes); Olivier André, Client Relationship Advisor with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (New York), and Chair of the CGA North America Committee (Olivier Andre | Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer); and Hon. Barry Leon, FCIArb, an independent arbitrator with Arbitration Place, 33 Bedford Row Chambers and Caribbean Arbitrators, and member of the CGA North America Committee (https://www.arbitrationplace.com/arbitrator/barry-leon) will lead a discussion with Club members about The CGA Guiding Principles and Protocols (Framework for the Adoption of Protocols and Framework and Green Protocols), which are applicable to law firms, chambers and legal service providers in arbitration, arbitrators, arbitration conferences, arbitral hearing venues, and arbitral institutions.

We will also be joined by Ko-Yung Tung (KYT Bio), Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School, former Secretary General of the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and former General Counsel of the World Bank.  Professor Tung will lead a discussion on International Investment Arbitration: Is It In A Crisis?, with a focus on the evolution of Investor State Dispute Settlement from a means to avoid "gun-boat" diplomacy and promote foreign investment in developing countries, to a regime being attacked on all sides that is facing increasing pressure to revisit and restructure its framework.

Taking a Fresh Look at Arbitration Case Management Techniques, and will include brief presentations by Edna Sussman, Klaus Peter Berger, Alex de Gramont, Mark Morril, Tom Stipanowich, Debbie Masucci and Kathleen Paisley, who will provide us with their insights on various case management tools, including arbitrators encouraging mediation windows, presenting preliminary views, presiding over Kaplan Openings, engaging in med-arb, communicating with the mediator, use of a process facilitator, and enforcement issues. It is expected that a significant portion of the session will be devoted to a discussion of these tools with the members attending.

We will also explore the work done in this area by the Mixed Mode Task Force, a joint project of the College of Commercial Arbitrators, the Straus Institute, and the International Mediation Institute released in November 2021. Articles about each of the working groups in the Mixed Mode Task Force are available at https://nysba.org/new-york-dispute-resolution-lawyer-vol-14-no-1/, and the reports of the Mixed Mode Task force are available at https://imimediation.org/about/who-are-imi/mixed-mode-task-force/.

We will be joined by Professor Hal Abramson of Touro Law Center in New York, who participated in the three-year drafting process at the UN that resulted in the Singapore Mediation Convention, and by Ron Kelly, a full-time mediator and arbitrator and one of the guiding hands in the formation of mediation law and policy.  Professor Abramson and Mr. Kelly will lead a discussion on The Singapore Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation: How Useful Will It Be and Should the US Ratify it?  

Gary Born, Chair of the International Arbitration Practice Group at Wilmer Hale and former winner of the Smit-Lowenfeld Prize for best article in the field of international arbitration will lead a discussion on The Hague Choice of Court Agreement Convention:  Why It Should Not Be Ratified.  We will also be joined by João Ribeiro-Bidaoui, First Secretary of the Hague Conference on Private International Law, who will provide arguments in defense of ratification, and James B. Cunningham, a former senior U.S. diplomat with expertise in negotiating with foreign governments on behalf of U.S. businesses, who will expand upon corruption in foreign government decision making and particularly in the judicial process.  A copy of the Convention--ratified by the EU, Denmark, Mexico, Montenegro, Singapore and the UK, and signed but not ratified by China, Israel, North Macedonia, Ukraine and the U.S.--is attached, along with Mr. Born and Mr. Ribeiro-Bidaoui's blog posts on the subject. 

We will be joined by Kathleen Claussen, Associate Professor at the University of Miami School of Law, Senior Fellow at the Georgetown University Law Center Institute of International Economic Law, and the recipient of this year's Smit-Lowenfeld Prize for best article in the field of international arbitration.  She will discuss her prize-winning article “The International Claims Trade,” which was published in 41 Cardozo Law Review 1743 (2020), and which examines the law of international claims trading and defends the marketability of such claims, including those against sovereigns.  She will be joined by Wieger Wielinga, Managing Director Enforcement & EMEA for Omni Bridgeway, and by Jeffery Commission, a Director of Burford Capital, who will comment on the article based on their experience as third-party funders.

 Dr. Habib Al Mulla, the Country Managing Partner and Executive Chairman of Baker McKenzie Habib Al Mulla in the United Arab Emirates, and Karen Seif, an attorney and lecturer at the Paris Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi, to discuss The Recent Decree Changing the Conduct of Arbitration in Dubai; Why, How and the Future.  Dr. Al Mulla and Ms. Seif will focus on the decree's cancellation of two arbitration institutions in Dubai and the transfer of the operations of those institutions to the Dubai International Arbitration Center ("DIAC"), the effect of that transfer on existing commercial contracts, and the future conduct of arbitration in Dubai.

We are also pleased to announce the next feature in our new segment, What else do you do?,  which permits members with interesting lives apart from international arbitration to talk about what they do in them.  We will hear from fellow member Lindsay Gastrell, a Senior Counsel with Arbitration Chambers, on My Other Life as a Sommelier, where she will share her experience becoming a certified sommelier, discuss life in the wine industry, and make a case for New York as the world's greatest city for wine. 

We will be joined by Christopher Gibson, Professor of Law and Director of the ADR Program and the Business Law and Financial Services Concentration at Suffolk University Law School in Boston, and Christian Campbell, Director of the Center for International Legal Studies in Salzburg, Austria, co-founders of the Foreign Direct Investment Moot, to talk about the history and development of this increasingly important international student competition. 

We will also be joined by Ken Hagen, President & CEO of Federal Arbitration Inc. (FedArb),  a nationwide ADR firm with over 100 panelists, including the largest roster of former Article III judges in the country.  Mr. Hagen will be discussing the international activities of FedArb.   

