Investor-State dispute settlement mechanisms (ISDS) are an important component of most International Investment Agreements (IIAs) and have significant influence on how disputes between States and investors are resolved.This statistical survey of a large sample of 1,660 bilateral investment...

Modern practice of international business requires companies to structure their corporate form into one which would be advantageous and safe for the management, growth and sustainability of business. However, when corporate structuring is used to avoid obligations of the company, the latter may...

What is the role of economic evidence and arguments in WTO and investor-state dispute settlement? Both regimes epitomize the search for an international rule of law and legal stability. At the same time, both trade and investment agreements are economic contracts. Economics provides insights not...

Generally speaking, each individual jurisdiction has adopted its own approach concerning the rules on the determination of the governing law applicable in proceedings in international matters. In the international practice, arbitral panels usually distinguish four relatively autonomous areas...

Attorneys in the U.S. who are new to international arbitration may be unaware of how ethical rules in foreign jurisdictions affect their conduct. It may not be easy to ascertain what ethical rules govern in a proceeding, or what happens if there are conflicting ethical rules. Because of the many...

Extractive industries can bring much-needed jobs to remote locations in developing countries. At the same time, there are too many examples where extractive projects bring environmental degradation and human rights violations. Some research has pointed out that the difference between an...

It is a widely held assumption that sophisticated parties prefer arbitration over litigation in international agreements for three reasons. First, the flexibility granted by arbitration would allow parties to write dispute settlement clauses that are tailored to their individual preferences....

There was nothing preordained about arbitration becoming shorthand for investor-state dispute settlement. The ICSID system was built on the assumption that disputing parties would choose conciliation to settle their disputes. Those expectations went unrealized as arbitration rose to prominence,...