Brazilian Congress and Supreme Court will analyze the Arbitrators’ Duty to Disclose in the Brazilian Arbitration Act

By: Deborah Slattery-Pereira, Senior Staffer Brazil enacted the Brazilian Arbitration Act (“BAA”) in 1996, adopting the United Nations Commission on Trade Law (“UNCITRAL”) Model Law. Brazilian courts played an active role in supporting arbitration proceedings and recognizing arbitration as a constitutional alternative dispute resolution mechanism. Now, the issues of arbitrators’ duty to disclose and increased…

Arbitration at the ILO: A New Mechanism

By: Yonah Wasik; Senior Staffer In over 100 years of international arbitration, courts have settled only one labor arbitration case. In April 2013, the Rana Plaza Factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, collapsed and killed over 1,100 workers in the garment industry, injuring many more. By 2018, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) oversaw and settled the…

So, You Think You Can Arbitrate?

By: Aissatou Toure; Articles editor Arbitration is in demand. In 2023 alone, complainants brought 7,554 new cases into arbitration. Before becoming an arbitrator, one must know what arbitration entails; however, arbitration evades easy definition. The World Intellectual Property Organization defines arbitration as: “a procedure in which a dispute is submitted, by agreement of the parties,…

What the Penn Plaza Decision Means for a New Generation of Union Workers

By: Dominic Charles On June 23, 2023, Starbucks Workers United (Union) announced that 3,500 workers would strike in retaliation to Starbucks’ corporate policy ordering stores to remove all LGBTQ+ decorations. The Union’s concern over the needs of its LGBTQ+ members reflects a diversifying union workforce in which two-thirds of workers are women and/or people of…

Navigating Policy Shifts in Investor-State Dispute Settlement in Latin America: A Case Study of Colombia

By: Jake Helfant States have historically utilized provisions for Investor-State Dispute Settlement (“ISDS”) to secure foreign investment, ensuring that disputes with foreign enterprises are governed and processed outside of the jurisdiction of sovereign states. Bilateral Investment Treaties (“BITs”) and Free Trade Agreements (“FTAs”) typically include ISDS provisions, mandating arbitration through the International Center for Settlement…