 The session will feature Club Member David Brodsky, the Principal of Brodsky ADR, and the author of an article entitled Getting Real About Discovery in Arbitrations, published in the March 13, 2020 edition of the New York Law Journal.  Mr. Brodsky will be joined by Club Members Richard Ziegler, Principal of AcumenADR LLC, and Marc Goldstein, the Principal of MJG Arbitration & Mediation, who will lead a discussion about reconciling the language of Section 7 of the FAA with today's reality of remote arbitral hearings and whether third party witnesses can be required to appear remotely before a Tribunal.

 Bob Davidson, the Executive Director of JAMS Arbitration Practice, Marc Goldstein, the Principal of MJG Arbitration & Mediation, and Grant Hanessian, the Principal of Hanessian ADR, on "Defying Conventional Wisdom--Time to Do Away with Irreparable Harm and Likelihood of Success?"  The discussion will focus on the standards (both official and unofficial) used by arbitrators in emergency relief and interim measures applications, including the new JAMS International Arbitration Rules (one of which replaces the interim relief provision with the UNCITRAL standards).   

We will also be joined by Club Member David Brodsky, the Principal of Brodsky ADR, and the author of an article entitled Getting Real About Discovery in Arbitrations, published in the March 13, 2020 edition of the New York Law Journal.  Mr. Brodsky will lead a discussion about reconciling the language of Section 7 of the FAA with today's reality of remote arbitral hearings and whether third party witnesses can be required to appear remotely before a Tribunal.

We will be joined by Pablo Spiller, a Senior Consultant at Compass Lexicon, the Jeffrey A. Jacobs Distinguished Professor (Emeritus) of Business and Technology at the Haas School of Business, and the former Co-Chair of the International Arbitration Practice Group at LECG, a global litigation, economics and business advisory firm.  Mr. Spiller will lead a discussion on Optimizing Expert Evidence: the Effective Presentation of Expert Economic Evidence in an Adversarial System.

We are also pleased to announce the next feature in our new segment, What else do you do?,  which permits members with interesting lives apart from international arbitration to talk about what they do in them.  We will be joined by fellow member Marc J. Goldstein, a Fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators and of the Charted Institute of Arbitrators and a Principal of MJG Arbitration & Mediation, who will make a presentation on Shifting Gears: Climbing and Coasting from a New York Seat, reporting from his 540-mile bicycle ride from New York City to Niagara Falls to raise money for cancer research. 

We will be joined by Marc J. Goldstein, a Fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators and of the Charted Institute of Arbitrators and a Principal of MJG Arbitration & Mediation, and by Steven Skulnik, Senior Legal Editor, Arbitration, of Thomson Reuters, Chair of the Arbitration Committee of the New York City Bar Association, and independent arbitrator, to lead a discussion on the New York City Bar's recent report on The Functus Officio Problem in Modern Arbitration and a Proposed Solution.  A copy of the report is attached.

We are also pleased to announce the next feature in our new segment, What else do you do?,  which permits members with interesting lives apart from international arbitration to talk about what they do in them.  We will be joined by fellow member Mike Lampert, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and Principal at LampertADR, who will make a presentation on My Love Affair with Edinburgh and the Scottish National Library. 

We will be joined by Deborah Mastin, a guest lecturer at the University of Miami School of Law and Fellow of the American College of Construction Lawyers; Andrew D. Ness, a JAMS arbitrator with extensive experience in major international and transnational construction projects; and Nicholas Gould, an international construction, engineering and energy specialist of Fenwick Elliott LLP in London. The discussion will focus on the use of dispute boards in keeping construction projects out of litigation or arbitration and whether such boards can and should be incorporated into other kinds of commercial contracts.

We will be joined by Club member Luis Martinez, Vice President of the ICDR/AAA, who will lead a discussion on the newly revised ICDR International Dispute Resolution Procedures, amended and effective as of March 1, 2021.

We will also be joined by Club member David Zaslowsky, a Partner in Baker & McKenzie's New York office, to lead a discussion on The Case for Distributing Draft Arbitration Awards, focusing on whether arbitrators should be encouraged to distribute draft awards to allow the parties to identify potential errors before the awards are finalized. An article by Messrs. Newman and Zaslowsky was recently published in the NYLJ.

We will be joined by Professor George Affaki, a Chartered Arbitrator, qualified Avocat before the Court of Appeal of Paris, and a Professor of Law at the University of Paris, who will lead a discussion on Arbitrating Complex Financial Disputes: the P.R.I.M.E. Finance Solution.  Information regarding P.R.I.M.E. Finance, its lists of experts, and its arbitration rules, is available at https://primefinancedisputes.org/ and an article authored by Professor Affaki on the Revamping of P.R.I.M.E. Finance Arbitration Rules is attached.

We will also be joined by Vladimir Khvalei, a Partner in Baker & McKenzie's Moscow office and head of the Firm's CIS Dispute Resolution Practice Group, to discuss Enforcement of an Arbitral Award Against a Distressed Debtor and the Res Judicata Effect of the Arbitral Award on a Non-Party to the Arbitration.

Club Members Jeff Zaino and Luis Martinez of the AAA/ICDR, who will lead a discussion on Questions, Controversies, and Replies: A Dive Into the Resolution Roundtable Blog Archives.  Among other things, the discussion will focus on issues of civility (and lack thereof) and other interactions among members of tripartite tribunals. The weekly NYSBA Resolution Roundtable Blog is sponsored by the Dispute Resolution Section. Please come prepared to discuss and debate the questions that will be provided in advance. If you are unfamiliar with the blog, follow the link.

