Contributing Authors
 | Benjamin G. Davis University of Toledo College of Law |
Benjamin G. Davis is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Toledo College of Law where he teaches Contracts, International and Domestic Arbitration, and Public International Law. He is a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy (1973), Harvard College (1977), Harvard Business School (1983) and Harvard Law School (1983). He was Articles Editor of the Harvard International Law Journal. A child of the U.S. Foreign Service, he worked overseas from 1983-2000 when he entered law teaching. From 1983-1984 he was an economic development consultant for West Africa for Louis Berger and Co working principally on a project to evaluate the rural sector strategy of Togo. From 1984-1986 he performed diverse international management consultant assignments for Dominique Mars and Company working principally with Belgian and French clients. In 1986, he joined the International Chamber of Commerce International Court of Arbitration as a Legal Counsel. Over the next ten years he personally supervised over one thousand international commercial arbitrations and conciliations with parties, neutrals, arbitrators and ICC Court members coming from around the world. He led the creation, design and implementation of the ICC Court's first electronic Case Management System operating in English, French, German and Spanish. He created international fast-track commercial arbitration. He was a member of the Asia-Pacific Arbitration Committee of the Court. He assisted the drafting committee for the new Indian arbitration and conciliation law. He drafted or assisted the preparation of the ICC position for litigation in Europe and North America and appeared as an expert witness in enforcement proceedings. In 1996, he was promoted to Director, Conference Programmes and Manager, Institute of World Business Law. He restructured the Institute. He represented the ICC, organized and led conferences and workshops, and spoke on international commercial arbitration subjects in Asia and the Pacific Rim, Europe, Africa and North America. He helped define and implement the ICC's internet strategy.
In 2000, he entered law teaching as an Associate Professor at Texas Wesleyan University School of Law in Fort Worth, Texas. The students named him Outstanding First Year Evening Professor 2001-2002. He was honored with a special commendation by the Black Law Students Association in 2003. He was Assistant Reporter of the American Bar Association Task Force on E-commerce and Dispute Resolution 2000-2002. He led the creation of the International Competitions for Online Dispute Resolution to enhance worldwide law student understanding of online dispute resolution now in its fourth year (ICODR 2005).
Since coming to the University of Toledo in 2003 he has spoken at the International Online Dispute Resolution Workshop at the University of Edinburgh on "Disciplining ODR Prototypes: True Trust through True Independence" and at the Second Forum on Online Dispute Resolution of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland on "Connecting Worldwide: The Seamless Dispute Resolution Web". He is a member of the Group of Experts on Online Dispute Resolution for the UNECE. In 2005, he spoke on teaching international law and practice through Online Dispute Resolution at the American Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section Legal Educator's Colloquium.
He has published in the Harvard International Law Journal, Mississippi Law Journal, American Review of International Arbitration, Texas Wesleyan Law Review, Journal of American Arbitration, The Business Lawyer, Journal of International Arbitration, Arbitration International, Comparative Law Yearbook for International Business, International Construction Law Quarterly, Bulletin of the Indian Council of Arbitration, and the Bulletin of the ICC International Court of Arbitration among others. He edited Improving International Arbitration: The Need for Speed and Trust, Liber Amicorum Michel Gaudet. His most recent articles are, "The Color Line in International Commercial Arbitration: An American Perspective" 14 Am. Rev. Int'l Arb 461 (2004) and "International Commercial Online and Offline Dispute Resolution: Addressing Primacism and Universalism" 4 Journal of American Arbitration 79 (2005). He is guest editor and organizing a University of Toledo Law Review Symposium entitled "Enhancing Worldwide Understanding through Online Dispute Resolution" in April 2006 to coincide with the 5th Anniversary Edition of the International Competitions for Online Dispute Resolution.
He is a member of the New York Bar. He is fluent in French and speaks some Mandarin Chinese and Spanish.
