Ninth Annual Investment Treaty Arbitration Conference

Online registration is CLOSED —
Registrations for ANY remaining spots will be accepted at conference site on 26 February – Please download conference registration form, fill out and bring to conference venue
NOTE: Space is very LIMITED – registrations will be allocated on a first come first serve basis

Contents

Conference Downloads
Program Information
Registration
Co Chairs
Keynote Speaker
Faculty
Schedule
Accommodations

Conference Downloads

Conference Registration Form

Program Information

Investment Treaty Arbitration and Natural Resources

The Ninth Annual Juris Investment Treaty Arbitration Conference will address the complex issues raised by investor-state arbitration, and in particular will address these issues in the context of disputes in the natural resources sector. Over a quarter of all investor-state arbitrations commenced in 2013 alone arose out of disputes related to oil, gas and mining projects. With the continued importance of natural resource exploitation to the wealth of many states, and a resurgence of resource nationalism in parts of the world, it is not unexpected that related disputes with foreign investors continue to figure prominently in investment treaty arbitration.

The conference will be in its usual format – we will pit two rising stars in the field against each other to take a side in key current debates. The panel topics will be:

The Role of Domestic Property Rights in Investment Treaty Arbitration – A Misleading Rubric?
Lost on the way to Chorzów: Have arbitrators just been paying lip service to the PCIJ’s seminal case in their damages analyses?
Lawful versus Unlawful Expropriation: is this a Distinction Without a Difference?
Burdens and Standards of Proof for Corruption – is the allegation of claimant corruption by a state a sufficient basis on which tribunals may deny an investment claim?

Our expert faculty will then continue the debate following the original contributions from our authors for what always proves to be highly entertaining and of great value to practitioners and academics alike who are interested in these important issues.

Registration

Conference Registration Form

Conference Fee:
$750 USD
$475 USD (ONLY available to Full-Time Academics, Government Employees, and Full-Time In-House Corporate Counsel)

Conference Fee includes:
Written course materials, a copy of Investment Treaty Arbitration and International Law, Volume 9 (a $125 value), refreshments at breaks, luncheon and a drinks reception following the program. The fee does not include accommodations.

Co Chairs

Ian A. Laird is a Partner in the International Dispute Resolution Group of Crowell & Moring’s Washington, D.C. office. He currently represents clients in international investment disputes involving issues in the energy and natural resources sector. Mr. Laird is serving as an Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center teaching a seminar on the influence of public international law on investment treaty arbitration He is the co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Investmentclaims.com.

Borzu Sabahi is an Attorney in Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP. He currently represents sovereigns in international arbitration disputes in various fields including energy, telecommunication, and construction. He has served as counsel and expert in cases brought under a number of investment treaties and rules including UNCITRAL, ICSID, ICC, and LCIA. He is an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law Center teaching seminars on investor State arbitration and international oil and gas development.

Frédéric Sourgens is an Associate Professor of Law at Washburn University Law School. His teaching and scholarship focuses on international dispute resolution, with a particular emphasis on resolution of disputes involving political risk. He has published numerous articles on international arbitration and serves as editor for the Oxford University Press reporter of investor-state arbitral decisions. Prior to joining Washburn Law, Professor Sourgens practiced international arbitration in the Washington,D.C. office of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy. He worked as counsel in ICSID, UNCITRAL, ICC and LCIA arbitrations. While in Washington, D.C., he was an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center.

Todd Weiler is an investment treaty counsel and arbitrator and noted expert on NAFTA Chapter 11. Mr. Weiler has served as arbitrator, consulting expert and co-counsel in disputes and arbitrations involving investors, host states and interested third parties. He is the Co-Founder of Investmentclaims.com and the publisher of NAFTAClaims.com

Keynote Speaker

Michael Reisman is Myres S. McDougal Professor of International Law at Yale Law School where he has been on the faculty since 1965. He is the President of the Arbitration Tribunal of the Bank for International Settlements. Professor Reisman has published widely in the area of international law and he has served as arbitrator and counsel in many international cases. He has been a visiting professor in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Berlin, Basel, Paris and Geneva.

