Ubi Jus Ibi Remedium.  “Wherever there is a right, there is a remedy.”  This 35^th Annual ITA Workshop examines how the system of international arbitration gives effect to the legal rights of the parties by granting effective and enforceable remedies.  The Workshop considers the perspectives of parties, counsel, and arbitrators regarding the power and practice of arbitral tribunals in awarding remedies, including non-monetary remedies.  The Workshop considers whether the current legal framework governing international arbitration meets the needs and expectations of its users with respect to remedies or whether systemic changes are needed to ensure that international arbitration can deliver effective redress for disputing parties.

What Do Users Need From Remedies?

This session will feature a dialogue between two leading in-house counsel focusing on the international business view of arbitration remedies, ranging from the suitability of arbitral remedies to industry needs, circumstances where non-monetary remedies are preferred and prioritized, and party considerations over the cross-border enforceability of arbitral remedies throughout jurisdictions around the world.

• Mimi M. Lee, Managing Counsel, Litigation, Chevron Upstream, San Ramon
• Tom Sikora, Senior Counsel International Disputes, Exxon Mobil Corporation, Houston

Workshop Keynote: Money Talks, But Action Speaks Louder Than Words: Some Observations On Non-Monetary Remedies In International Arbitration

Abby Cohen Smutny, White & Case LLP, Washington, D.C.

The Full Scope Of Arbitral Power To Award Relief

This Panel will feature leading international arbitration practitioners and international arbitrators, who will discuss the sources and limits of arbitral power to award effective relief to disputing parties. The Panel will also consider constraints or influences on arbitral power from treaties, national laws, arbitral rules, and arbitration agreements, alongside the disputing parties’ prayer for relief and the inherent power of arbitral tribunals to award appropriate relief. Finally, the Panel will address challenges faced by arbitration tribunals in complex disputes involving difficult empirical verification or quantification of damages, party claims for rebalancing or adjustment of disputed contractual arrangements, and the possibilities for bespoke design of remedies beyond settled international legal categories of restitution, compensation, and satisfaction.

Moderator: Dr. Diane Desierto, University of Notre Dame Law School, Notre Dame

Panelists:

• Prof. Charles H. Brower II, Wayne State University, Detroit
• James E. Castello, King & Spalding International LLP, Paris
• Isabelle Michou, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, Paris
• Sarah Vasani, CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP, London

Resolved, That Arbitrators Can And Do Award Effective Redress To Disputing Parties

The ITA Workshop Debate, introduced for the 35th anniversary of the ITA Workshop, features a leading international arbitrator squaring-off with a current or former national or international court judge, on the question of whether arbitrators have, and are willing to use, tools for awarding effective remedies. This moderated presidential-style Debate will touch on questions of: 1) the usefulness of non-monetary remedies and whether arbitrators are more or less able and willing to award non-monetary remedies than national court judges; 2) whether arbitrators are more or less able than judges to effectively assess and award monetary remedies; and 3) ultimately, whether arbitrators, apart from national courts, can deliver suitable and expeditious redress in international disputes.

Moderator: Noradele Radjai, LALIVE, Geneva

Debaters: 

• John Crook, George Washington University School of Law; Former Member, NATO Administrative Tribunal, Washington, D.C.
• Lucinda A. Low, Steptoe & Johnson LLP, Washington, D.C.

Workshop Luncheon

How the Arbitral Process Affects the Availability and Effectiveness of Monetary and Non-Monetary Relief

This Workshop Panel will discuss the need for an efficient and swift arbitration process in awarding non-monetary remedies. In many instances, non-monetary remedies are ruled out because they are incompatible with the duration of a standard arbitration. The panel will discuss the tools available to practitioners to speed up the arbitration process (summary judgment, expedited proceedings etc.) and their limitations. The panel will also discuss the key role of provisional relief in awarding non-monetary damages as final relief, and the issues that it raises.

Moderator: Thomas Voisin, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, Paris

Panelists:

• Roberto J. Aguirre Luzi, King & Spalding LLP, Houston
• Stephen P. Anway, Squire Patton Boggs, New York/Washington, D.C.
• Caline Mouawad, Chaffetz Lindsey, New York
• Anne Véronique Schlaepfer, White & Case LLP, Geneva

Enforcement And Other Issues Arising From Awards Granting Non-Monetary Remedies

This Workshop Panel will look at issues arising from awards that grant non-monetary relief, for enforcement purposes, and in complex disputes. The Workshop Panel will closely examine issues that arise in the competent jurisdiction to enforce such awards (e.g., national courts, enforcement within the ICSID framework and, in some instances, with arbitral tribunals themselves). The Panel will also discuss the issues of res judicata and parallel defensive remedies, among others, in the context of non-monetary remedies, and whether these collateral questions influence how parties frame requests for arbitral relief.

Moderator: Klaus Reichert SC, Brick Court Chambers, London

Panelists:

• Steven K. Davidson, Steptoe & Johnson LLP, Washington, D.C.
  
• Barton Legum, Honlet Legum Arbitration, Paris
• Franz T. Schwarz, Wilmer Hale, London

The Era Of Arbitral Reform: How Effective Is The Status Quo From The Standpoint Of Arbitral Remedies?

This Concluding Panel for the Workshop will feature eminent arbitrators, arbitration-related in-house counsel, and arbitration practitioners taking a topographic view of arbitral remedies to assess their overall effectiveness for party dispute resolution needs, given the current system and push for reform of national laws, arbitral rules, and arbitral practices.

Moderator: Rachael Kent, WilmerHale, Washington, D.C.

Panelists:

• Julie Bédard, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, New York/São Paulo
• Prof. George A. Bermann, Columbia University School of Law, New York
• Teresa Garcia-Reyes, Vice President - Litigation, Baker Hughes, Houston
• David W. Rivkin, Arbitration Chambers, New York/London