 José Astigarraga of the Reed Smith office in Miami will also speak on speak on the recent International Chamber of Commerce report on Fact Witness Memory in International Arbitration. 

We will be joined by Professor Julien Chaisse and Christen Bauer, the recipients of this year's Smit-Lowenfeld Prize for best article in the field of international arbitration. They will discuss their prize-winning article “Cybersecurity and the Protection of Digital Assets: Assessing the Role of International Investment Law and Arbitration,” which was published in the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law (Vol. 21, No. 3) and examines the extent to which digital assets can or might be protected as investments in investment treaty arbitrations. A copy of the article is attached.

We are also pleased to announce the next presentation in the series of segments entitled, What else do you do?, which permits members with interesting lives apart from international arbitration to talk about what they do in them. We will be joined by Tai-Heng Cheng, the Global Co-Head of International Arbitration and Trade at Sidley Austin LLP, and a member of our Club, who will make a presentation on "Everything I Need for Arbitration, I Sharpened in Brazilian Jujitsu."

"The Extent of Disclosure by Prospective Arbitrators: The Potential Influence of the Recent Decision of the English Supreme Court in Halliburton v. Chubb" (Adam Samuel); Rejuvenation  of the Club Website (Michael Lampert and Todd Rengel) 

Determining Patent Validity in International Arbitration (William Baker); ICCA Proposed Guidelines on Civility in International Arbitration (Professor Guido Santiago Tawil, Abby Cohen Smutny). 

Private Investigative Work in International Arbitration Claims Against Foreign Sovereigns (Dan Nardello); What else do you do?: My Secret Life as an Artist:  Paintings and Wearable Art (Judge Faith Hochberg)

Debate: Should 28 U.S.C. § 1782 Apply to Private Commercial Arbitration (David Zaslowsky / David Livshiz)

Working Twice as Hard to Get Half as Far (Professor Benjamin G. Davis); The Formation of the Committee on Racial Inclusion in International Arbitration ("CRIIA") (Oliver Armas)

Víctor Gamero Cabo, a partner at Gamero & Bravo Abogados and the Deputy Director of the International Relations Department of the Madrid Bar Association, and José Antonio Caínzos Fernández, President of the new Madrid International Arbitration Court, made a presentation on New Approaches to the Conduct of International Arbitration Proceedings: Best Practices and Rules at the Madrid International Arbitration Centre. A copy the Code of Best Practices in Arbitration of the Spanish Arbitration Club, as well as a recent article on Spanish innovations in international arbitration by Lawrence Newman and David Zaslowsky, The Spaniards Address International Commercial Arbitration in the 21st Century were circulated by email.

Adam Samuel, a UK lawyer also admitted in New York, and an arbitration and financial services compliance expert, made a presentation on court review of merits awards in arbitration in England and the United States. Dmitry Pentsov, a partner in the FRORIEP firm in Geneva, discussed court review of merits awards in Switzerland. A copy of Mr. Samuel's recent article, On Court Review of the Arbitrator's Decision: A Look at the United States from Europe, was circulated by email. We initiated a new segment for our meetings, What else do you do?, permitting members with interesting lives apart from international arbitration to talk about what they do in them: fellow member Steven Certilman presenteed Art in Cuba: Acquiring, Collecting and Exhibiting Contemporary Cuban Art.

Club members Stephanie Cohen (Independent Arbitrator), Samaa Haridi (Hogan Lovells), Luis Martinez (ICDR), Claudia Salomon (ICC) and Richard Ziegler (CPR), along with our guest, J. Brian Casey (Bay Street Chambers - Canada), participated in a discussion on Virtual Hearings in International Arbitration, focusing on the ICC, AAA-ICDR, CPR, and ad hoc approaches to virtual hearings, and on the question of what tribunals can and should do when one of the parties objects to proceeding with a virtual hearing. Copies of model procedural orders prepared by the ICC, AAA-ICDR and Stephanie Cohen for virtual hearings along with the Hogan Lovells Protocol for the use of technology in virtual international arbitration hearings and the ICC Guidance Note on Possible Measures Aimed at Mitigating the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic were circulated by email.

Isabel Yang, the founder and CEO of Arbilex, led a discussion on the topic of AI, Predictions, and Law: a Probabilistic Perspective and What it might Mean for International Arbitration. The discussion focused on the use of artificial intelligence software to map out risk factors associated with an arbitration case, benchmarking and quantifying probabilities, and allowing users to think more probabilistically when assessing settlement outcomes.

Fellow member John Fellas led a discussion on the topic of his recent article, Arbitrators' Questions: Can They Cross a Line? The discussion explored whether--so long as an arbitrator does nothing that creates a successful basis to challenge an award--she is permitted to ask any question, even one she knows in advance is likely to assist one party and hurt the other. A copy of the article was circulated by email.

February 5, 2020

The Smit-Lowenfeld Prize Dinner was held at the University Club to honor winner of the Ninth Annual Smit-Lowenfeld Prize Soterios Loizou, for his article “Revisiting the 'Content-of-Laws' Enquiry in International Arbitration."

Fellow member James Carter led a discussion on the Arbitration of Sports Disputes. Professor José Alvarez, the Herbert and Rose Rubin Professor of International Law at NYU School of Law, led a discussion on The Boundaries of Investment Arbitration.

Allen Waxman, the new President and CEO of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR) made a presentation on the role and activities of CPR going forward. Marek Krasula, Counsel at SICANA, made a presentation re updates on developments in ICC arbitration in the US and Luis Martinez, Vice President of the ICDR/AAA, made a presentation re update on developments at the ICDR. We announced Soterios Loizou as the winner of the Ninth Annual Smit-Lowenfeld Prize.

