The Arbitration Brief

The Corruption Defense in Investor-State Arbitration: Why ICSID is the Wrong Forum

By Elizabeth Sheridan The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) was created in 1966 to promote international investment by providing confidence in the dispute resolution process. In many developing countries, it is essential to attract consistent foreign investment to provide necessary capital and infrastructure conducive for long-term economic and institutional development. Investor-state dispute…

Winning Isn’t Getting Paid: Russia and the Enforcement Crisis in Arbitration

By Esther Eikins International arbitration is often regarded as the premier mechanism for resolving cross-border disputes because it promises neutral decision-making and enforceable outcomes. Yet enforcement battles involving Russia reveal how fragile this system can be when geopolitical conflict intervenes. Although the enforcement framework under the New York Convention relies on national courts to recognize…

Race and Arbitration: The Unspoken Rules of the American Arbitration System

By Genevieve Francois Introduction The American arbitration system is governed by the Federal Arbitration Act, which creates a structure that allows companies to mandate arbitration for dispute resolution. This format forces disputes to be resolved privately rather than in the more public arena of the court system. Mandatory arbitration clauses are often purposefully hidden within…

Effective Vindication in Name Only: How Arbitration Rights Now Depend on Geography

By Braxton Johnson Defendants invoke arbitration to control costs, timelines, and exposure, but courts must still confront a threshold question: will arbitration permit plaintiffs to meaningfully vindicate federal statutory rights? In Italian Colors, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) sought to answer this question by recognizing the “effective vindication doctrine,” which bars enforcement…

Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards in Vietnam

By Dr. Nguyet Le Background Five years after ratifying the New York Convention 1958 (the NYC), Vietnam enacted its first Commercial Arbitration Law on June 17, 2010 (Law 54). Law 54 differentiates between the annulment review of domestic arbitral awards’ proceedings and the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. It remains controversial whether this…