Faculty

Babatunde Ajibade is the Managing Partner and head of the Dispute Resolution Group at SPA Ajibade & Co., a corporate and commercial law firm with offices in Lagos, Abuja and Ibadan, Nigeria. Dr. Ajibade has a Ph.D in Private International Law from King’s College, London with a specialization in the law relating to the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. He has been involved in international dispute resolution at various levels and has appeared as counsel in international arbitrations conducted pursuant to the UNCITRAL and LCIA rules as well as in ad hoc international arbitrations. Dr. Ajibade is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators UK. He is a member of the LCIA African Users’ Council; a Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies UK and an International Practice Fellow of the International Bar Association. He is also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, having been elevated to that rank in December 2007.

José Alberro coheads Cornerstone Research’s international arbitration and litigation practice. His expertise focuses on applied economic and financial modeling across a variety of industries, with particular depth in oil and natural gas, petrochemicals, consumer goods, industrial inputs, and telecommunications. He specializes in damages estimation in the context of international arbitration; mergers and antitrust; tariff design in network industries (electricity, natural gas transportation and distribution, water); and economic impact analysis. Dr. Alberro has provided expert testimony in international arbitrations on four continents, involving both investor-state and commercial disputes. He has testified in proceedings under ICSID, UNCITRAL, ECT, and ICC rules.

Rafael Cox Alomar is an Assistant Professor of Law at UDC David A. Clarke School of Law. He teaches Public International Law, Constitutional Law II, and Conflict of Laws and Remedies. Prior to joining the law faculty, Professor Cox Alomar practiced law in some of the most prestigious international law firms in Washington, D.C. acting on behalf of clients on a wide array of dispute resolution and transactional matters. More specifically, he has acted as counsel on eight international arbitrations before the World Bank’s International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes.

Edward G. Baldwin is a Partner in Baker & McKenzie’s Washington, D.C. office. He regularly represents multinational clients in international arbitration proceedings and in matters before U.S. federal and state courts. Mr. Baldwin has extensive experience in investor-state arbitrations before the ICSID and ad hoc tribunals, commercial arbitrations under various rules and institutions, and U.S. litigation. He focuses his practice on international arbitration, transactional litigation, sovereign immunity issues and enforcement of judgments and awards.

Christina L. Beharry is an attorney in Foley & Hoag’s Washington, D.C. office. She focuses her practice on international arbitration and trade and investment policy. Prior to joining Foley Hoag, she was Counsel in the Trade Law Bureau of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. In this capacity, Ms. Beharry represented the Government of Canada in investor-state disputes brought under NAFTA Chapter 11 and assisted in the negotiation of bilateral investment treaties with countries in Latin America and the Middle East. Ms. Beharry also previously worked at Industry Canada where she contributed to the development and drafting of new legislation on corporate governance, bankruptcy and foreign direct investment.

Alexander J. Bĕlohlávek is Founder and Senior partner of The Bĕlohlávek Law Office in Prague. He has acted as arbitrator or counsel in more than 170 international arbitrations and is a Member of the International Court of Arbitration at the ICC in Paris as well as a member of the ICC Commission on international arbitration and Member of the National Committee of the ICC in the Czech Republic.

Marinn Carlson is a Partner in Sidley Austin’s Washington, D.C. office. She focuses her practice in international dispute settlement, with an emphasis on investment disputes, including investor-state arbitration and international commercial arbitration. Ms. Carlson has represented foreign investors as well as respondent governments in ICSID and UNCITRAL arbitration under investment treaties and trade agreements, including NAFTA. She counsels clients in sectors ranging from financial services to energy to infrastructure development on the implications of international trade and investment rules for their global operations.

Matthew Drossos is an attorney in White & Case’s Washington, D.C. office. He practices in the firm’s International Arbitration and Litigation Practice Groups. His expertise is in the areas of commercial litigation, international arbitration and public international law. Mr. Drossos has assisted on matters before the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, the International Chamber of Commerce, and federal courts.

