ICCA 2022 Mini-Series - Part 1

Welcome to the ICCA 2022 Mini-Series! Similar to our broadcast from Sydney, we were kindly invited by the organizers of the ICCA 2022 Congress in Edinburgh to participate as media sponsors and broadcast interviews of panelists who spoke at the conference. In the first episode, we wanted to give you an interview that was emblematic of the Congress' theme - the Age of Enlightenment. We interviewed Professor Emilia Onyema about the significant reforms in Africa that have been and will be necessary to render arbitration more effective and to integrate international best practices.

The Ukraine Special

We could not help ourselves – we had to come back with a mid-season special. In this special episode, we talk to Krystyna Khripkova regarding the current state of play for Ukrainian arbitration firms and practitioners, both in Ukraine and abroad [Time 07:42]. We also wanted to take this opportunity to invite anyone and everyone to register for the 2022 ICCA Congress in Edinburgh on 18-21 September 2022 (Register - ICCA 2022 (icca2020.scot)). The podcast is happy to participate as a media sponsor for another amazing event and look forward to meeting all the delegates who can attend.

Episode 100 - The Meta Station

Five years and 99 episodes later, three co-hosts and one producer/editor sit down to evaluate what we have done so far. We look back to high and low points from earlier episodes, enjoy a few messages from listeners and hear Brian speak offensive mock-French at least three times.

Warning - consider the episode a summer bonus, because there’s very little fresh arbitration content in this one! We will be back after the summer with more of that.

Season 6 Episode 14 - The Attorney-Client Relationship

The Arbitration Station is getting very close to the big three digits - Episode 100 is just around the corner. For now, we discuss ordre public/public policy/public order/IPO (there’s some terminology confusion on this point) as well as standard of review based on a recent French court decision on the review of an investment treaty award [TIME: 9:15]. The second topic is related, and concerns how to handle advocacy in arbitrations that involve elements of criminal law [TIME: 32:52]. This week’s Happy Fun Time, finally, involves a discussion about the relationship to your clients [TIME: 48:00].

Season 6 Episode 13 - The Foreign Law

With no guests and (almost) no preparation, Saadia, Brian and Joel discuss three issues and ask more questions than they are giving answers. First up is the ICC Court’s scrutiny of draft arbitral awards [TIME 10:50], followed by tribunals’ power to disqualify counsel [TIME 29:14]. Happy Fun Time gives the episode its name: how do we plead (and decide cases) based on foreign law, i.e. laws that we are not formally qualified in [TIME: 46:57]?

PS, the ICCA Inclusion Fund mentioned by Saadia is here.

Season 6 Episode 12 - The Billable Hour

Hola nerd amigos! We talk to Mohammad Tavana about the application of Sharia law in international arbitration [TIME 07:44]. Then Saadia, just back from a trip to Rwanda and Cote d’Ivoire, discusses some of the investment law and arbitration related trends on the African continent, in particular the AfCFTA treaty, currently being negotiated [TIME 35:46]. Our Happy Fun Time topic gives the episode its name (it could also have been “The Sharia Arbitration” or “The Fifty-Four States”) - what is the status of the billable hour model, for counsel and arbitrators alike [TIME 01:00:53]?

Season 6 Episode 11 - The French Connection

With Joel on holiday, the others talk about one of the more crucial early steps of any arbitration - the advance on costs [TIME 07:33]. We then interview, much overdue, Dorieke Overduin, Senior Legal Advisor with the Dutch Ministerie van Economische Zaken en Klimaat about her work with drafting the Dutch Model BIT, and about the role and function of model BITs more generally [TIME 27:19]. Saadia and Brian also have a happy fun time talking about the Metaverse [TIME 59:33].

Season 6 Episode 10 - The Uncharted Territory

We manage to clock in under an hour, by restricting ourselves to two topics. First, we discuss the notion of territory in investment arbitration, from several different angles that cover both annexations and the metaverse [TIME 11:21]. We then discuss experts for Happy Fun Time, more precisely how to shop for them, how to find them and how to replace them in an arbitration [TIME 34:14].

PS: With eerie timing, the Stabil and others v. Russia award was made public on the same day we recorded, so our statement that all Crimean cases remain unpublished it’s no longer true. The award can be found, among other places, at our favorite IAReporter.

Season 6 Episode 9 - The Counsel Withdrawal

First, we’re introducing our new guest correspondent Leonor (familiar to loyal listeners), who talks to Lucy Greenwood about how the Green Pledge has morphed and how it is implemented in the real world [TIME 11:40]

The three co-hosts then discuss an issue which is very top of the international arbitration community’s mind in times of war and sanctions: counsel withdrawal [TIME 38:41].

As always, we try to finish with a very Happy Fun Time, which sees us express some concerns about “pay to play” publications and conferences [TIME 56:49].

Intermission - The War

No (normal) Arbitration Station episode this week. A country where we all have friends and colleagues - and where there’s a very strong arbitration community - is under attack and we could not bring ourselves to record our prepared segments or have a Happy Fun Time.

There will be reasons to return to the many legal issues arising out of this war, but now is not the time. Now is the time to be human, and to stand with Ukraine.

