Introduction

I am very pleased that the Brierly Lecture is dedicated to international arbitration. Not only because it provided me with an invitation to a city and a University that I like very much but also because I believe that international arbitration is, for international lawyers at present, where the action is. You may think this is a bizarre statement at a time when the world is focused on sovereignty, invasion, occupation, security walls, and genocide. True enough, and sad enough. But it turns out that on these topics law and lawyers are influential--I almost said relevant--only at ...