On May 2, 2011, WilmerHale and New York University School of Law’s Center for Transnational Litigation and Commercial Law hosted a presentation on the new French international arbitration law, with guest speaker Catherine Kessedjian, a professor at the University of Paris Panthéon-Assas and Hauser Global Visiting Professor at NYU.

To an audience of attorneys, judges, arbitrators and academics from the international arbitration community in New York, Kessedjian provided comments on the new law, which was published in January and entered into force on May 1, and discussed implications of the new provisions for international arbitration practice.

“It was great to have the opportunity to hear Professor Kessedjian’s comments the day after the statute went into force,” says WilmerHale Counsel Dr. Maxi Scherer, a French lawyer who is currently a Hauser Global Research Fellow at NYU School of Law. “Because Paris is one of the world’s leading places of arbitration, the new French law is of great importance to arbitration practitioners around the globe, including here in New York.”

“We received very positive feedback from those who attended,” adds WilmerHale Partner John Pierce. “The event was a valuable opportunity for us to collaborate with NYU and we were pleased to be able to host this provocative discussion, led by Professor Kessedjian, which I believe was of significant interest to the international arbitration community in New York.”