Morning Panel:

The Law of Investment Arbitration and Related Areas of Law: Solitaire or Mosaic?

Moderator:
Prof. Dr. Christoph Schreuer, Wolff Theiss (Vienna)

Panelists:
Dr. Pieter Bekker, Crowell & Moring (New York);
Dr. David  J. A.Cairns, B Cremades y Asociados (Madrid);
Prof. Christopher Gibson, Suffolk University Law School (Boston);
Audley Sheppard, LL.M. (Cantabury); Clifford Chance (London)

The law of investment protection and investor-state arbitration proceedings in particular has developed so rapidly and intensely over the last couple of years that it can now definitely be regarded as an area of international law and international arbitration with a distinct character of its own. However, this also means that it is becoming more and more intertwined with other fields of law and the proceedings that are possible and going on there. Investment law can no longer be considered an exotic plant in its private little garden, but has major implications for other legal areas and is itself influenced and shaped by them as well. The panel will – after a concise introduction to the evolution of investment arbitration – explore these mutual ramifications by looking at the relationships between investment law and specifically related areas, namely, international trade law, human rights and international commercial arbitration.

Afternoon Panel:

International Arbitration and European Law: A Different Ballpark after West Tankers and the Lisbon Treaty?

Moderator:
Prof. Dr. Richard H. Kreindler, Shearman & Sterling (Frankfurt)

Panelists:
Prof. Guido Carducci, Paris;
Prof. Dr. Christopher Benedict, Alstom Germany AG (Mannheim);
Representative of the European Union tbc
André von Walter, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Paris)

The law of the European Union has seen two developments in 2009 that will have major impacts on the future of international commercial as well as investment arbitration, at least as far as member states of the Union are involved. In the famous West Tankers case, the European Court of Justice has ruled that a court of a member state may not restrain a party from commencing judicial proceedings in another member state by virtue of an arbitration agreement. And in the field of investment law, the Treaty of Lisbon has brought about a decisive shift in competences: According to Article 207 of the new Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the conclusion of bilateral investment treaties does no longer fall within the competency realm of the member states, but has become an exclusive competence of the Union. The consequences of these two developments are possibly far-reaching and far from clear. The panel will therefore – from various angles – address the question whether this is just another step of normal progress or whether it changes the scenery altogether.