Season 2 Episode 4 - The Defective Podcast

In our continued tour around the world we go to Moscow to talk to Roman Zykov about recent reforms in Russian arbitration, Russian arbitration lawyers and a few very interesting war stories from Moscow [TIME 4:18]. We then act as if we know anything about Brexit and its effect on international arbitration [TIME 42:39], but then again who knows anything about what is going to happen? The final segment is a Happy Fun Time discussion inspired by a Kluwer blog post suggesting we start talking about all-male tribunals as "defective" [TIME 59:50].

Season 2 Episode 3 - The Pronunciaton Station

Inspired by a recent teaching gig, Brian takes a swing at (part of) Joel's research: challenges vs. annulments - what is the difference* [7:20]? For the second stop on our road trip we touch down in Miami, Florida for a conversation with Quinn Smith about Miami as a place of arbitration [33:52 - apologies for the occasional Skype lag; that's on us and not on Quinn]. In the Happy Fun Time segment, finally, we take on the seemingly banal issue of how we're all supposed to pronounce each others' names in this international field of ours [1:01:52].

* In an earlier version of this episode, we only mention four out of five grounds for annulment under Article 52 ICSID Convention - "corruption on behalf of a tribunal member" is left out. We have now updated the audio to reflect that there are in fact five grounds, but we still don't discuss the fifth. Apologies for that and thanks to a thoughtful loyal listener for pointing out the oversight. 

Season 2 Episode 2 - The History of ISDS

In this week's Arbitration Station, Joel talks to Taylor St John about the history of ISDS (an interview he's been waiting to do for a long time) [TIME 7:20]. After that, we start off on our Places of Arbitration trip around the world, with a geographically modest jump to neighbouring Helsinki, where Anna-Maria Tamminnen introduced us to the Finnish arbitration community [TIME 43:08]. For Happy Fun Time, we ask ourselves what the proper protocol is when you travel with colleagues [TIME 1:10:20].

Season 2 Episode 1 - The Arbitration Friendly Season Opener

We're back, baby! In the first episode of Season 2, we set up the "Places of Arbitration" series, which will be a recurring feature of the new season [TIME 32:59]. Part of this is talking to a true expert on the matter: professor Loukas Mistelis, who has done a lot of research on competition among different legal seats [TIME 07:45]. The first Happy Fun Time of 2018 is about the phrase "Arbitration Friendly" - what does it even mean [TIME 40:44]? 

Episode 18 - The Season Finale

In the final episode of the year, we wrap up the Arbitration Year 2017 with a quick summary of events from the year. Furthermore, we talk about stay of enforcement pending annulment/set aside of an arbitral award, a topic on which we have just co-written an article. Therefore, Happy Fun Time is also devoted to article writing - where, why and with whom.

Episode 16 - The Holiday Gifts

Happy holidays fellow arbitration nerds! This week's episode focuses on holiday gifts. If you're unlucky, you will soon be hit with a request for provisional measures, which is customary at this time of year. If so, you might enjoy our discussions about this topic, from both the commercial and treaty-based perspective. If not, we have other gifts for you - Happy Fun Time this week is a list of suggested holiday gifts.

Mentioned in the episode:

Nova Group v. Romania PO7 on Provisional Measures

Supreme Ambitions by David Lat

East-West Street by Philippe Sands

The New Yorker Book of Lawyer Cartoons

Is International Law International? by Anthea Roberts

LAWSUIT! Board game

The Political Economy of the Investment Treaty Regime by Jonathan Bonnitcha, Lauge N. Skovgaard Poulsen, and Michael Waibel

(And yes, to all private international law specialists - of course the Brussels regulation does not apply to arbitration-related matters, Brexit or no Brexit. The incorrect information was a test on your attention. You probably failed.)

