LAW 318 - International Commercial Arbitration.

The globalization of the world’s economy increasingly gives rise to disputes that cross national borders and affect a variety of institutions that manage and resolve international commercial disputes. Over the past several decades, there has been an increasing resort to international commercial arbitration to resolve disputes. Arbitration is no longer confined to shipping, insurance and domestic labor disputes; rather there is a critical reliance on the use of arbitration to resolve international business disputes, infra-structure projects as well as investment and intellectual property transactions. This course is intended to explore various aspects of the growing area of international arbitration which requires an appreciation of the comparative legal approaches related to private international law dispute resolution on the national, transnational and international levels.

This course will examine the legal and policy regimes for resolving international economic disputes with a particular focus on international commercial arbitration. The course will first consider the juridical basis and forms of international commercial arbitration. It will then address the creation and enforcement of arbitration agreements. The course then considers the law governing the vacatur, recognition and enforcement of international commercial arbitration awards. We will also address other elements related to international investment.

There are no prerequisites although Civil Procedure, Federal Courts, International Law, International Business Transactions, and Conflicts of Laws would be helpful. This seminar will not address in any detail choice of law theories which are better considered in Conflicts of Laws. Two hours. Franck