Opening the doors of international arbitration

Young ICCA is a world-wide arbitration knowledge network for young practitioners and students, established in 2010. It aims to promote the use of arbitration by exposing new practitioners from all corners of the globe to the international practice of arbitration.

Young ICCA functions under the auspices of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA).

New - Young ICCA-University of Miami Scholarship Competition Now Open

New - Klaus Reichert calls for debate on standard of proof for fraud and illegality

The inaugural Young ICCA Peace Palace Lunchtime Seminar kicked off on 20 January 2012 with an impassioned plea from Klaus Reichert SC for a debate on the appropriate standard of proof in making allegations of fraud and criminal conduct in investor-State arbitration. Speaking in the context of a seminar on “Proving one's case in international arbitration”, Mr. Reichert argued that there is no settled position as regards the standard of pleading and proof required in making an allegation of fraud or criminality in international arbitration. Given the potential consequences for an investor, not just for the admissibility of its case, the seriousness of such claims requires a high and detailed standard of proof.

See full report with photos on the Events page, by PCA counsel Hinda Rabkin.

Second Young ICCA workshop in Prague a resounding success

Young ICCA successfully co-hosted a second skills training workshop in Prague on 24 October 2011 with the Co-Chairs' Circle on the topic of "Witness Statements and Document Disclosure in International Arbitration".

Young ICCA members from Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas were joined by a strong contingent of local Prague-based practitioners and enjoyed the detailed discussion led by dynamic young practitioners Martin Valasek (Norton Rose OR, Montreal), Noradèle Radjai (Lalive, Geneva), Niuscha Bassiri (Hanotiau & van den Berg, Brussels), Jan K. Schaefer (Allen & Overy, Frankfurt), Roland Ziadé (Cleary Gottlieb, Paris) and Rostislav Pekar (Squire Sanders, Prague). Prof. Bernard Hanotiau (Hanotiau & van den Berg, Brussels) played an active role during the workshop, providing the benefit of his experience to the participants.

Thanks go to the organizing committee of Jan Schaefer, Matthew Hodgson, Martin Valasek, Maria Lokajova (who attended Young ICCA's first workshop in Geneva in May), Niuscha Bassiri and Svatava Sprague, who were guided by Young ICCA's Events Coordinator, Tim Foden.

A full report with photos is included on the Prague Event page.

First Young ICCA Workshop in Geneva Kicks off Workshop Programme

The session ended with an interview with Prof. Martin Hunter, who shared both his views on memorial-writing from the perspective of the arbitrator and some personal recollections on how he became an arbitration practitioner.

Thanks to all participants, to our faculty and to the organizers (in particular Tim Foden), who gave so generously of their time.

Co-chairs meet in Geneva to discuss plans for 2011-2012

NEW -- ICCA's Pocket Guide to the New York Convention Launched

ICCA's 50th anniversary conference in Geneva also saw the launch of ICCA’s Guide to the Interpretation of the 1958 New York Convention. The Guide is a clear, concise yet inclusive handbook, written in plain language, on the essential aspects of the scope, interpretation and application of the Convention. Though principally aimed at judges determining applications under the Convention, the Guide will also be of interest to students, teachers and practitioners as an introduction to the Convention.

Students can download copies of the Guide for academic use, through this link: http://www.arbitration-icca.org/publications/NYC_Guide.html

New - Vis Moot Problem 2012

The Vis Moot Alumni association reports that the problem for the 2012 Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot has been published. As in recent years. the ever-growing student competition will invite thousands of students from all continents of the globe to compete in written and oral advocacy. The competition in Vienna will be taking place for the nineteenth time this year, getting close to its twentieth anniversary of promoting international commercial arbitration and trade law (29 March – 5 April 2012). Before that, the smaller but not less significant sister competition in Hong Kong will be taking place for the ninth time (18 March – 25 March 2012), inviting many teams from the Australasian region, but also from the rest of the world. Both competitions feature the arbitration rules of CIETAC.

Like every year, the moot problem challenges the students’ legal skills in two areas, both procedural and substantive.

The substantive issue encompasses a short supply of goods caused by a fire, and how the seller of the goods is liable to its customers when the fire occurred at the end of its supply chain. The case further contains the question whether ex gratia payments to customers to retain goodwill and 'success fees' (allegedly bribes) paid by the Claimant for a mitigation transaction can be part of a damages claim against the Claimant's supplier.

