The Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution at the University of Missouri School of Law will host a symposium on "Border Skirmishes: The Intersection Between Litigation and International Commercial Arbitration," on October 21, 2011. The program is here. Here's the idea:Once upon a time, international commercial arbitration and litigation were considered mutually exclusive means of resolving transnational disputes. However, those days appear to be gone forever. Instead, the existence of an arbitration agreement in a transnational dispute seems to be nothing more than an invitation for lawyers to engage in extensive (and expensive) tactical maneuvering in a variety of venues, both arbitral and judicial.
Some may see creative strategizing as the natural by-product of the significant amounts of money that are often at issue in these sorts of disputes. However, the border skirmishes between international commercial arbitration and litigation can also be attributed to the uncertainty that arises when the substantive and procedural laws of different jurisdictions collide.
Keynote speaker Gary Born joins panelists from Canada, Austria, Switzerland and the United States in a frank and timely discussion of some of the issues that can develop when parties attempt to combine litigation tactics with international commercial arbitration. This group of experts provides a uniquely transnational perspective on some of the most pressing questions facing the legal community today.
