International Dispute Resolution: Transnational Litigation and International Arbitration
With the steady increase in international transactions and relationships comes an increase in international disputes. The principal means of resolving such disputes are litigation in national courts and international arbitration before a privately selected arbitrator or panel of arbitrators. Each of these fora has its distinctive features, both strength and weaknesses. Typically parties make their selection (through a forum selection clause or arbitration clause) at the time of contracting and therefore prior to the emergence of any dispute between them. They differ both in the identity of adjudicators, the procedural framework in which that adjudication is conducted, in the role of national courts in relation to each, the nature of the decisions that result (national court judgment or international arbitral award), and both their enforcement and the opportunities for challenges against them. The course explores all of these aspects of international dispute resolution.
This event is a part of Columbia Academy on Law in Global Affairs (CALGA), a series of online open-access events, in which Columbia Law School faculty present their research and debate current issues with colleagues from around the globe.
CALGA is cosponsored by Columbia Law School, the Parker School of Foreign and Comparative Law, The Committee on Global Thought, and Columbia | Global Centers.
About the Speaker
George Bermann, Jean Monnet Professor of European Union Law and Walter Gellhorn Professor of Law, has been a faculty member of Columbia Law School for 40 years, teaching, among other subjects Transnational Litigation, International Commercial and Investor-State Arbitration and European Union Law, and in the past Comparative Law, Contracts and Administrative Law. He has widely written in both fields. His recent books include International Arbitration and Private International Law, The Interpretation and Application of the New York Convention by national courts, and the UNCITRAL Guide to the UN Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards. He is also an active commercial and investment arbitrator in international disputes and author of expert opinion in both fields. He was chief reporter of the recently adopted American Law Institute's Restatement of the U.S. Law of International Commercial and Investor-State Arbitration.