The British Institute of International and Comparative Law will host the Twenty-First Investment Treaty Forum Public Conference on October 24, 2013. The theme is: "The Economic and Financial Aspects of Investor-State Arbitration." The program is here. Here's the idea:While a great deal of attention has been paid to the content of the substantive rules governing the treatment of foreign investors and procedural aspects of investor-state arbitration, less attention has been given to the economic and financial aspects underpinning the system and how these factors may affect its operation. It is these economic and financial aspects which will form the focus of the meeting.
The first panel will consider the question of the costs of arbitration: the cost of arbitral institutions, fees of arbitrators and counsel, the allocations of costs in arbitral awards and the considerations that should be factored in when making such decisions.
The second panel will look at the debate with respect to third-party financing of claims. While third-party funding has fast become a way of life for lawyers involved in the investor-state system, real issues remain regarding the effect third-party funding can have on actors' incentives and on measures that might be taken to regulate the use of such funding, even if it is not altogether eliminated.
The third panel will look at systemic issues, asking whether a system organized around the resolution of privately financed claims is likely to achieve wider economic and political goals or whether a system by which one may seek ad hoc annulment as of right is likely to lead to create incentives for expeditious dispute settlement.