Anne Champion, Delyan Dimitrov, and Victoria Orlowski, all from Gibson Dunn, led a discussion on on Al-Qarqani v. Chevron: A Victory for International Arbitration and its Ability to Self-Police. Susan Franck, Professor of Law at American University School of Law, made a presentation on Arbitration Costs: Reality, Perception and Predictors.

Professor George A. Bermann, the Jean Monnet Professor of EU Law, Walter Gellhorn Professor of Law, and the director for the Center for International Commercial and Investment Arbitration at Columbia Law School led a discussion on The Arbitration Restatement: What is Clearer and What is Controversial?

Dr. Eckart Brödermann, the managing partner of Brödermann Jahn RA GmbH and a professor at Hamburg University Faculty of Law led a discussion on The Bridge Over Troubled Waters: The UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts and Their Use in International Commercial Arbitration. Philip O'Neill, Jr., a member of our club and the co-chair of the board of directors of the newly-formed Boston International Arbitration Council, led a discussion re Choosing Boston as a Seat for Arbitration.

M. Alexis Maniatis, President & Principal of the Brattle Group, who has been consistently recognized as one of the world's top commercial arbitration expert witnesses by GAR, and James Searby, Senior Managing Director of FTI Consulting and head of their International Arbitration practice in D.C., who specializes in the assessment of quantum issues in contentious matters led a discussion on the Methodology for Determining Interest on International Arbitration Awards.

Jeffery Commission, Director of Burford Capital's underwriting investment arm, and Brooke Güven, Legal Researcher at the Columbia Law School Center on Sustainable Investment, led a discussion, with member participation, on the issues discussed in Brooke's report: The Policy Implications of Third-Party Funding in Investor-State Dispute Settlement, including whether third-party funding increases frivolous and marginal cases, skews decisions to settle, and creates regulatory chill and overdeterrence. A copy of the report was circulated by email.

Independent arbitrator Mark Kantor, formerly of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, led a discussion on The Assault on Investment Treaty Arbitration and Resurgence of Political Risk Insurance. Michael Lampert, independent arbitrator and former Deputy General Counsel of Cantor Fitzgerald and Paul Weiss lawyer, discussed Dealing with the Death or Disability of a Tribunal Member: Lessons from English Practice.

Club Member Edna Sussman led a discussion on Everyone Can Be A Winner: Baseball Arbitration. Modern day "Final Offer Arbitration" emerged in the 1950s in the context of collective bargaining agreements in the United States, and was introduced in the 1970s to the world of baseball, where it assumed its more popular moniker, "Baseball Arbitration." In that context, when a club and a player could not agree on a salary figure they could, under certain circumstances, submit their respective figures to a sole arbitrator who was required to pick one of the figures. In its many variations, baseball arbitration can increase the efficiency of the proceedings, enhance the accuracy of the final award, and augment the chances of a successful settlement. A copy of an article on the subject by Ms. Sussman was circulated by email.

Professor Manuel Gomez of Florida International University Law School led a discussion on International Arbitration in Latin America. Duarte Henriques, a partner at BCH Lawyers in Lisbon, Portugal, discussed Arbitration in Portugal and African Portuguese-Speaking Countries.

Aníbal Sabater, a Partner at Chaffetz Lindsey and Member of our Club, led a discussion on An Arbitrator's Obligation to (try to) Issue an Enforceable Award: Achmea and Beyond -- focusing on what the obligation means in practice--including whether it is being used as an excuse to run processes inefficiently--and how the recent ruling in Achmea has given it an unexpected new life. Chris Alberti, Chief of ADR for the Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration and Member of our Club, led a discussion on the Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration and Recent Developments in Saudi Arbitration Law, focusing on regional initiatives and their impact on arbitration in the Kingdom and in the U.S.

The Smit-Lowenfeld Prize Dinner was held at the University Club of New York in honor of Simon Batifort and J. Benton Heath, winner of the Eighth Annual Smit-Lowenfeld Prize.  Winning article: The New Debate on the Interpretation of MFN Clauses in Investment Treaties: Putting the Brakes on Multilateralization

Luis Martinez, Vice President of the International Centre for Dispute Resolution and a member of our Club, led a discussion on The AAA Initiative Concerning Fixed Fees for Arbitrators. David Zaslowsky, chair of the Litigation Department of Baker McKenzie’s New York office and a member of the Club, led a discussion on Section 1782 in Aid of Arbitration.

Catherine Rogers, Professor of Law and Paul and Marjorie Price Faculty Scholar at Penn State Law, led a discussion on Bringing the Legal Tech Revolution to International Arbitration -- addressing how platform technologies such as Arbitrator Intelligence are generating essential data about international arbitrations that will enable parties and counsel to understand better arbitrators’ decisional track records and to promote a more robust meritocracy that verifies reputations with data from actual performance.

Honorable Barry Leon, Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and former Presiding Judge of the BVI Commercial Court from 2015-2018, and Janet Walker, a professor at Osgoode Hall Law School and the author of Castel and Walker: Canadian Conflict of Laws, led a+C41 discussion on Debunking the Myths About Canadian Arbitration, explaining why a Canadian seat and hearing venue is the next best option for American arbitration practitioners if a US seat and hearing venue are unavailable.