Jonathan Gimblett is a Partner in Covington & Burling’s Washington, D.C. office. He joined the firm in 2004 following a successful career in the British Diplomatic Service. His practice combines antitrust and international law. Mr. Gimblett’s international practice focuses principally on investor-sttae arbitration and international boundary disputes, on which he advised both states and corporate clients.

Alexandre de Gramont is a Partner in Weil, Gotshal & Manges’ International Arbitration Practice based in Washington, D.C. He has been recognized as one of the leading International Arbitration lawyers in the United States in publications such as Chambers Global, The Best Lawyer in America and The International Who’s Who of Commercial Arbitration. Mr. de Gramont has vast experience in both international commercial and investor-state arbitration matters. In the latter category, he has represented investors and governments in numerous cases arising from bilateral investment treaties, multi-lateral treaties (including NAFTA, CAFTA-DR, and the Energy Charter Treaty), and other international investment laws. He has handled cases in many of the world’s leading international arbitration fora, including ICSID, PCA, ICC and SCC among others.

Grant Hanessian is Global Co-Chair of Baker & McKenzie’s International Arbitration Practice Group. He has extensive experience as counsel and arbitrator in disputes concerning investment treaty, energy, construction, commodities, financial services, intellectual property and other matters. Mr. Hanessian is Vice Chairman of the Arbitration & ADR Committee of the United States Council for International Business (USCIB), the U.S. national committee of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), and is a member the ICC Commission on Arbitration, the ICC Commission’s Task Force on Financial Institutions and International Arbitration (co-head of Investment Arbitration and Banking & Finance working group), ICC Task Force on International Arbitration with States and State Entities, AAA-ICDR International Advisory Committee and its Subcommittee on Revision of the ICDR Rules and the ICDR Advisory Committee on Brazil, New York State Bar Association Task Force on International Arbitration, International Arbitration Club of New York, and Club Español del Arbitraje, and a founding board member of the New York International Arbitration Center. Mr. Hanessian is editor of ICDR Awards and Commentaries (Juris Pub. 2012) and co-editor of Comparison of International Arbitration Rules (American Bar Association Section of International Law, forthcoming 2015), International Arbitration Checklists (Juris Pub., 2nd ed., 2009), Gulf War Claims Reporter (ILI/Kluwer, 1998) and Baker & McKenzie’s International Litigation & Arbitration Newsletter. Mr. Hanessian is recommended by Chambers Global and USA Guides (described as “very experienced, hugely knowledgeable and effective”), Legal 500 (described as ‘a great practitioner’ with a ‘strong commercial profile’), PLC Which Lawyer, The International Who’s Who of Commercial Arbitration and Expert Guide to Leading Practitioners in International Arbitration..

David Hesse is a Partner in Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle’s London office. He practices in their Oil and Gas and Private Equite practice. Mr. Hesse’s energy practice concentrates on advising national oil and gas companies in connection with upstream activities, international tenders, refinery projects, farm-out agreements and other contract in the petroleum and petrochemical industries. He also has been involved in numerous international commercial arbitration matters. His private equity work involves venture capital and acquisitions representing both investors and companies in all stages of development.

Stephen Jagusch is Global Chair of Quinn Emanuel’s International Arbitration Practice. He specializes in international commercial and investment treaty arbitration, having acted as adviser and advocate in dozens of ad hoc and institutional international arbitrations, conducted in many countries around the world, and subject to a wide variety of governing substantive and procedural laws. A great many of Mr. Jagusch’s cases have been for or against sovereign states or substantial multinational organization, and he has been lead counsel in many of the world’s leading investment treaty cases. He is recognized as a leading expert in the field of international arbitration and disputes arising under contacts and bilateral or multilateral investment treaties, and is highly ranked by all international and domestic legal publications in international arbitration and public international law.

