Transnational Arbitration

#YoungITA Mentorship Program - Speaker Series

COVID-19 as an Excuse Not to Perform International Contracts

August 10, 2020

Virtual Event

Past Event

Virtual Event begins at 12:00 pm EDT

Via Zoom
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EDT

Registrar: +1.972.244.3403
ITA: +1.972.244.3414
Fax: +1.972.244.3401
E-Mail: ita@cailaw.org

Overview

Presented by Young ITA

Please join us for the third webinar of the Young ITA Mentorship Program – Speaker Series. This program will showcase eminent international arbitration thinkers and practitioners discussing the latest developments in international arbitration. The topics will be tailored towards Young ITA mentees, a diverse group of students and early career arbitration professionals from around the world that are interested in international relations and trade including international dispute resolution. In addition, speakers will dedicate a portion of each talk to careers in arbitration.

#YoungITATalks is a series of local events presented around the world, featuring talks, workshops or interviews that cover a wide range of subjects relating to arbitration. The #YoungITATalks series is designed for education, conversation and sharing knowledge and experiences among young practitioners.

  • Karima Sauma, Young ITA Mentorship Program Chair, CICA-AmCham, Costa Rica
  • Alejandro M. Garro, Adjunct Professor of Law and Senior Research Scholar of the Parker School of Foreign and Comparative Law of Columbia University
  • Michael A. Fernández, Winston & Strawn, New York

Schedule and Faculty

12:00 pm EDT


Welcome

  • Karima Sauma, Young ITA Mentorship Program Chair, CICA-AmCham, Costa Rica

12:05 pm EDT


COVID-19 as an Excuse Not to Perform International Contracts: Uncertainties in Arbitration and Litigation

Professor Alejandro M. Garro, Adjunct Professor of Law and Senior Research Scholar of the Parker School of Foreign and Comparative Law of Columbia University will be the third speaker of the Young ITA Mentorship Program – Speaker Series. Professor Garro will discuss the impact of COVID-19 on international contracts.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the ability of businesses around the world to maintain operations and fulfill existing contractual obligations. Companies in various sectors and industries are facing new regulatory hurdles that are seriously impacting their operations and/or serious financial difficulties due to decreasing income. Unsurprisingly, COVID-19-related disputes have begun to spread. Parties facing such suits have sought to use COVD-19 to excuse their non-performance of international contracts. In so doing they face much uncertainty as tribunals and national courts parse through the often clumsy prose of Force Majeure clauses or, absent such provisions, have to evaluate the applicability of common-law doctrines of impossibility, impracticability, and frustration of purpose or their civil law equivalents to excuse contractual performance.

Professor Garro will provide an overview of the various doctrines that parties seeking to excuse performance have at their disposal and the uncertainties that such parties face in invoking them in common law versus civil law arbitrations and litigations.

  • Alejandro M. Garro, Adjunct Professor of Law and Senior Research Scholar of the Parker School of Foreign and Comparative Law of Columbia University
  • Michael A. Fernández, Winston & Strawn, New York

1:30 pm EDT


Meeting Adjourned

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