2012 INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT AGREEMENTS AND INVESTOR-STATE ARBITRATION

Overview

In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of bilateral investment treaties and other agreements with investment related provisions. There has also been a sharp increase in the number of disputes between foreign investors and host governments. This course deals with issues arising out of these developments and will focus on; (i) international standards for the treatment of investments and (ii) various methods for resolution of investment related disputes, including mediation, contract renegotiation and arbitration. The course will cover topics of interest to lawyers, investors and government officials responsible for drafting, negotiating and interpreting investment agreements and resolving investment disputes.

Course Outline

Basic Standards for the Treatment of Foreign Investment

• National laws and regulations
• Minimum standards under customary international law
• Background on the history and scope of BITs, free trade and other agreements relating to investment
• Substance of common investor protection clauses, including national treatment, MFN, fair and equitable treatment, transfer of funds and expropriation and nationalization

Investor-State Dispute Settlement

• Alternative forms of dispute resolution
• Dispute resolution clauses
• Types of international arbitration, including ICSID, NAFTA, CAFTA, ECT, UNCITRAL and various institutional fora
• Selection of forum and the arbitrators
• Role of the arbitral tribunal and conduct of proceedings
• Sources and choice of applicable law
• Possible defenses to investor claims
• Methods of calculating damages
• Recognition, enforcement and challenges to an arbitral award
• Role of national courts

Course Advisors

Ian A. Laird is a Special Legal Consultant in the International Dispute Resolution Group of Crowell & Moring LLP in its Washington, D.C. office. He is also licensed to practice as a barrister & solicitor in Ontario, Canada. His practice is focused in the field of international investment law and arbitration. Ian has spoken extensively and published numerous articles on international investment arbitration, and serves as Editor-in-Chief of InvestmentClaims.com, the on-line investment arbitration award service published by Oxford University Press.

Dr. Borzu Sabahi is an attorney in the International Arbitration group of Curtis Mallet Prevost Colt & Mosle LLP in Washington, DC. He is licensed to practice in New York and District of Columbia. He focuses his practice on representing governments and state-owned entities in investment treaty arbitration, international commercial arbitration and public international law matters. Mr. Sabahi's experience includes serving as counsel and expert in cases brought under a number of bilateral investment treaties, NAFTA Chapter 11, and DR-CAFTA Chapter 10 and under the rules of UNCITRAL, ICSID, ICC, ICDR and LCIA in a variety of industrial sectors, including oil and gas and power generation. Mr. Sabahi is also an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center where he co-teaches a seminar on investor state dispute resolution. He regularly speaks at conferences and has widely published on various aspects of international investment law, including a comprehensive casebook entitled "Investor State Arbitration" (co-author, Oxford 2008).

Sample of Selected Faculty

Chris Ryan, Shearman & Sterling LLP

Uche Onwuamaegbu, International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)

 Kenneth Hansen, Partner, Chabourne & Parke LLP

Bob O'Sullivan, Department of Legal Affairs, Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC)

Jonathan Greenblatt, Partner, Shearman & Sterling LLP