Joongi Kim is Professor of Law and Associate Dean for International Affairs at Yonsei Law School. His research focuses on international dispute resolution, international trade, corporate governance and good governance and has appeared in the ICSID Review, Journal of International Economic Law, Journal of World Trade, University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law, Northwestern Journal of International Law and Business, Asian Journal of Comparative Law and Fordham International Law Journal. A former attorney at Foley & Lardner in Washington, D.C. and Scholar-in-Residence at WilmerHale’s International Arbitration Group, he also served as the Founding Executive Director of the Hills Governance Center in Korea, which was established under the joint auspices of the World Bank, CSIS and Yonsei University. He has acted as a presiding arbitrator, sole arbitrator, co-arbitrator, mediator or counsel in institutional and ad hoc proceedings under the rules of the ICC, JAMS, KCAB, LMAA and UNCITRAL.

Aloysius Llamzon is an attorney in the International Arbitration Group of King & Spalding, based in New York. He represents corporate and sovereign parties in treaty and contract-based investment and commercial arbitrations. Prior to joining King & Spalding, Dr. Llamzon was Legal Counsel and Senior Legal Counsel at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. His duties included acting as Registrar and Tribunal Secretary in large inter-State, investment, and commercial arbitrations involving States, including the Indus Waters Kishenganga Arbitration (Pakistan v. India) and the Abyei Arbitration (Gov’t of Sudan/Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army). A member of the bar in New York and the Philippines, Louie previously practiced at a leading international firm’s Hong Kong office and at a prominent firm in Manila. He writes and lectures frequently on various issues in international law and dispute settlement.

Ben Love is a Senior Associate in the Paris office of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. He practices in their international arbitration and public international la groups. Mr. Love has acted as both counsel and tribunal secretary in a wide variety of commercial and investment treaty arbitrations with a particular focus on the energy sector. He has extensive experience in arbitrations against Latin American States, and his recent mandates include representing investors in multi-billion dollar arbitration against Egypt and its State entities arising out of the Peace Pipeline project. In addition to his work as counsel, Ben serves on the Peer Review Board of the ICSID Review, the Advisory Board of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration, and the editorial boards of International Legal Materials and World Arbitration and Mediation Review.

Timothy G. Nelson is a Partner in the New York office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. He represents clients in a variety of disputes involving cross-border and international law issues, including arbitration before international bodies such as the American Arbitration Association/International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and tribunals constituted under the Arbitration rules of the United National Commission of International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).

Michael Nolan is a Partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy and a member of the firm’s Litigation and Arbitration Group. A partner since 1998, Mr. Nolan has represented clients in US federal and state courts and before arbitral tribunal in all manner of complex disputes, including general commercial, securities, antitrust, tax and insolvency cases. Mr. Nolan’s practice has a particular focus on international arbitration and transnational litigation. He has served as counsel or arbitrator in cases under AAA, ICC, ICSID, UNCITRAL and other rules. His arbitration have involved electricity, gas, transportation and mining concessions; joint-venture agreements, satellite and other insurance coverage; construction; and energy distribution. He has represented both investors and states in arbitration pursuant to bilateral investment treaties and the Energy Charter Treaty.

Steven R. Ratner is the Bruno Simma Collegiate Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School. His teaching and research focus on public international law and on a range of challenges facing governments and institutions since the Cold War, including counter-terrorism strategies, state and corporate duties regarding foreign investment, and accountability for human rights violations. Prof. Ratner has written and lectured extensively on issues of corporations and human rights and advised the UN on these issues. He has also authored several expert opinions in foreign investment-related arbitrations. He is a member of the State Department’s Advisory Committee on International Law, an Adviser to the American Law Institute on the Fourth Restatement of Foreign Relations Law, and a former member of the Board of Editors of the American Journal of International Law. His most recent book, The Thin Justice of International Law: A Moral Reckoning of the Law of Nations (Oxford University Press, 2015), offers an ethical appraisal of the core norms of international law, including international economic law.

