2nd Annual GAR Live BITs

Chaired by

Jean Kallicki, Independent Arbitrator and Matthew Slater, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

Lunchtime speaker

Donald Donovan, Debevoise & Plimpton

Speakers

Catherine Amirfar, US Department of State

Nigel Blackaby, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Christophe Bondy, Volterra Fietta, and former counsel to Canada during CETA negotiations

Gabriel Bottini, Adjunct Professor of Public International Law, University of Buenos Aires and Arbitrator and adviser on issues of international law

John Fellas, Hughes Hubbard & Reed

Gaela Gehring Flores, Arnold & Porter

Mélida Hodgson, Foley Hoag

Mark Kantor, Independent Arbitrator

Andrea Menaker, White & Case

Tim Nelson, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom

Sophie Nappert, 3 Verulam Buildings

David Orta, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan

Patrick Pearsall, Chief of Investment Arbitration, US Department of State

Jennifer Permesly, Chaffetz Lindsey

Ted Posner, Weil, Gotshal & Manges

Natalie Reid, Debevoise & Plimpton

Margrete Stevens, King & Spalding

Further speakers to be announced

Programme

8.30: Welcome coffee and registration

9.00: Chairs’ welcome

Jean Kalicki, Independent Arbitrator
Matthew Slater, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

9.10: Session one: Year in review

The panel members will pick the key themes, for them, from 2015/early 2016, and will introduce each with a provocative take on the development in question. This will be followed by roundtable style discussion. Topics that are likely to discuss include:

• Case developments: which recent decisions will have an impact?
• Arbitrator challenges: are they increasing? Why and is that problematic or healthy?
• Mass claims: does consolidation sometimes make sense?
• More financial sector claims: how are they different from infrastructure/resources disputes? Is the system ready for them?
• Annulment: which way is the pendulum swinging?

Moderator: 
Matthew Slater, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

Panel: 
Catherine Amirfar, US Department of State 
Andrea Menaker, White & Case

Jennifer Permesly, Chaffetz Lindsey

Natalie Reid, Debevoise & Plimpton

10.30: Coffee break

11.00: Session two: The GAR Live symposium

Our espresso version of Tylney Hall, themed around investment disputes. There will be segments on legal standards, damages and recent annulment decisions, among other things.

Moderators: 
John Fellas, Hughes Hubbard & Reed 
Gaela Gehring Flores, Arnold & Porter

12.30: Networking lunch

13.30: Lunchtime speaker

Donald Donovan, Debevoise & Plimpton

14.00: Session three: Mega-treaties – what are the implications?

CETA, TTIP, TTP: 2015 saw the signing of a new type of treaty. The “mega-treaty” - so called because of the number of signatories, and the range of things they cover.

But how do they change things when it comes to investor-state disputes? Because while the drafters have been clear within the four corners of the texts (too clear?) how the new treaties drop in to the landscape of other treaties is less understood. Will their landing create a shockwave that spreads outwards and changes other treaties? Or  …not?

In this session, the panel will discuss exactly that: the impact of mega-treaties on the wider investor state dispute landscape.

Questions the panel are expected to debate in detail include:

• The level of protection. Has the pendulum swung too far, because states fear (unfounded) challenges? Do meritorious claims still have a prospect of success?
• Backward looking? Did the drafters focus too much on past problems (eg challenges to new regulations by tobacco makers), and miss an opportunity to look to tomorrow? What issues were left on the cutting room floor because they seemed too problematic to forge consensus in the here and now?
• An era of treaty shopping? What happens to any parallel BITs? Can they/will they be terminated? How swiftly? Is it possible these treaties herald a confusing period in which investors have a range of treaty options to choose from, each with different rules and standards?
• Effect on the MFN debate. These treaties seek to limit the use of MFN clauses to borrow mechanisms from other BITs. Having stated that preference, can these contracting parties argue for a similar interpretation of MFN in other treaties they’ve signed (older BITs). Regarding older BITs, are there any elements from the new treaties that investors might seek to import to those, using MFN clauses?

Moderator: 
Jean Kalicki, Independent Arbitrator

Panel: 
Christophe Bondy, Volterra Fietta 
Mélida Hodgson, Foley Hoag 
Tim Nelson, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom 
Ted Posner, Weil, Gotshal & Manges

15.30: Coffee break

16.00: Session four: The GAR Live debate

Motion: “This house believes it’s time to consider some permanent structures – eg standing bodies, fixed arbitrator pools, or appeal mechanisms - to bring order to the ad hoc system of resolving investor state disputes”.

Moderator:  
Mark Kantor, Independent Arbitrator

Judges:

Donald Donovan, Debevoise & Plimpton

Patrick Pearsall, Chief of Investment Arbitration, US Department of State 
Margrete Stevens, King & Spalding

Debaters: 
Nigel Blackaby, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer 
Gabriel Bottini, Adjunct Professor of Public International Law, University of Buenos Aires and Arbitrator and adviser on issues of international law
David Orta, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan
Sophie Nappert, 3 Verulam Buildings

17.30: Chairs’ closing remarks

Jean Kalicki, Independent Arbitrator
Matthew Slater, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

17.45: Close of conference

Exclusive content: full transcripts of sessions three and four from GAR Live BITs 2015

To showcase the quality of our conferences, we're including two full transcripts from last year's events, that haven't so far been released. The first discusses whether harmonisation is possible in investment arbitration. The second whether human rights and environmental instruments should ever be a bar to an investor's claim. We hope you find them illuminating.

Session three: The reaction to contemporary jurisprudence - time to move from hegemony and fragmentation to harmonisation?

Moderator:

Claudia Annacker, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

Panel:

Kenneth Vandevelde, Professor of Law, Thomas Jefferson School of Law

Anna Joubin-Bret, Independant Arbitrator

Matthieu Raux, Legal Adviser, Trade and Investment Policy, General Treasury of France
Patrick Pearsall, Office of the Legal Adviser, US Department of State

Click here to read the full transcript of this session.

Session four: Accommodating human rights and environmental obligations

Moderator:
Sophie Lamb, Debevoise & Plimpton 

Panel:
Jorge Viñuales, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge

Yousuf Aftab, Enodo Rights

Jeffrey Sullivan, Allen & Overy

Click here to read the full transcript of this session.