The Arbitration Station

This week we spend the most time on the epic battle of the seats currently playing out (again) - London or Paris competing - brought to the surface by Kabab-Ji S.A.L v. Kout Food Group in the UK Court of Appeal [TIME 13:23]. Then, for Happy Fun Time, Brian gives us the summary of his doctoral dissertation, which is focused on the profound issue of short commands: how to optimise your drafting in Microsoft Word [TIME 47:26].
(The Latham & Watkins Book of Jargon in International Arbitration is here)

Brian tells us about security for costs, a topic relevant for both commercial and investment arbitration [TIME 08:28]. Then follows an interview with Diego Gotis, whom Saadia spoke to in Vienna [TIME 34:14]. The last segment is always a Happy Fun one, this time about tone and culture in the field of arbitration - what we wished someone had told us earlier in our careers...[TIME: 1:08:28].

Also, watch out for the fire alarm at Saadia’s office towards the end!

Back from the holidays, we kick off the new decade with two separate discussions that involve timing: first, the temporal application of investment treaties [TIME 10:02] inspired by a recent arbitral award, secondly when and how can a state’s failure to respect obligations in a commercial arbitration award be the basis for an investment treaty claim [TIME 32:17]? Happy Fun Time then is about our (arbitration-related) resolutions for the new year [TIME 56:30].

Happy holidays, arbitration nerds!

From the International Arbitration Center in London, Brian and Saadia call up Joel and it has to be said: Joel’s audio is below par. Figuring out recording from a new place is a work in progress.

Luckily, Joel pre-recorded an interview with Kathleen Claussen about WTO dispute resolution and in particular the recent crisis in the Appellate Body [TIME 8:20].

Then Saadia takes us on a tour of the intersection between religion and arbitration [TIME 31:55], before we talk about gift-giving protocols for Happy Fun Time [56:12].

With a decimated line-up of hosts, and a Corona-related delay in uploads, we close out the season on a strong note with Joel talking about the enforcement of awards that have been set aside [TIME 11:03] and Brian talking about the treaty to end all* treaties: the plurilateral EU treaty to terminate intra-EU investment BITs [TIME 29:08]. We close out the season with a discussion on domestic legal traditions and their influence in arbitration [TIME 45:07].
Thank you all for this season. Unless the world ends, we intend to be back later in 2020 with a fifth (!) season.

*Not nearly all