Samantha J. Rowe is an attorney in Debevoise & Plimpton’s New York office. She is a member of the firm’s International Dispute Resolution Group. Her experience includes representing an investment firm in two BIT cases against the Government of Lao arising under the ICSID Additional Facility Rules and the UNCITRAL Rules. In addition, she was successful in winning a NAFTA arbitration award for Exxon Mobil Corp. and Murphy Oil that the imposition of research spending requirement by Newfoundland violated NAFTA.

James Saulino is an Attorney in Crowell & Moring’s International Trade and International Arbitration groups. In his arbitration practice, Mr. Saulino represents clients in both commercial and investor-state arbitrations. He has served as counsel in disputes involving the governments of Turkey, Egypt, Libya, El Salvador and Lithuania, and in such industries as construction, tourism, mining and manufacturing. Mr. Saulino has significant experience in issues related to damages and economic modeling, and he has conducted or assisted in several examinations of expert witnesses in arbitration hearings.

Laurence Shore is a Partner in Herbert Smith Freehills’ New York office. He is an international arbitration specialist. He frequently sits as an arbitrator in ICC and ICDR cases. Mr. Shore is a member of the ICC Commission’s United States delegation, and the LCIA’s North America council. He has been the lead advocate in a large number of international arbitration cases under, for example, the ICC, ICDR, UNCITRAL, LCIA, Cairo Regional Centre, society of Maritime Arbitrators, and Swiss Arbitration Rules. His experience includes among may other cases a London-seat arbitration regarding a liquefied natural gas contract dispute, C-counsel for a U.S. international mining and natural resources company in an ICC arbitration seated in New York, under New York law, concerning a disputed agreement for the supply of iron ore.

Josefa Sicard-Mirabal is the Executive Director of Arbitration and ADR for North America for the International Court of Arbitration®/SICANA, Inc. In this capacity, she represents and promotes ICC dispute resolution services in North America. She also advises companies, States, and attorneys on all phases of commercial and investor-state arbitration, including negotiation of arbitration clauses, requests for arbitration, procedural issues and enforcement of arbitration awards. She is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Fordham University School of Law in New York City where she has taught Introduction to Investor-State Arbitration since 2010.

Mallory B. Silberman is an attorney in Arnold & Porter’s Washington, D.C. office. She is a member of their International Arbitration, Litigation, and Latin America practice groups, where she focuses on international dispute resolution between sovereign States and multinational corporations. In addition to representing sovereigns in international commercial arbitration proceedings and U.S. litigation proceedings, Ms. Silberman has particular experience in investment treaty disputes before the World-Bank-affiliated International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes She has represented investors and more than 10 sovereign States in approximately 20 ICSID and ICSID Additional Facility disputes arising under bilateral investment treaties, NAFTA, or the Energy Charter Treaty.

Pablo T. Spiller is a Senior Consultant at Compass Lexecon. He is also the Jeffery A. Jacobs Distinguished Professor (Emeritus) of Business and Technology at the Haas School of Business, and Professor Graduate Studies, University of California, Berkeley; Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research; and the former President of the International Society for New Institutional Economics. He was previously at LECG since 1993, where he was the co-chair of the International Arbitration Practice Group. Dr. Spiller has extensive consulting and expert testimony experience. He has consulted on issues of regulation and antitrust for private businesses, governments and international organization, and testified as expert in more than 120 international arbitration cases, involving both treaty and contractual disputes rendering opinions on damage assessment, contract interpretation and regulatory conduct in a variety of sectors.

Jennifer Vanderhart is a Managing Director at FTI Consulting and is based in Washington, D.C. She is a member of the Intellectual Property practice in the Forensic and Litigation Consulting segment. Dr. Vanderhart has more than 20 years of experience in the valuation and quantification of economic damages, including claims arising from patent, copyright and trademark infringement, trade secret misappropriation and contract disputes. She has testified numerous times in state and federal court and in arbitration proceedings. Dr. Vanderhart is also experienced in calculating and determining appropriate data cost-sharing compensation under FIFRA legislation and has testified several times in FIFRA proceedings.