Ibrahim Shehata, a partner at Shehata & Partners and Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at Cairo University, made a presentation (from Cairo) on Blockchain & International Arbitration, focusing on how Blockchain can benefit the current framework of international arbitration and how international arbitration should be the designated forum for Blockchain-based smart contracts. IACNY members Olivier André and Hagit Elul discussed the ICCA-CPR-NYCBA Draft Protocol on Cybersecurity in International Arbitration, released at the ICCA Congress in Sydney last April -- discussing the project in general, the content of the protocol, and some of the issues on which the Working Group are seeking input from the international arbitration community during the consultation period.

IA Club of New York’s First Grand Debate on the topic: “London or New York: Which is the better venue for International Arbitration?” James Carter, Wilmer Hale (New York) argued in favor of New York and Sir Bernard Rix, 20 Essex Street (London) argued in favor of London.

William L. Charron, a partner at Pryor Cashman, led a discussion on The Court of Arbitration for Art: A New International Tribunal for Resolution of Disputes Involving Fine Arts. Vladimir Khvalei, a partner in Baker & McKenzie’s Moscow office and head of the Firm’s CIS Dispute Resolution Practice, and Peter Pettibone, former managing partner of the Moscow office of Hogan & Hartson LLP and a member of our Club, addressed the topic of Should There be an Alternative to the IBA Rules of Evidence: Is There a Need for the Prague Rules?

Marc Goldstein, a member of the Club, discussed The Delicate Diplomacy of Deposits for Arbitrators’ Fees, addressing how to deal with the problems that arise when one of the parties to an arbitration fails to make payments for compensation of the tribunal. Kabir Duggal, an adjunct professor at Columbia Law School, senior associate at Baker & McKenzie, and the co-author of “Evidence in International Investment Arbitration” led a discussion on How Arbitrators Deal with Evidentiary Issues In International Investment Arbitration.

David Martowski led a discussion on "Ships that go Bump in the Night and Piracy - Ordering Pre-Award Security in Maritime Disputes". In addition, John Kimball (BlankRome) addressed the topic of "Arbitrator's Dilemma: Stick My Head in the Sand?"

Marc Goldstein led a discussion on "Looking for Law in All the Right Places: A Modern Spin on Jura Novit Arbiter". In addition, David Zaslowsky addressed "Recent case law of interest to those trying to enforce foreign court judgments or awards".

Marcus Green (Kobre & Kim LLP) and Wieger Wielinga (Omni Bridgeway, Amsterdam) led a discussion on "Choices for Arbitral Award Creditors in Dealing with Recalcitrant Debtors."

January 24, 2018

The Smit-Lowenfeld Prize Dinner was held at the University Club of New York in honor of Alexandra Dosman and Grant Hanessian, winners of the Seventh Annual Smit-Lowenfeld Prize.  The prize was awarded for the article, “Songs of Innocence and Experience: Ten Years of Emergency Arbitration,” which was published ARIA (Vol. 27, No. 2). The article addresses important questions relating to the increased use of emergency arbitration, including whether the practice fulfills its promise of swift relief, whether legal standards for granting relief are consistently applied, whether decisions by emergency arbitrators are enforceable and how emergency arbitration changes the strategic landscape for practitioners and parties

Ucheora Onwuamaegbu (Arent Fox) led a discussion on "Claims Resolution and Arbitration in Africa" and the Club congratulated the Seventh Annual Smit-Lowenfeld Prize Winners.

Norman Solovay (Solovay Practice) and Stephen A. Hochman led a discussion on the "The Jack Grynberg case" with a focus on Arbitrator Hochman's sanctions awarded against Grynberg and refusal to hear evidence on what he considered an irrelevant issue, despite First Department instructions to do so after remand.

Dmitry A. Pentsov, Dr. Franz X. Stirnimann and Mr. Jean Marguerat (Froriep Legal SA) led a discussion on "The Swiss Army Knife in international transactions and disputes - legal and procedural tools available in Switzerland under Swiss Law" with a focus on the attachments of assets in Switzerland, Swiss judicial assistance in aid of arbitration proceedings abroad, and enforcement of awards and judgments in Switzerland.

Tom Childs (King & Spalding) led a discussion on the recent report on Awards of Interest in International Commercial Arbitration issued by the New York City Bar Committee on International Commercial Disputes.

William Slate, III (CEO of Dispute Resolution Data and former President of the AAA/ICDR) led a discussion on the "Status of the database that Dispute Resolution Data is compiling from closed commercial arbitration and mediation cases, based on information it is receiving from 17 contributing institutions worldwide." In addition, Juval Aviv (CEO of Interfor, Inc.) spoke on the topic of "Finding Assets in Enforcement of Arbitral Awards and Judgments".

Frank Kroes (Baker McKenzie, Amsterdam) spoke on the topic of "Attachments in Aid of International Arbitration" and "Recent developments including attachments against sovereign states and the European Bank Attachment Order." Steven Skulnik (Senior Legal Editor, Thomas Reuters) spoke on "The decision in Daesang v. Nutrasweet remanding the matter to the ICC tribunal for 'redetermination' of certain counterclaims because of its manifest disregard of New York law and its 'egregious dereliction of duty.'"

Richard Naimark (Senior Vice President, AAA/ICDR) led a discussion on "Why and How International Arbitration Has Developed over the Past Few Decades: My Personal Experience With the AAA and the ICDR."

Catherine Amirfar (Debevoise & Plimpton; two-year tenure as Counselor on International Law in the U.S. State Department) spoke on the topic of "Perspectives from the Obama Administration's State Department" and her "Perspectives on the outlook for international law and institutions under the Trump Administration."

Jose Maria Alonso (Baker & McKenzie, Madrid) spoke on "The Spanish Supreme Court's recent decision holding arbitrators liable for excluding a third arbitrator from deliberations." William H. Taft V. (Debevoise & Plimpton) spoke on his role in "Successfully presenting an amicus brief on behalf of the New York City Bar in the Second Circuit case of CBF Industria De Gusa S/A v. AMCI Holdings Inc."