Episode 15 - The UNCITRAL Meeting

Joel is at the Working Group III Meeting in Vienna, where the possibility of ISDS reform is being discussed. He interviews Michele Potestà about a paper that was put before the Working Group, looking comparatively at how international courts and tribunals are composed. The Happy Fun Time is about mediation, or rather: why don't arbitration lawyers care about mediation? 

Episode 14 - The QCs

In this week's episode, Brian interviews Shirin Saif about witness examinations, while Joel gives an introductory lecture to UNCITRAL (prompted by the upcoming session in Working Group III - the advanced session will come in next week's episode, when Joel calls in from the Working Group meeting in Vienna). For Happy Fun Time, we display our lack of understanding - and our respect - for the UK system with barristers and Queen's Counsels and what have you.

Episode 13 - The Dissenting Opinions

As advertised earlier, we spend quite some time on dissenting opinions in arbitration - good, bad and ugly ones. Furthermore, can/should arbitrators be compelled to take the witness stand in domestic court, to talk about deliberations? Finally, we have a Happy Fun Time talking about the myriad of professional organisations out there.

Episode 12 - The Dual Nationals

To celebrate Brian's recent status as dual citizen, Joel gives him a quiz and also discusses the standing of dual national investors in investment arbitration. The second "substantive" segment sees Brian explaining some do's and don'ts with respect to opening statements. Finally, this week's Happy Fun Time is neither fun nor happy: we discuss #metoo and its implications for the field of international arbitration.

Episode 11 - The Sports Arbitration

Joel is in The Hague and Brian has just returned from London. The former trip involves an interview with Kendra Magraw about sports arbitration, while Brian's London trip centered on the super-inspiring ITF Conference hosted by BIICL, which he summarizes with starry eyes. For Happy Fun Time, we try to figure out whether there is any meaningful difference between civil law and common law.

Episode 10 - The Coin Toss

We use a recent ICSID decision in which the language was decided by coin toss as a reason to talk about the procedural language in arbitration more generally. Furthermore, we discuss how certain human rights issues interact with international arbitration and for Happy Fun Time, we clarify a thing or two on how to curate your online habits as an arbitration lawyer. 

 

Episode 9 - The LLM Programs

For this episode, we are joined for the entire session by Patricia Shaughnessy. The three of us discuss the relatively recent "summary procedure" instrument that has been added to the tribunal's toolbox by some arbitration institutions. We also spend the majority of the episode talking about Happy Fun Time-stuff related to education and career: is it advisable to do an LLM in international arbitration? How do employers feel about this type of specialised education? 

Episode 8 - The Amicus Brief

In London, Brian speaks to Simon Wolfe about working with arbitration in a non-traditional firm setting. Back in Sweden, Joel tries to pronounce amicus curiae when talking about third party submissions in arbitration, while this week's Happy Fun Time concerns Jerusalem Arbitration Center.

Episode 7 - The Mooting Season

In this week's episode we talk about appointing arbitrators: what considerations come into play and how do you get information on potential nominees? For Happy Fun Time, we (Brian, mostly) discuss strategies and insights that might be useful now that the problems for the moot arbitration competitions are being released.

Episode 6 - The Redfern Schedule

Joel discusses the importance of the place of arbitration and Brian talks about document production. For Happy Fun Time, we've reviewed some examples when arbitration has been brought up in the pop culture context, such as TV shows and podcasts.

Mentioned in the episode:

The "Unseen Adjudicator" conference in The Hague

IBA in Sydney

Silicon Valley, S.02 E.09

The Good wife S. 02 E. 20 (ICSID case with Venezuela)

The Good Wife S.04 E.12 (CAS)

The Good Wife, S.06 E. 03 (Christian arbitration)

 

Episode 5 - The Costs

Joel calls in from a remote cabin (although it sounds like he's reporting from the front; apologies for the sound quality, it will be better starting next episode) and talks to Brian about costs in international arbitration. Who pays for what and how are the costs distributed? For Happy Fun Time, we humbly give some advice on how to behave at arbitration conferences, now that conference season is coming up.