Gaëtan Verhoosel is a founding Partner of Three Crowns and is located in their London office. Three Crowns brings together specialist international arbitration advocates who share a common vision. Mr. Verhoosel was previously the global co-chair of the international arbitration practice at a leading international law firm. He has appeared as advocate in a large number of both commercial and investment treaty arbitrations, with a particular focus on the energy industry. His publicly reported engagements include the long-running case of Occidental Petroleum Corporation versus Republic of Ecuador, which in 2012 yielded the largest ICSID award to date (US$2.3 billion). He is currently the chair of the IBA Subcommittee on Investment Arbitration, a vice-chair of the ABA International Arbitration committee, and a member of the editorial board of the ICSID – Foreign Investment Review.

David H. Weiss is an Attorney in King & Spalding’s International Arbitration Group. He represents foreign investors in disputes with host government and private parties in international commercial disputes. Mr. Weiss has participated in proceedings before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, the International Chamber of Commerce, and the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.

Dr. Herfried Wöss is a Partner in Wöss & Partners in Mexico City and Washington, D.C. He has extensive experience in commercial and investment arbitration related to infrastructure projects, bank expropriation, joint ventures, M&A, franchise and international sales contracts, and the banking, automotive, telecommunications and pharmaceutical industries. He is listed in the International Who’s Who of Commercial Arbitration and recently authored a book with his partner Adriana San Román and two economists on the topic of damages in international arbitration under complex long-term contracts. He is the found of the Investment Arbitration Forum and co-editor of two books on investment arbitration as well as special editor on Latin American and CETA of Transnational Dispute Management.

Wantao Yang is a Partner in the Shangai office of Zhong Lun Law Firm. His knowledge and experience integrate business and finance with law, PRC expertise and insight with international experience and vision. He has both extensive transactional expertise and substantial experience in handling complex cross-border dispute resolutions and bankruptcy, and he effectively integrates academic research with daily legal practice. His cross-disciplinary background, extensive practice experience and innovative and inquisitive skills make him uniquely positioned to handle matters with significant importance to clients, matters of innovation with little or no precedent, and matters involving conflicts of laws and business practices of different jurisdictions. He is a well-known arbitration expert and has served in multiple roles as arbitrator, expert witness and party appointed attorney in international arbitration proceedings.

Alexander Yanos is a litigation Partner in the New York office of Hughes Hubbard & Reed and co-chairs the firm’s Treaty Arbitration practice group. His practice focuses on complex disputes, particularly international disputes, both in court and before arbitral tribunals. Mr. Yanos’ arbitration practice includes commercial, financial and treaty-based disputes, particularly in the energy and mining sectors and in Latin America. Recently, he has obtained a finding of unlawful expropriation in an ICSID arbitratin against Venezuela, one of the largest investment treaty cases ever filed. Mr. Yanos has acted in matters before nearly every international arbitration tribunal, including: the ICSID, ICC, LCIA, AAA, HKIAC among others.

Diora M. Ziyaeva is an attorney in Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle’s New York office in their International Arbitration and Corporate groups. Her practice focuses on investor-state arbitration, commercial arbitration and on issues and disputes relating to public international law, as well as corporate law with an emphasis on the oil and gas sector. She has been involved in several important proceedings under the rules of the ICSID and UNCITRAL, including proceedings relating to the energy sector and involving states and state-owned entities.

Schedule

8:00 – 9:00 Registration Coffee and Tea upon Arrival

9:00 – 9:15 Opening Remarks by Conference Co-Chairs

9:15 – 10:45 Session 1: Protecting “Property” Rights in Investment Treaty Arbitration – A Compound-Definitional-Dilemma

Despite a decade of decisions on the definition of “investment” in investment treaties, a definitive meaning remains subject to significant debate. In the past, the term “property” could be used to simply describe a legal relationship between a rights-holder and a third party. Today, lawyers and lay persons alike say “property” when they really mean to refer to the land or thing in which property rights are held. Treaty drafters do it too. The same kind of definitional dynamic can be seen for “investment” as well. Does “investment” describe a legal relationship between an investor and an asset or does it describe the asset itself? Should a mining or oil & gas concession agreement be regarded as an investment, in and of itself? Our authors will address the two ways to deal with this compound-definitional-dilemma – one will adopt a purposive approach to the definition of “investment” and “property” while the other will argue for a more literalist approach. Which approach is more likely to lead to a better result over time? Our authors will have their respective answers ready on conference day.

