OGEMID Seminar programme
Introduction
Initiated by Tony Cole, Senior Lecturer Brunel Law School at the time, the goal of these (mini-)seminars is to spur close analysis and vigorous discussion of current and recent cases. Four to five invited panelists, from both practice and academia, are invited to post short (500-1000 words) analyses over the course of a few days, generating useful comments and feedback from OGEMID members.
If you have any suggestions for topics or an OGEMID seminar feel free to contact us. You can learn more about OGEMID here.
Newest first:
The Commonwealth Study into International Commercial Arbitration,
(October 2020)
The Commonwealth Study into International Commercial Arbitration
provides the rare opportunity to assess the state of
international arbitration, ie its challenges and its promises, in
a unique ecosystem. This unique ecosystem enjoys distinctive
advantages courtesy of the shared Commonwealth heritage of its
members, historical trade ties, familiar administrative and legal
systems, and the use of predominantly one language as a means of
communication. To harness that distinctive advantage, as it
pertains to trade, now and in the future, Commonwealth countries
need to ensure a continuous increase in trade and development and
resilience against global economic crises. And that rests inter
alia on two important pillars: foreign direct investment and the
cross-border trade of a country's own businesses. Regarding the
latter it is in particular the SMEs that need to participate in
the intra-Commonwealth and global trade to drive economic
growth.
Schedule:
- Monday, 5 October - The Impact of the Lack of Best Practice International Commercial Arbitration Framework
- Wednesday, 7 October - Familiarity and Expertise in Arbitration within the Legal Profession
- Friday, 9 October - SMEs - the "forgotten" Consumers of International Arbitration
- Monday, 12 October - The Commonwealth Study in Review
Speakers:
- Petra Butler (New Zealand, Member Expert Group of the Study)
- Dharshini Prasad (UK, Secretary-General to the Study)
- Tochukwu Anaenugwu (Nigeria)
- Funke Adekoya (Nigeria)
- Philippa Charles (UK)
- James Clanchy (UK)
- Tony Cole (UK)
- Calvin Hamilton (Barbados)
- Barry Leon (British Virgin Islands, Canada & UK)
- Matthew Moorhead (UK)
- Nania Owusu-Ankomah (Ghana)
- Mahesh Rai (Singapore)
- Ana Tuiketei (Fiji)
More information:
- Arbitration study urges countries not to lose foreign investment and trade - Press release, 18 August 2020
- A Study of International Commercial Arbitration in the Commonwealth - PDF, 663 pages, 9.5mb
More about OGEMID and Registration here www.transnational-dispute-management.com/ogemid
Identifying Opportunities for Investment Protection in a Post-Brexit Era,
(November 2018)
The seminar relates to a research project that is currently being piloted by Professor Andrea Bjorklund (McGill University, Faculty of Law) and Professor Yarik Kryvoi (British Institute of International and Comparative Law). It was held from November 5th to November 9th, 2018.
Speakers:
- Professor Yarik Kryvoi, BIICL
- Manjiao Chi Cliff, Law School, Xiamen University
- Dr. Kristen E. Boon, Seton Hall Law School
- Professor Makane Moïse Mbengue, Faculty of Law, University of Geneva
If you would like to participate, you can learn more about OGEMID and register here.
Artificial Intelligence in International Arbitration,
September 2018
We are very excited to announce a virtual symposium on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in International Arbitration: "AI in IA." The symposium will run during the week of 24 September 2018. It will consist of a series of posts by a group of OGEMID members studying the impact of AI in IA, as well as professionals working in the AI world.
We are in the midst of a revolution created by artificial intelligence and machine learning. Entire industries -- and indeed society itself -- are being disrupted by this technology. The international arbitration community is not immune: the disruption affects not only IA, but the legal profession and the justice system as a whole. To take just one (important) example, automated decision-making is fast encroaching on the adjudicative functions traditionally performed by arbitrators and judges. In this series, we will explore some of the issues and the potential impact of AI in IA, and begin what we hope will be a fruitful collective discussion on the topic.
The discussion will be led by Eric Chang, Amy Endicott, and Omar Haroun. Paul H. Cohen and Sophie Nappert, who have both written and spoken at some length on this topic (on this forum and elsewhere), will moderate.
Eric, a frequent OGEMID participant, is a Principal at Chang Law, based in Los Angeles California. His practice focuses exclusively on international commercial arbitration and investor-state arbitration disputes. Eric has a background in civil law and common law and previously practiced in Paris, France, and New York, NY. Recently, Eric spoke about artificial intelligence in international arbitration at ICCA Sydney 2018.
Amy is an international dispute resolution advocate at Arnold & Porter, based in San Francisco, California. She represents both claimant and sovereign clients in investor-State disputes as well as commercial clients in arbitrations administered by the various major arbitral institutions. Amy too has recently spoken about the AI Revolution and its potential impact on arbitration, under the auspices of the Silicon Valley Arbitration and Mediation Center.