January 27, 2017

The Smit-Lowenfeld Prize Dinner was held at the University Club of New York in honor of Aloysius ("Louie") Llamzon and Anthony Sinclair, winners of the Sixth Annual Smit-Lowenfeld Prize.  

The prize was awarded for the article, “Investor Wrongdoing in Investment Arbitration: Standards Governing Issues of Corruption, Fraud, Misrepresentation and Other Investor Misconduct,” which was published in Legitimacy: Myths, Realities, Challenges, ICCA Congress Series No. 18 (A.J. van den Berg ed., 2015). The article explores the impact of bribery and fraud-related allegations on international investment arbitration, and seeks to provide clarity around the standards that govern the presentation and resolution of such allegations, which may impugn an investor’s claims or the investment itself in investor-state arbitration.

Marc Goldstein led a discussion on the topic of International Arbitration Under the New Administration. David Zaslowsky led a discussion on the topic of CPLR 7502(c): Developments in the Use of this Quasi-Secret Weapon.

Michael Goldberg, the Practice Group Chair for the International Dispute Resolution group of Baker Botts LLP, who has represented Russia in the Yukos matter in various venues led a discussion on The History of the Yukos Case. Leng Sun Chan of Baker & McKenzie LLP, one of the leading arbitrators in Asia and President of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators spoke on the topic of Innovative Developments in International Arbitration in Asia.

The 35th Anniversary of the Formation of the Iran-US Claims Tribunal, Which Spawned the World of Investment Arbitration, featuring a discussion of the historical events that led to the establishment of the Iran-US Claims Tribunal with presentations from Mark Feldman, then Acting Legal Adviser of the State Department and Richard Davis, then Assistant Secretary of the Treasury and by Arthur Rovine, then the US Agent at the Tribunal in the Hague and Lawrence Newman, then the Chairman of the United States Iranian Claimants Committee.

In celebration of 100 years of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, club members Thomas Halket and Peter Michaelson, as well as Julio César Betancourt, head of research and academic affairs for the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, led a discussion on: The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators: Answers to All the Questions You Have Been Afraid to Ask.

Christopher Bogart, CEO of Burford Capital LLC, led a discussion on: Third Party Funding of International Arbitration. Burford Capital is a leading global finance and professional services firm focused on law, providing assistance with arbitration funding, monetization of arbitration assets, judgment enforcement, and indemnity coverage against the economic consequences of adverse costs awards.

David Rivkin led a discussion on The Current Criticism of International Arbitration and How to Deal With It. Henry Weisburg updated the group about the launch of the U.S. International Arbitration Digest website, a centralized resource for newly released decisions of U.S. courts relating to international arbitration.

Jennifer Permesly led a discussion on: Where Are We Now?: Mass Claims and Sovereign Debt in the Aftermath of Abaclat -- drawing on the example of the Abaclat v. Argentina ICSID arbitration as well as several other related cases. Jennifer will explored how “mass” or “class” claims might fare in the ICSID/ISDS system now that Abaclat has settled before a decision on the merits, and reviewed the current state of the law regarding the potential to bring investment treaty claims based on defaulted sovereign debt obligations.

Guido Carducci, former Chief of UNESCO’s International Standards Section, Cultural Heritage Division, discussed “Arbitration of Art and Cultural Property Related Disputes: Law and Practice beyond Republic of Austria v. Altmann”. Marc Goldstein, one of our members, led a discussion about what a Justice Garland (or other successful appointee to the right or left) might mean for Supreme Court arbitration jurisprudence.

Wilson Huo, a partner in the Beijing headquarters of the Zhong Lun Law Firm and an active arbitrator of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Center hosted a discussion about China-related Commercial Dispute Resolution.

Fifth Annual Smit-Lowenfeld Prize and Gala Dinner.

 The award was given to Catharine Titi for her article entitled “Investment Arbitration in Latin America: The Uncertain Veracity of Preconceived Ideas,” which was published in Arbitration International, Volume 30, Issue 2. The article addresses whether Latin American states are in fact hostile environments for investment arbitration by considering compliance and enforcement in relation to recent awards, negotiations for a regional arbitration center, and public interest issues.

D.C. Toedt (joining from Houston) joined the panel discussion with Jim Carter, Bob Davidson and Jerry Aksen on the topic of: Management of Arbitration Proceedings: Should Arbitrators Be Afraid of Being Too Hands On?

Randy Hafer (Kilpatrick Townsend) led a discussion on the topic of "Successful Arbitration of International Construction Disputes."

David Martowski spoke about "New York maritime arbitration practice," James Carter about "Class Arbitration" and Gerald Aksen about "the codification and unification of international arbitration."

Nicolas Ulmer (Budin Partners) led a discussion on "Court of Arbitration for Sport: Lessons for the Commercial Arbitrator". He was followed by Murray Smith presenting on "Appeals from Arbitrators" and Laurence Craig (Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliff) presenting on "Arbitrator Independence" and "Varying Approaches to Commercial Arbitration Between France and the United States."

Marc Goldstein spoke on "The New Model Arbitral Witness Summons," providing a tour of the issues examined in the Model Summons and its annotations (attached), following an in depth study of the arbitral subpoena power under FAA Section 7 conducted by the arbitration committees of the New York City Bar Association. Shelby R. Grubbs (Executive Director for the Atlanta Center for International Arbitration and Mediation) and Glenn Hendrix (one of the founders of ACIAM) spoke about the work of the center.

