Arbitration Team Coffee Break

Events

The Frankfurt Investment Arbitration Moot Court Competition is about to start! 27-30 June 2023

The upcoming edition of the Frankfurt Investment Arbitration Moot Court Competition (FIAMC) will take place in Frankfurt (Germany) from 27 to 30 June 2023. After two years of virtual competitions due to the pandemic, university students worldwide can finally compete face-to-face and present their legal arguments. FIAMC is a unique competition that combines the principles of investment protection law with the historical context of international law and trade. Teams will act as legal counsels, arguing before expert arbitral tribunals. The stakes are high, as the members of the Winning Team will receive a scholarship for the Online Summer Course offered by The Hague Academy of International Law. This opportunity can provide valuable knowledge and insights into various aspects of international law. The Best Advocate of the Final will be awarded a scholarship for the Arbitration Academy in Paris, further recognizing exceptional advocacy skills.

Good luck and may the best team win!

Get ready for Italian Arbitration Day, 4 July 2023

Join the second edition of the Italian Arbitration Day, “Fairness in International Arbitration: Who, how and when” organized by the Milan Chamber of Arbitration (CAM) and the Italian Association for Arbitration (AIA), which will be held in Milan on 4 July 2023. Check out the program.

There will also be many side events at this year’s edition:

Monday, 3 July 2023

• “Rush to Judgement: Speed v Fairness in Emergency Arbitrator Proceedings,” (ARBIT), from 2:30 to 4:45 pm, more information
• “Procedural Innovations in Arbitration: Techniques, Use and Trends” (AIA-Arbit Below 40 – YAAF), at 5:45 pm, more information
• Cocktail reception (Legance), from 7 pm, more information

Tuesday, 4 July 2023

• Breakfast with the CIArb Italian Chapter (CIArb Italian Chapter), from 8 to 9 am, more information

Wednesday, 5 July 2023

• “Cross Examination and Fairness” (CEIA – Arbitral Women), from 8:30 to 10 am
• “Management Techniques and team-work approach in Arbitration” (Bilateral Italian-German Arbitration Group), from 3 to 5 pm, more information
• “Più spazio per l’arbitrato nel contenzioso brevettuale?” (ARBITRANDO, in cooperation with Studio Legale Sutti), from 4 to 6 pm, more information

 

News

DLA Piper Italy’s fourth edition of the FIAMC Pre-Moot

On 25-26 May 2023, DLA Piper’s Milan office hosted the fourth edition of the FIAMC Pre-Moot. A thrilling opening conference preceded the pleadings featuring eight prestigious universities from all over Europe.

Distinguished experts and scholars attended the event, delivering insightful speeches and engaging the audience in thought-provoking discussions. Professor Maria Chiara Malaguti, a renowned authority in international law from the Università Cattolica Sacro Cuore, delivered the keynote speech, leaving the attendees inspired. Among the notable speakers at the Pre-Moot were Gabriele Ruscalla, Avocat au Barreau de Paris at Liedekerke Law Firm; Crina Baltag, Associate Professor in International Arbitration at Stockholm University; Marina Matousekova, Partner at TALMA Dispute Resolution; Irene Petrelli, Partner at Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP; and Lorena Atzeri, Lecturer in Roman Law at the University of Milan's Faculty of Law. Their expertise and perspectives enriched the event and provided valuable insights.

Throughout the event the competing teams had the opportunity to plead before arbitral tribunals comprised of over 15 distinguished experts in the field of international investment. The University of Vienna’s team won the Pre-Moot by pleading the final before an Arbitral Tribunal comprising Prof. Avv. Luigi Fumagalli, Prof. Avv. Mauro Rubino-Sammartano and Prof. Avv. Anna De Luca.

IBA task force to review conflict guidelines

In April 2023, the International Bar Association (IBA) announced it had formed a new task force to review its guidelines on conflict of interest in international arbitration of 2014. Eight potential areas of intervention have been identified and assigned to singular subcommittees: arbitrator disclosures, third-party funding, issue conflicts, organizational models for legal professionals in different jurisdictions, expert witnesses, sovereigns or their agencies and instrumentalities, non-lawyer arbitrators and social media.

Amendments to the guideline are expected to be finalized next year.

For more information on the professionals sitting in each subcommittee, read here.

Compendium of Unicorns: A Global Guide to Women Arbitrators

The “Compendium of Unicorns: A Global Guide to Women Arbitrators,” published by Mute Off Thursdays in partnership with GAR and Burford Capital, provides professional profiles of 176 women arbitrators around the globe. The aim is to make it easier for users to identify suitable female candidates for appointments.

Each profile contains details for each arbitrator, such as level of experience, areas of specialist knowledge, experience under particular substantive laws, languages spoken, and more. 

Italian women arbitrators practicing in Italy are also included, such as Anna Biasiolo, Barbara Concolino, Michela D’Avino, and Cristina Martinetti.

Download the Compendium for free.

ChatGPT: A cautious approach in the legal industry

A New York attorney admitted using ChatGPT for case research as part of a lawsuit against a Columbian airline. After a judge of the Southern District of New York noticed inconsistencies and factual errors in the case documentation, alleging that six of the submitted cases appeared to be “bogus judicial decisions with bogus quotes and bogus internal citations,” the lawyer admitted using ChatGPT for legal research in a May 24 sworn affidavit, claiming that it was his first time using ChatGPT for legal research and that he was unaware of the possibility that its content could be fake.

Even though ChatGPT can be a good starting point for legal work, by providing a good initial research basis and an explanation of complex legal topics, it has many limitations which should be taken into consideration. Firstly, as the above case shows, ChatGPT is likely to return inaccurate or biased information. Secondly, ChatGPT is incapable of resolving nuanced situations, as it is not a legal expert and has no capacity to interpret or analyze any legal matters, for which a “human factor” is still required.

 

Book Review

“The Future of International Arbitration in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” by Orlando Federico Cabrera Colorado

We had the opportunity to read the interesting paper “The Future of International Arbitration in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” by Orlando Federico Cabrera Colorado published in the last volume of the Journal of International Arbitration of 2023.

The paper analyzes the impact of AI on international arbitration, both in the short and medium term. The author postulates that in the short-term AI will lead to a complementary relationship between predictive machines and humans. In fact, machines still have weaknesses that can be compensated by humans: machines can read and analyze huge amounts of data better than humans, but they can’t motivate their decision-making process, which is only based on statistics. Humans, with their sensitivity, can use the data analyzed by the machines to reach a motivated decision in proceedings.

At the moment, the author does not foresee any evolution towards machines replacing humans in the decision-making process. This is due to some peculiarities of international arbitration:

• lack of information: arbitral awards are generally not public due to confidentiality;
• the available amount of data, for the reasons mentioned above;
• the lack of repeated patterns: arbitration encounters dissimilar, unique, and non-repetitive cases;
• flawed data: the data extracted from arbitral awards can be biased, and this bias – if used by AI – could ground subsequent algorithmic decisions.

The author argues that an evolution in the use of AI in arbitration proceedings can only be achieved by addressing the above issues.

In any case, arbitrators and lawyers must be prepared to change their approach to arbitration and acquire new skills in the technological field. If many activities will be replaced by machines in the near future (such as the analysis of documents and others), many others will increase and will require support of arbitrators and lawyers.