Keynote followed by Panel discussion on Challenging sovereignty: arbitrations against States and State-owned entities

Keynote from The Honorable Mrs Justice Cockerill, DBE followed by a panel session on:

Challenging sovereignty: arbitrations against States and State-owned entities

Many practitioners agree on the merits of robust systemes to resolve disputes involving the obligations of States and State-owned entities ('SOEs').  However, in both the treaty-based and commercial spheres, challenges to the legitimacy and effectiveness of arbitration as such a system are mounting. Outsized arbitral awards and settlements, intrusive and wide-ranging provisional measures including injunctive relief, geopolitical tensions and the spectre of corruption have corroded public trust in the arbitration process where sovereign interests are involved. In parallel (and partly as a result) we have seen a retrenchment from the ISDS system by certain major sovereign players, despite significant reform projects, as well as serial non-compliance by certain States and SOEs with both commercial and investor-State awards, which in turn has an impact on the confidence in arbitration of commercial users of the system. As we move into the second quarter of the century, we will ask our panel to comment on these developments, consider whether the issues faced today differ from what has come before, and consider what shape future cases are likely to take.

Panellists will include - with more tbc:

• Makane Mbengue (University of Geneva)