Treaty Arbitration: Is the Playing Field Level and Who Decides Whether It Is Anyway?

Some states do not believe that investment treaty arbitration is just. They are voting with their feet to exit from the ICSID Convention and BITs. Is this a worrisome trend justified by problems underlying the treaty arbitration process? Or the product of claimants’ successes in vindicating their legitimate interests? This session will explore several recurring questions: Is international “ambulance chasing” a myth or a reality? What is the impact of third party funding? Can and should treaty arbitration be a dispute resolution model for large scale crises? How realistic is capacity building?

Chair: Anna Joubin-Bret (Paris)

Speakers:

• Catherine Amirfar (New York)
• David Caron (London)
• Alvaro Galindo (Washington, DC)

Rapporteur: Neeti Sachdeva* (Mumbai)