The procedural issue is drawn from recent heated discussions in the international arbitration community, namely, whether or not (and if so, for what grounds) opposing counsel – rather than an arbitrator – can be challenged for close connections to a member of the arbitral tribunal.

It will be exciting to see what the students make of these points and, no less important, what they make of the opportunity to meet and mingle with thousands of fellow Mooties from all jurisdictions and cultures at social events. Experience shows that friendships and networks will grow that span the globe.

This is not only true for the students, but also for young professionals who participate in the moot as arbitrators and coaches, who will again have the chance to choose from a great variety of receptions, social functions and conferences both on arbitration and the CISG.

Particularly the Willem C. Vis (East) Moot in Hong Kong is still inviting young professionals to register as arbitrators for the competition. Interested practitioners can visit www.cisgmoot.org or write to info@cisgmoot.org for more information and registration.

Information on the Vienna competition can be found at www.cisg.law.pace.edu/vis.html.

Report by Felix Lautenschlager, Hamburg (President of the Moot Alumni Association, see www.maa.net, or contact through president@maa.net).

Frankfurt moot 2012 draws on Ancient Greek banking dispute

The 5th edition of the Frankfurt investment Moot (to be held from 12-16 March 2012) will focus on an investment case originating from a historic banking dispute in the 4h century BC. The moot itself will be held in Frankfurt, with practice moots to be held in Delhi, London, Sao Paulo, Warsaw and Washington.

The final of the moot to be held on 16 March will be judged by Jan Paulsson, Judge Tomka and Judge Vinuesa.

See www.investmentmoot.org for more details.

Internships available at LCIA and ICSID

Both ICSID and the LCIA have launched internship programmes, starting in 2012. ICSID's internships will last for a period of one year and be based in Washington (see http://icsid.worldbank.org/ICSID/FrontServlet?requestType=CasesRH&actionVal=OpenPage&PageType=AnnouncementsFrame&FromPage=Announcements&pageName=Announcement94).

The LCIA's internships will last for 6 months and be based in London (see http://www.lcia.org).

YOUNG ICCA NOMINATED FOR GAR AWARD

Young ICCA was nominated for the Global Arbitration Review (GAR) “Best development of 2010” Award. While Young ICCA missed out to the 2010 UNCITRAL Rules, as announced in Seoul on 4 March, we were proud to have been in the running!

Paris International Academy for Arbitration Law to be launched in July 2011

The French Arbitration Committee (Comité Français de l'Arbitrage) has launched a new Academy for Arbitration Law, which will offer three-week Summer Courses to students and young practitioners interested in the field, covering both international commercial  arbitration and international investment arbitration. The 2011 Summer Course will be given in Paris from 4 July to 22 July 2011, and will be offered in English. It will include a 15-hour General Course, 5-hour Special Courses, Workshops on institutional arbitration, as well as an Inaugural Lecture and The Berthold Goldman Lecture on historic arbitration stories.
 
The General Course will alternate between international commercial arbitration and international investment arbitration. For the first Session of the Academy in 2011, the General Course will be taught by Professor Christoph Schreuer, who will address "The Development of Investment Arbitration". The 2011 Session will also offer seven Special Courses taught by Professor George Bermann, Professor Pierre-Marie Dupuy, Professor Diego Fernandez Arroyo, Professor François Knoepfler, Professor Pierre Mayer, Dr. Klaus Sachs, and Maître Michael Schneider. The 2011 Workshops will be offered by ICSID (Eloise Obadia), ICC (Simon Greenberg) and the PCA (Brooks Daly). The Inaugural Lecture will be delivered by Professor Pierre Lalive on the topic "Is Arbitration a Form of International Justice?". The Berthold Goldman Lecture on historic arbitration stories will be given by V.V. Veeder QC on the Lena Goldfield arbitration.  
 
In 2012, the General Course on commercial arbitration will be taught by Professor William Park.  In 2013, the General Course on investment arbitration will be taught by Professor David Caron.

Interested students and young practitioners are invited to apply to the Academy by April 30, 2011. The Application Form and the complete Program can be viewed on the Academy's Website at www.arbitrationacademy.org.

Summer courses in arbitration

Consult the list of summer courses in arbitration for 2011 recently uploaded onto our Arbitration Courses page.

LAUNCH OF YOUNG ICCA

OFFICE-HOLDERS YOUNG ICCA

Marike Paulsson, Lise Bosman and Eduardo Damiao Goncalves are the Co-Chairs of Young ICCA for 2011 and 2012.