Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP is delighted to invite you to a panel discussion, which will revisit Arbitrating the Conduct of International Investors.

When Arbitrating the Conduct of International Investors was published five years ago, its premise was that ISDS has departed from the mutuality of access and the reciprocity of obligations that are in arbitration’s essence. The book thus offered a guide for those who wish to reform international investment law from within, including a toolset from enhancing the access of host States and their nationals, and model texts to achieve greater reciprocity and access to justice in formal resolution mechanisms for foreign investments disputes. 

The issues that this ground-breaking book raised are even more pertinent today. With particular attention being paid to host State's right to regulate and its obligation to ensure respect for human rights, and with ESG considerations coming to the fore in international investment initiatives, investment arbitration faces increasing questions about both its legitimacy and its effectiveness. It is now therefore a good time to revisit whether and how we should arbitrate investor obligations alongside those of host State.

We welcome you to an open discussion of these issues featuring one of the authors, Jackson Kern, as well as Gary Born, Robert Volterra, Professor Emilia Onyema and Monica Feria-Tinta. Partner Steven Finizio will be moderating the panel.

Speakers

Robert Volterra has been recognised for many years in the global legal directories as one of the world’s top public international law practitioners.  He is qualified as a barrister in Canada and as a solicitor-advocate in England and Wales.  He advises and represents governments, international organisations and private clients on a wide range of contentious and non-contentious public international law and international dispute resolution issues, including international humanitarian law, the laws of war, international criminal law, boundaries and territorial integrity, UNCLOS, international investment agreements and BITs, the Energy Charter Treaty, ICSID, NAFTA, trans-boundary resources and pipelines, joint-development zones and straddling resource regimes, diplomatic and consular law, attribution, privileges and immunities, State responsibility, treaty interpretation and drafting, international arbitration and litigation, international organisations, human rights, resource concessions, Statehood and sanctions.  Mr Volterra regularly acts as co-agent, counsel and advocate before the International Court of Justice and ad hoc international arbitration tribunals, including under the Permanent Court of Arbitration, ICSID, ICC, SCC, LCIA, UNCITRAL, WTO and UNCLOS rules.  He regularly sits as an arbitrator in ICSID, UNCITRAL, ICC, SCC and LCIA arbitrations. He is on the UK Attorney General’s A-list for public international law practitioners.

Emilia Onyema is Professor of International Commercial Law at SOAS University of London. She holds a PhD in International Commercial Arbitration from Queen Mary University of London. Ms Onyema is qualified as a lawyer in Nigeria and as a solicitor in England & Wales and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. She accepts appointments as an independent arbitrator and expert witness. Ms Onyema has extensive experience as chairman, co-arbitrator and sole arbitrator in international commercial arbitration. Her research and teaching focus on international commercial arbitration, international investment law, law and development, with a regional focus on Africa.

Monica Feria-Tinta is a specialist in public international law and international arbitration. Her practice covers the full spectrum in the field, including statehood, treaty interpretation, state responsibility, the law of immunities, investment law, law of the sea, boundary delimitation, transboundary environmental damage, environmental law, UN law, the law of international organisations, diplomatic protection, consular law, self-determination, human rights, use of force, international refugee law, humanitarian law, international criminal law and international dispute settlement. Her practice also covers private international law (acting increasingly, in group litigation), international arbitration and public law. In addition to counsel work, Ms Feria-Tinta also accepts appointments as arbitrator. She recently sat as Arbitrator (Chair) in a €1.2 billion+ claim investment arbitration with a seat in The Hague and has been a guest lecturer at the LCIL Executive Course on Investment Law and Arbitration, University of Cambridge. Ms Feria-Tinta is in the UK-Korea FTA dispute resolution list of arbitrators (proposed by the UK) and was appointed by the government of Malaysia to the Advisory Council of the Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC).

Jackson Kern is an international lawyer who advises and represents private and sovereign clients in a wide range of matters, including aspects of international contentious proceedings. This ranges from the initial assessment of the merits of the case, through argument and witness examination, to post-judgment practice. He has experience in complex, high-stakes international disputes. Mr Kern also advises on non-contentious matters, particularly with a view to reducing the risk of disruptive disputes in international trade, international investment and international affairs. He is a member of the Bars of New York, Washington, DC, and Montana, as well as the American Society of International Law and the International Bar Association.