A few ways to help:

1. Donate to the NGO Save Life or to the special account opened by the National Bank of Ukraine.

2. Join initiatives for lawyers, such as United for Ukraine .

3. Further information about ways to help as a foreigner is here.

Season 6 Episode 8 - The Settlements

After trying for several seasons, Joel manages to finally talk the others into recording a somewhat shorter episode. We achieve this by focusing on only one substantive topic, namely settlements - when, how and why do arbitrations settle [TIME 07:09]? Happy Fun Time is about what to do when you don’t have anything to do, or more precisely: how to allow yourself to relax in an otherwise stressful legal profession [TIME 30:32].

Season 6 Episode 7 - The Unity of an Investment

Saadia and Joel sit down to discuss the concept of an investment’s “unity“, inspired by a recent key note speech by Christoph Schreuer [TIME 07:03] This week’s guest is Jonathan Passaro, who left big law to become an executive coach and now uses his experience as an arbitration lawyer to coach other lawyers to become happier and better professionals [TIME 29:14}. Joel then leads Happy Fun Time, trying (and failing) to reconceptualize how we talk about and refer to old cases [TIME 57:08}.

Season 6 Episode 6 - The Investigator

Back from holidays spent in three different places, we talk about the CIArb Framework Guideline on the Use of Technology in International Arbitration [TIME 06:43], which Saadia has read. Brian then interviews Jenna Burton of Raedas, an expert on corporate intelligence who often works in arbitration-related matters [TIME 35:44]. The first Happy Fun Time of 2022 sees us taking on transcript corrections from a practical perspective - how does the presence of an official live record influence the lives of arbitration lawyers [TIME 01:00:20]?

Season 6 Episode 5 - The Treaty Interpretation

For the final episode of the year, the three co-hosts are in three different cities, engaging in three different topics: Brian first talks about contractual preconditions to arbitration, with a specific focus on the construction sector [TIME 08:49], after which Saadia and Joel interview Michael Waibel, professor at University of Vienna about treaty interpretation [TIME 30:37]. The year’s last Happy Fun Time is a discussion on loyalty, more specifically about brand/employer loyalty: what do you do when a firm splits, or a partner leaves for another firm [TIME 0:1:00:30]?

Happy holidays to all arbitration nerds out there, we’ll be back in 2022!

Season 6 Episode 4 - The Civility Episode

In a rare example of thematic consistency, all three segments touch on how to behave (and how not to behave) in international arbitration. We first speak to Baiju Vasani of Ivanyan & Partners, who on LinkedIn has been posting an excellent series of mentoring posts for arbitration lawyers [TIME 13:29]. The three co-hosts then discuss the recent ICCA Guidelines on Standards of Practice in International Arbitration [TIME 51:24]. We close out on a Happy Fun Time focused on the occasionally less civil aspects of arbitration - sometimes referred to as guerilla tactics [TIME 01:15:30].

Season 6 Episode 3 - The Maritime Arbitration

Brian is in Dubai on (arbitration) business and we are all amazed that things are returning to normal, at least for the time being. Saadia opens up the episode with a much-overdue segment on burden of proof/standard of proof [TIME 10:37]. We then speak to James Clanchy, independent arbitrator and Honorary Secretary of the London Maritime Arbitrators Association, about maritime arbitration [TIME 34:43]. This week’s Happy Fun Time [TIME 01:10:58] is about post-pandemic networking - what has changed?

Season 6 Episode 2 - The Komstroy Saga

Things are very, very slowly returning to normal in London but we start off with an interview with Paris-based Veronica Korom about something that happened in Luxembourg: the CJEU’s Komstroy decision about the intra-EU applicability of the ECT [TIME 10:10]. Joel then goes down the procedural rabbit hole, discussing various post-award measures beyond set-asides and enforcement, such as interpretation and correction of awards [TIME 45:45], before we close out with a HFT on self-citation: how and when should arbitrators, counsel and academics cite themselves [TIME 01:09:05}?

Season 6 Episode 1 - The Season Opener

Somewhat delayed, we’re finally back with Season 6! We try to understand what happened when the DIFC-LCIA (in Dubai) was abolished [TIME 12:18], Brian has talked to Ambassador Keith Harper about indigenous rights and their overlap with dispute resolution [TIME 36:22], and the inaugural Happy Fun Time concerns Anti-Money Laundering - how do these obligations influence real life on the factory floor of arbitration [TIME: 01:04:13]?

We’ll be on the air every other Tuesday for the foreseeable future starting… NOW!

Season 5 Episode 15 - The Season Finale

In what we think is episode 84 of the Arbitration Station, we round off Season 5 with an interview with Ucheora Onwuamaegbu about the United Nations Compensation Commission [TIME 12:58]. Then, Saadia has read the 2021 International Arbitration Survey and quizzes the others on what respondents may have to say about the state of international arbitration [TIME 51:37]. The season is concluded by a Happy Fun Time where we discuss some trends and developments from the last season or so [TIME 01:19:36]. We will talk to you again after the summer. Stay safe!

Season 5 Episode 14 - The Airports

For this episode, we have neatly given ourselves one segment per person. Saadia first talks to Sophie Nappert about ArbTech, a forum of which she is a co-founder [TIME 11:20]. Then, Joel has read and almost understood Advocate General Kokott’s opinion in Poland v. PL Holdings [TIME 42:04]. Brian closes out the episode, with a highly scientific comparative study of the world’s airports - soon, soon we can travel again [TIME 1:00:06].