When things go wrong, it is always good to find someone to blame. As the credit crisis started to unfold in 2007, credit rating agencies (“CRAs”) emerged as the villain – or scapegoat, one might say – for commentators and regulators alike. To sum up, observers accused CRAs of doing a...

This paper provides a practical overview and normative analysis of international tax planning ideas for entities who are establishing or restructuring their business affairs. In particular, in an international financial hub, such as Hong Kong, taxation advisors and lawyers need to be...

This article reports on a study of potential systemic bias in the resolution of ambiguous legal issues by investment treaty arbitrators. It outlines tentative but significant findings that the arbitrators in general tended to favour (a) foreign investors over states in general, (b) foreign...

In explaining the concept of centre of main interests (COMI) within the UK Cross-Border Insolvency Regulations 2006 (CBIR), the Englush court in Re Stanford International Bank over-emphasised third-party ascertainability due to an apparent lack of appreciation of the different functions...

In 2016 and 2017, states continued their engagement with international investment law. A small minority of states displayed scepticism or tried to disengage themselves from their investment law obligations. This chapter addresses select institutional developments in international investment law...

For many years, the rise in number of international units operated by U.S. franchisors has outpaced domestic growth. As the trend toward globalization accelerates, franchise owners must determine the most effective methods to protect their intellectual property rights wherever they do business....

Drawing on the 2016 update of the IMF's Central Bank Legislation Database, this paper examines differences in central bank legal frameworks before and after the Global Financial Crisis. Examples from select countries show that many central bank laws have undergone changes in objectives,...

On May 14, 2018, the United States Supreme Court struck down the federal prohibition on sports gambling. The sweeping opinion, authored by Justice Alito, ended more than a quarter-century old policy that kept states from offering sports gambling and therefore, sports betting was confined almost...

The Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct (the “Colo. RPC”), as interpreted in the comments to the Colo. RPC, the courts and the Ethics Committee of the Colorado Bar Association, govern lawyers practicing law in Colorado, and in some cases are impacted even when Colorado lawyers are not...

Taking a normative approach this paper identifies and develops basic principles for the good governance of central banks, namely independence, democratic accountability and transparency. In doing so the paper focuses on the arrangements surrounding the primary task of a central bank, i.e. the...