Noah Hanft (President and CEO of CPR) spoke on the topic of "The CPR: Where it is Today, and Where it is Going." Also, Chris Parker (Herbert Smith Freehills) presented his "Reflections on a Brit's Experience as a Lawyer in New York."

The Smit-Lowenfeld Prize Dinner was held at the University Club of New York in honor of Stephen Fietta and James Upcher, winners of the Fourth Annual Smit-Lowenfeld Prize.

The Prize was awarded for their article "Public International Law, Investment Treaties and Commercial Arbitration: an emerging system of complementarity?", published in Arbitration International (Volume 29 Issue 2) in 2013

Professor S.I. (Stacie) Strong led a discussion on "Beyond International Commercial Arbitration? Empirical Studies and the Proposed UNCITRAL Convention on International Commercial Mediation," focusing on the results from a recent large-scale international study into the use and perception of international commercial mediation and the way in which the results from that study are helping to inform UNCITRAL's efforts regarding a new convention in this area of law. Will Taft led a discussion on the debate surrounding inclusion of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provisions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) free trade agreements, including a summary of the expected TPP and TTIP ISDS provisions and the policy arguments raised for and against the inclusion of ISDS in the agreements by politicians, law professors, bar associations and others.

Professor Alejandro Garro of Columbia Law School led a discussion on "UNIDROIT Principles on International Commercial Contracts: Whether, why, when, and how can they be used in international arbitration?" Grant Hanessian and Alex Yanos spoke on the topic of "Lawful and Unlawful Expropriations - the Developing Jurisprudence."

Mark Kantor (Adjunct Professor at Georgetown Law Center, Editor-in-Chief of TDM) led a discussion on the impact of recent developments in telecommunications and data technology on document production and the gathering of evidence in international arbitration.

Aloysius Llamzon led a discussion on "Corruption in International Investment Arbitration." Robert Smit led a discussion on the new CPR Rules for Administered Arbitration of International Disputes.

Marc Goldstein led a discussion on recent significant developments in arbitration case law (including Cusimano v. Schnurr, Flintlock Constr. v. Weiss, as well as several other significant cases involving class arbitration and the enforcement of arbitration subpoenas). Tom Halket led a discussion on recently developed Social Media Guidance Note for Arbitrators including also the perceived reasons for the Chartered Institute's New York Branch guidance note.

Anibal Sabater (Norton Rose Fulbright) led a discussion on "Unused, but not Forgotten: Uncommon International Treaties that Can Affect your Arbitration".

Michael Goldhaber (Senior International Correspondent for American Lawyer magazine and ALM media group) led a discussion on "Yukos and Chevron: Two Lifetimes of Litigation Arbitration".

Dr. Jacomijn van Haersolte-van Hof (Director General of the LCIA) introduced and led a discussion on the 2014 LCIA Rules.

Jean Kalicki (Arnold & Porter) led a discussion on "Saving Time and Costs in International Arbitration: What Progress Have Arbitral Institutions Made?"

Kim J. Landsman (Golenbock Eiseman Assor Bell & Peskoe LLP) led a discussion on "The Implications of Increased Publication of International Arbitration Awards and Decisions." The panelists included Christian P. Alberti (ICDR), Grant Hanessian (Baker & McKenzie LLP), Meg Kinnear (World Bank), Victoria Orlowski, (Gibson & Dunn, formerly ICC), and Eric P. Tuchmann (AAA).

Grant Hanessian (Baker & McKenzie LLP) led a discussion on the topic of Emergency Arbitration. We was also joined via phone by James Gaitis who is one of the drafters of a new set of international arbitration rules for the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators that will include provisions on emergency arbitrators.

Gerald Aksen spoke on "What a Difference a Half Century Makes: Lessons Learned from a Career in International Arbitration".

Thomas R. Newman (Duane Morris) led a discussion on International Arbitration of Insurance Disputes, and Marc Goldstein gave a presentation on the Koehler case, the bank separate entity rule and the enforcement of arbitral awards.

David Bigge (Attorney Adviser, U.S. State Department) addressed the question of whether international arbitrators have to base their awards only on what the parties argue or whether iura novit curia governs, and whether practices differ between commercial and investment arbitration.

The Third Annual Smit-Lowenfeld Prize for best scholarly article in the field of international arbitration went to Gary Born for his article “A New Generation of International Adjudication”. which appeared in the January 2012 issue of the Duke Law Journal.  The article examines the use of international tribunals as an attractive alternative to traditional public-international-law adjudicatory bodies.

Prof. George Bermann (Columbia Law) discussed the case of BG Group v. Argentina.

Brian White (King & Spalding), Felix Weinacht (Siemens), and Peter Turecek (Kroll) gave a presentation on "Enforcing International Arbitration Awards", with a focus on finding and attaching assets in satisfaction of judgments.

James Gaitis gave a presentation on the "Review and Recognition of International Interlocutory Arbitral Rulings".

Edna Sussman gave a presentation on the subject of "Arbitrator Decision Making: Psychological Influences and Arbitrator Preferences".

Tai-Heng Cheng (Quinn Emanuel) and a senior member of Burford Capital gave a presentation on the subject of "Alternative Fee Arrangements in International Arbitration."

Prof. Joshua Karton gave a presentation on the subject of "The Competitive Market for International Arbitration Services".

A panel led by Prof. Andreas Lowenfeld, Donald Donovan, and a number of other club members led a discussion on the "Teaching of International Arbitration in Law Schools."

Gerald Aksen, Robert L. Sills (Orrick), and Prof. Mark Kantor (Georgetown Law) continued the discussion on the subject of "The Dark Side of International Arbitration - Corruption."

