The Arbitration Station

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!

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].

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?

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}?

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!

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!

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].

After a short break, the Arbitration Station is back with escalation clauses (aka multi-tiered dispute resolution clauses or cooling off-clauses) [TIME 10:57], followed by an interview with Leonor Díaz-Córdova and Natalie Hall about cognitive bias in arbitral decision-making, the subject of an upcoming article of theirs [TIME 38:53]. Happy Fun Time closes us out with a discussion on social media practices for arbitrators and other arbitration practitioners [TIME 01:21:10].

Joel’s book can be bought here, use discount code 71345 at check-out!

You can listen to the 2007 interview with Emmanuel Gaillard here, through the CPR web page. It was the first episode of Michael McIlwrath’s excellent podcast!

Read more about the CAS case with the tweeting arbitrator here.

This week’s episode has a focus on mediation, which we attack by speaking to two different experts, who offer different perspectives on this type of arbitration-adjacent dispute resolution: Anne-Karin Grill in Vienna [TIME 12:27] and James Claxton in Kyoto [TIME 48:20]. Hopefully we have now answered our own question from Season 1: “Mediation - who cares?“ We then round off the episode with a Happy Fun Time on the topic Diversity of Diversity [TIME 01:19:53].

PS, The link for Joel’s book is here.

Hello there! This week we talk to Iaroslav Gregirchak, the Ukrainian Deputy Business Ombudsman about the work of that very interesting body [TIME 12:04]. We follow up with a second interview, this one with Andre Luis Monteiro on the cross-section of insolvency arbitration [TIME 49:43]. Happy Fun Time was recorded on International Women’s Day, which prompted us to speak about an ugly creature in the conference-heavy world of arbitration: manels [TIME 01:22:25].

PS, The French-language conference which Saadia mentions initially, co-organized by her firm Gide and the African Academy of the Practice of Public International Law is available here.