CIArb YMG European Branch and Young ITA “2018 Year-in-Review” conference on 19 December 2018

A retrospective of international arbitration in 2018 was the focus of the Paris conference “2018 Year-in-Review,” held on 19 December 2018 and hosted by Latham & Watkins. This joint conference of CIArb YMG and Young ITA[1] was organized by Alexander G. Leventhal (Quinn Emanuel), Ana Gerdau de Borja Mercereau (Derains & Gharavi), and Rocío Digón (White & Case).

Rocío Digón, Young ITA’s Continental Europe Chair, introduced the panel’s moderator, Jil El Ahdab (Bird & Bird), the Chair of CIArb’s European Branch, who animated the discussions led by the panelists.  The first panelist Paula Henin (Freshfields) discussed recent uses and abuses of discovery and disclosure in international arbitration, including the Rules on the Efficient Conduct of Proceedings in International Arbitration (the Prague Rules) and developments in the use of Section 1782 of the U.S. Code.[2]  In turn, the second panelist Diego Romero (Latham & Watkins) covered the topic of the future of investment arbitration, including the reform of the ICSID Rules, and the new United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMC).  The last panelist Saadia Bhatty (Gide) went on to discuss diversity citing, among other cases, Carter v. Iconix,[3] and the emergence of regional hubs in arbitration.

Later, Alexander G. Leventhal polled the audience with attendees able to voice their opinions using their telephones.  The poll questions covered the future of the Prague Rules and of the USMCA, the most pressing diversity issues, and the future of investor-State arbitration.

Ana Gerdau de Borja Mercereau closed the conference with recap of the evening’s developments and her three wishes for 2019.  Mercereau’s most important wish was that the “enduring social institution”[4] of international arbitration persist, evolving as society changes.

[1] Young members’ group of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration.

[2] 28 U.S. Code § 1782 (Assistance to foreign and international tribunals and to litigants before such tribunals).

[3] Shawn C. Carter, et al. v. Iconix Brand Group, Inc. et al., Index No. 655894/2018.

[4] See Jan Paulsson, The Idea of Arbitration (Oxford 2013), p. 298.

By Alexander G. Leventhal, Ana Gerdau de Borja Mercereau and Rocío Digon