Ten years of TDM

Ten years of TDM. A satisfying journey for those who started along the path with our founder Prof. Thomas Wälde in 2003 and for those who have joined along the way.

We have grown during that time into the preeminent forum for articles and papers aimed at practitioners, academics and policymakers worldwide with a special interest in transnational dispute management. TDM has indeed grown robustly, paralleling the robust growth of international investment law and investment treaty arbitration. Faithful to the vision of Prof. Wälde, though, the TDM community has not limited itself to investment treaty disputes. Instead, we have promoted discussion of international commercial arbitration, litigation over international issues in national courts, mediation of cross-border disputes, administrative law in national and international tribunals, labor and environmental disputes, the overlap between human rights law and tribunals and investments, the overlap between WTO dispute resolution and investments, administrative law and international matters, treaty making and treaty unmaking, and so many other methods for transnational dispute management. Moreover, we have discussed a wide array of tools for dispute resolution, including such means as the behavioural sciences, advocacy techniques, empirical studies, survey research and the like.

No other publishing platform covers this vital and constantly changing international legal, business and public environment so well.

TDM could not have been successful without dedicated support from MARIS, our publisher and their staff. And it simply would not have been worth the effort but for the presence of Prof. Charlotte Wälde. On behalf of the TDM community, we thank you.

There would be no TDM - no TDM community - without our sister enterprises. Most obviously, our twin sister OGEMID - the uniquely valuable forum. Our cousins at OGEL and OGELFORUM are a never-ending source of ideas in the world of energy. And our younger siblings at YOUNG-OGEMID create our future at the same time as they energetically create their own futures.

Further, there would surely be no TDM without our authors. The efforts of our authors, whether short or long, practical or conceptual, case-driven or empirical, make us the first place to visit for cutting edge reports and analyses with respect to international dispute resolution.

Collectively, you are the TDM community, and you are a particularly interesting set of people. We are glad to be able to spend our time with you.

The articles that comprise the 10^th Anniversary Issue illustrate very well the value of TDM to the TDM community. In just this issue alone, we explore expansion of rights in the Americas, damages and State liability, procedural innovations to address corruption claims before investment tribunals, regionalization of investment disputes, expertise in international disputes, the scope of expropriation protections, cutting edge commentary on the amicus brief of the U.S. Department of Justice before the U.S. Supreme Court in BG Gas v. Republic of Argentina, energy transit under the GATT, Chinese arbitral institutions, third-party funding in investment treaty arbitration, and so much more. That wide range of expert commentary demonstrates our commitment to a diversity of viewpoints and subjects within transnational dispute management. The value of that commentary demonstrates our commitment to quality.

We have dedicated the past ten years to Prof. Wälde's vision. And so, we dedicate this 10^th Anniversary Issue to his memory.

We will continue on this journey, secure in the knowledge that this ever-changing world of transnational dispute management will keep us interested and interesting. And so, we dedicate the next ten years to you, the TDM community.

Thank you.

Mark Kantor
Editor-in-Chief
Transnational Dispute Management