Introduction

I tell the following story to my entering class of arbitration lawyers every year when they ask the question 'what is the best way to prepare for a career in international arbitration?' and I say well, of course, you have done all the right things academically but there is one thing that you should really do - you should go and read the famous humorist Mark Twain and the letter that he wrote to his parents when he set out to seek his fortune in the Nevada gold fields. He wrote a letter that went something like this: "Dear Mom and Dad, I have arrived in the gold fields in Carson ...