Moderator: Laurence Shore
Authors: Matthew N. Drossos, Samantha J. Rowe
Panel: Alexander Bĕlohlávek, David Hesse, Ben Love, Gaëtan Verhoosel, Dr. B.AM. Ajibade

10:45 – 11:00 Coffee / Tea Break

11:00 – 12:30 Session 2: Lost on the way to Chorzów: Have arbitrators just been paying lip service to the PCIJ’s seminal case in their damages analyses?

For the last 90 years Chorzów Factory’s classic dictum that “reparation must, as far as possible, wipe out all the consequences of the illegal act and re-establish the situation that, in all probability, would have existed if that act had not been committed . . .” has been an indispensable part of damages analyses for breaches of international law. Our two authors will address the two sides of the question whether arbitral tribunals have applied this dictum correctly. In particular, while examining major recent cases in the natural resources sector, one author will argue that arbitral tribunals have only paid lip service to Chorzów dictum disregarding the context and full implications of the dictum. Our second author will argue the contrary case that the arbitral tribunals have correctly applied the dictum giving it full effect.

Moderator: Tim Nelson
Authors: Diora Ziyaeva, Mallory Silberman
Panel: José Alberro, Josefa Sicard-Mirabal, Pablo T. Spiller, Jennifer Vanderhart, Herfried Wöss

12:30 – 13:30 Lunch

13:30 – 13:45 Keynote Speaker

13:45 – 15:15 Session 3: Lawful versus Unlawful Expropriation: is this a Distinction Without a Difference?

Both investment treaty language and the ratiocination of investor-state tribunals amply support that there is a distinct difference between lawful and unlawful expropriation. This panel will look beneath this apparent agreement between treaty language and jurisprudence on expropriation to see what if any difference the distinction between lawful and unlawful expropriation makes in the award of damages to aggrieved investors. Our two authors will address the two sides of the question – does an investor get more damages for an unlawful expropriation of natural resource rights than the investor would for a lawful one? The two authors will further address: does an unlawfully expropriated investor have a right to specific performance? If so, does this right to specific performance permit the investor to seek attachment of minerals shipments when marketed abroad on a conversion or similar theory? In particular, one author will argue that there is no practical distinction between lawful and unlawful expropriation because the remedies are precisely the same for both. The other author will argue the contrary case that there is both a difference in available remedies and in the quantum of damages flowing from an unlawful versus a lawful expropriation.

Moderator: Michael Nolan
Authors: Christina Beharry, Prof. Rafael Cox-Alomar
Panel: Grant Hanessian, Marinn Carlson, Alexander Yanos, Prof. Steven Ratner, Prof. Joongi Kim

15:15 – 15:30 Coffee / Tea Break

15:30 – 17:00 Session 4: Burdens and Standards of Proof for Corruption – is the allegation of claimant corruption by a state a sufficient basis on which tribunals may deny an investment claim?

Allegations of corruption (against investors and state parties) have become more common in recent investment arbitrations, including those involving large natural resources projects. Our two authors will address the two sides of the question – which party holds the burden of proof to demonstrate corruption and by what standard of proof? Further, to the extent that the host state fails to make out a competent corruption case against an investor, is a tribunal empowered or obligated to continue to address the issue? In particular, one author will argue that the high standard of proof accepted by recent tribunals is the correct approach. Our second author will argue the contrary case that the standard is in fact impossibly high, and that, at the very least, the standard should not be made more severe than the usual standard of proof.

Moderator: Stephen Jagusch
Authors: James J. Saulino, David Weiss
Panel: Jonathan Gimblett, Edward Baldwin, Alex de Gramont, Aloysius P. Llamzon, Wantao YANG

17:00 – 18:00 Cocktail Reception