Omar, a recovering lawyer, is the co-founder and COO of Text IQ, a document review and due diligence advisory company using proprietary AI technology. After working at two major West Coast law firms, Omar founded Sportaneous, an award-winning consumer health company that used machine learning algorithms to improve fitness habits. After Sportaneous's acquisition, Omar served as the Chief Revenue Officer at Greatist and went on to work as the Managing Partner of Oxford Digital, a boutique innovation agency that worked with both startups and high-growth companies to launch and grow new digital products from the ground up.
Eric, Amy, and Omar will address some of the pressing and soon-to-be-pressing issues in the intersection of law and machine learning:
- What exactly is AI, and how is it currently relevant to the practice of law and arbitration?
- What is AI's growth potential in IA -- and how soon will its effects be even more widely felt?
- Will AI provide correctives for some of the well-documented human biases in the decision-making process; or
- Does machine learning, by contrast, run the risk of "baking in" and/or exacerbating systemic social biases?
- What, if anything, should all arbitration practitioners (and all lawyers) know about coding and machine learning?
- How substantial and realistic is the prospect of mass redundancy in an AI-dominated future?
The future of AI in IA is not set in stone; it can and should be largely determined by the stakeholders themselves. In other words, your collective input is crucial to help guide this technology and its impact on the legal profession, users of IA, and society as a whole. The OGEMID community is an excellent place to begin. We hope you will all take part in this very important conversation.
Damages in International Arbitration, November 2016
Diego Brian Gosis (GST LLP) introduced and led a discussion on the ins and outs of "Damages in Investment Arbitration".
Topics / Speakers:
- Remedies: Rukia Baruti (AILA)
- Compensation Standards: Alejando López Ortiz (Mayer Brown)
- Valuation Methodology: "Hot tubbing" of two experts, looking at preferences by claimants and respondents respectively. James Searby (FTI) (Respondent positions), and Daniel Flores (EconOne) (Claimant positions)
- Outlier claims: Irmgar Marboe (University of Vienna)
A summary of the discussion was published in TDM:
D.B. Gosis; "Lessons on Damages: Minutes of the OGEMID Virtual Symposium on Damages in Investment Arbitration"
TDM 1 (2018), www.transnational-dispute-management.com/article.asp?key=2522
Seminar series, October 2013
In October 2013 a series seminars started initiated by Tony Cole (Brunel) and Barnali Choudhury, Megenagna Guade, Rumana Islam, Daniel de Andrade Levy, Julian Davis Mortenson and Anuj Kumar Vaksha. Topics:
- Bilateral Investment Treaties and Foreign Direct Investment (October 2013);
Panel: Jason Yackee (University of Wisconsin Law School); Andrew Kerner (University of Michigan); Clint Peinhardt (University of Texas at Dallas); Bruce Blonigen (University of Oregon; National Bureau of Economic Research); Josh Kallmer (Crowell & Moring); Omar García-Bolívar (BG Consulting Inc.); Deborah Burand (University of Michigan Law School); Ana Gerdau de Borja (Wald Associados Advogados).
- Investment Arbitration Claims and State Policy Freedom (March 2014).
Panel: Tecle Hagos Bahta (University of Mekelle, Ethiopia; University of Botswana); Jonathan Bonnitcha (Lawyer, Visiting Fellow Australian National University); Mariel Dimsey (Cleary Gottlieb); Gustavo Fernandes (Tauil & Chequer Advogados); Lisa Sachs (Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment); Lise Johnson (Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment); Mark Kantor (international arbitrator); Dr. Lauge Poulsen (Nuffield College, University of Oxford); Stephan Schill (Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law).
Corruption & Arbitration, June 2013
Prof. Andrea Kay Bjorklund and Daniel Litwin (both McGill) are leading an OGEMID (mini-)seminar on Corruption in International Arbitration which is also the topic of TDM 3 (2013).
Four panels bring forth key topics which underlie the debate about corruption and arbitration. Each topic will first begin with some brief introductory remarks:
- The evidentiary burdens and standards of proof surrounding corruption
- The duty of arbitrators to report corruption
- The need to deal with corruption either at the jurisdiction, admissibility or merits phase
- The consequence of a finding of corruption and its conformity to international public policy
Abaclat and Others v. Argentina: Mass Claims, July 2012
This seminar focused on mass claims in investment arbitration, drawing off the jurisdictional decision in Abaclat and Others v. Argentine Republic.
Chairs: Tony Cole (Brunel Law School) and Julian Mortenson (Michigan Law School)
Panel: Stacie Strong (University of Missouri), Veijo Heiskanen (Lalive), Karen Cross (John Marshall), Deborah Hensler (Stanford), and Cymie Payne (Rutgers).
The discussions can be found in the OGEMID Archive of July 2012.
Roussalis v. Romania: Host State Counterclaims, January 2012
The emphasis of this seminar was the question of Host State counterclaims, rather than the correctness or otherwise of the specific holding in Roussalis.
Chair: Tony Cole (Brunel Law School)
Panel: Mark Bravin (Winston & Strawn), Hege Elisabeth Kjos (University of Amsterdam), Yarik Kryvoi (University of West London),
Ulf Linderfalk (Lund University) and Gustavo Laborde (Lévy-Kaufmann Kohler).
The discussions can be found in the OGEMID Archive of January 2012.