Gerald Aksen, Edward Kehoe (King & Spalding), Robert L. Sills (Orrick), and Rahim Moloo (Freshfields) led a discussion on the subject of "The Dark Side of International Arbitration – Corruption."

Larry Shore (Herbert Smith Freehills) led a discussion on Adverse Inferences: Their Use and Non-Use in International Arbitration.

The Smit-Lowenfeld Prize Dinner was held at the University Club of New York in honor of Professor Charles H. Brower II, winner of the Second Annual Smit-Lowenfeld Prize.  The winning article, “Arbitration and Antitrust: Navigating the Contours of Mandatory Law,” was published in December 2011 in the Buffalo Law Review.  The article examines how, when and why the mandatory laws of varying jurisdictions may be applied in international disputes.

Ank Santens (White & Case) presented and discussed the 2012 International Arbitration Survey on Current and Preferred Practices in the Arbitral Process.

Prof. Guido Carducci led a discussion on the subject of Preliminary Measures in Support of International Arbitration Proceedings.

Vladimir Khvalei (Baker & McKenzie and Vice President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration) led a discussion on the subject of International Arbitration With CIS Entities.

Discussion on the subject of Damages in International Arbitration in economic and accounting with specialists.

Leading litigation providers, including Burford Capital and Blackrobe, presented their practices with respect to the funding of international arbitration cases.

Bob Davidson and Jack Levin moderated a discussion of "What it Takes to be an Effective International Mediator".

Paul Cohen led a discussion on recent projects on virtual international arbitration. In addition, Marc Goldstein presented a follow-up report on the Figueiredo decision.

Minn Naing Oo (Secretary General of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre) presented SIAC's 2011 statistics.

Professor Linda Silberman and Marc Goldstein led a discussion on the recent Figueiredo decision in the Second Circuit on forum non conveniens in the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards.

The Smit-Lowenfeld Prize Dinner was held at the Harvard Club (The Gordon Room) in honor of Mr. Nicolas Ulmer, winner of the First Annual Smit-Lowenfeld Prize for “The Cost Conundrum”, 26, Arbitration International 221 (2010)

Richard Hulbert led a discussion on the continued vitality of the "manifest disregard" standard in Second Circuit case law and the application of this standard and FAA Chapter 1 in general to international arbitration awards. He also discussed possible activities that might be engaged in by the International Arbitration Club with respect to this case law.

Part 2 - The panel comprising James Carter, Robert Davidson, Marc Goldstein, Thomas Halket, Joseph McLaughlin, and Peter Michaelson continued its discussion on "How to Succeed as an Arbitrator". Again, the discussion dealt with the approaches taken by the panel members in conducting arbitrations and, more generally, their arbitration practice.

Part 1 - A panel comprising James Carter, Robert Davidson, Marc Goldstein, Thomas Halket, Joseph McLaughlin, and Peter Michaelson led a discussion on "How to Succeed as an Arbitrator" in response to questions from Lawrence Newman as the moderator and from the club members. The discussion dealt with the approaches taken by the panel members in conducting arbitrations and, more generally, their arbitration practices.

Professor Catherine Rogers and Dean Phillip McConnaughay (Penn State Law) led a discussion on the future of international arbitration; including whether international arbitration will evolve into a transnational system of justice or whether its golden days are behind it.

Andreas Vaagt (Senior Legal Officer, Office of Legal Affairs of the UN) and Andra Nicoara (Legal Officer, Office of Legal Affairs of the UN) led a discussion on International Arbitration at the UN.

Chiann Bao (Secretary General of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre) talked about "A Practical Guide to Arbitration in Hong Kong" and discussed the practices and procedures of HKIAC arbitration and arbitrating in Hong Kong generally.

Professor Tai-Heng Cheng (Quinn Emanuel) gave a presentation and led a discussion on rectifying errors in investment and commercial arbitration awards.

Professor Loukas Mistelis (Queen Mary University, London) gave a presentation and led a discussion on the 2010 International Arbitration Survey on corporate attitudes and practices regarding international arbitration.

Edna Sussman led a discussion on Guerrilla Tactics in Arbitration.

Adrian Winstanley (Director General of the London Court of International Arbitration) spoke about the LCIA and shared his thoughts on the Jivraj v. Hashwani matter.

Annette Magnuson (Secretary General of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce) led our discussion.

David Nourse and one of his colleagues discussed maritime arbitration in New York and elsewhere.

David Zaslowsky (Baker & McKenzie) discussed the power and duty of arbitral tribunals to rule on requests to disqualify counsel.

Luke Peterson (Editor and Publisher of Investment Arbitration Reporter) and Michael D. Goldhaber (Senior International Correspondent for The American Lawyer magazine and the ALM chain of publications) led a discussion on investor-state arbitrations.

Edward Kehoe (King & Spalding) discussed investment arbitration from the point of view of the claimant, followed by members' questions and a general discussion.

James Carter (Partner at Sullivan & Cromwell) spoke on the issues arising out of what has been observed to be perhaps a growing phenomenon of arbitrators who are also counsel in other arbitration cases being suspected of being influenced by their dual roles when they write awards that deal with issues that are similar to, or the same as, the issues about which they have ruled as arbitrators. Two guests joined this discussion: Dennis H. Hranitzky and Eduardo Silva Romero of Dechert LLP.

Judith Kaye (Former Chief Judge) spoke on the topic of the intersection of federal and New York arbitration law.

Lawrence Newman welcomed everyone to the inaugural meeting and discussed the rationale and purpose of the Club. Laurence Shore then presented on the differences between international arbitration as practiced in New York and London.