22nd ITA-ASIL Conference

Overview

The ½-day ITA-ASIL Conference is presented annually by the ITA Academic Council with the American Society of International Law (ASIL) immediately preceding the ASIL Annual Meeting. Scholarship is a hallmark of this conference.

Disputes involving States parties have evolved from their traditional State-to-State paradigm. Today investment and commercial arbitrations between States or State-owned entities and private actors have become increasingly common and, by their nature, invoke questions of public international law (PIL). This conference explores the extent to which PIL's foundational principles have influenced international arbitrations involving sovereign entities.

Sources of PIL are at the foundation of investment treaty arbitration. The regime largely emanates from treaties; its substantive protections against expropriation and the international minimum standard of treatment derive from custom; and the application of these standards to concrete cases involves reference to general principles of law to fill substantive and procedural gaps. The relationship between PIL and investment arbitration has evolved over time calling into question whether PIL remains integral to investment arbitration and whether the field is moving away from its foundational principles. How has State responsibility evolved under PIL and ISDS jurisprudence and are these evolutions occurring in parallel or moving in different directions?  What influence will international conventions and modern jurisprudence from international courts, such as those relating to human rights, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards, have on the decisions of arbitral tribunals? And what are the potential future trajectories of ISDS in light of these changes?

At the same time, the classical divide between public and private international law is being blurred as PIL plays an increasingly significant role in commercial arbitrations involving State parties. Commercial arbitrations are themselves becoming more reliant on public international law for questions of attribution, sovereign defenses of necessity and national security, and even to discern and apply the governing law. What are the implications of this shift, and how does this convergence challenge the traditional public-private international law divide?

The result of these phenomena is that public international law is increasingly descending into commercial disputes, whether based in treaty or contract.  On the one hand, this has given increased application, expression and texture to international law principles that might otherwise have lay dormant, but it has also stretched the traditional scope of public international law beyond its original State-to-State origins.  Through this lens, the conference will discuss these developments in investment and commercial arbitration, questioning whether, and how, such changes should be resisted or embraced.

Conference Co-Chairs

Christina L. Beharry
Foley Hoag
Washington, D.C., USA

Prof. Charles T. Kotuby, Jr.
University of Pittsburgh School of Law
Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Schedule and Faculty

8:00-9:00 am - Registration

9:00-9:10 am - Welcome and Introduction

• Mélida Hodgson, ASIL President, Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, New York NY, USA
• Prof. Charles H. (Chip) Brower II, ITA Chair; Miller Canfield / Wayne State University, Detroit MI, USA

9:10-9:55 am - Keynote Discussion

The Keynote Discussion focuses on the various a questions of public international law which arise in the context of investor-State arbitrations, on one hand, and commercial arbitrations involving States and State entities, on the other. Various aspects are discussed, as follows. First, looking into questions of applicable law, the keynote discussion addresses the role of the case law of the International Court of Justice in the investor-State arbitrations, on one side, as well as the application of the general principles of international law in commercial arbitrations involving States. Second, the keynote discussion focuses on the arbitral tribunal – and the arbitrators – sitting in these arbitrations involving States. On one side, the principle of party autonomy reflected in the power of the parties in the arbitration to appoint their arbitrators, is discussed in the context of State involvement, while on the other, the challenge standard of arbitrators in investor-State arbitrations – as compared to public international law ones (e.g. under the United Nations Conventions on the Law of the Sea) – is examined.

Moderator: Dr Crina Baltag, Chair, ITA Academic Council; Stockholm University, Stockholm SWE

Keynote Speakers:

• Loretta Malintoppi, 39 Essex Chambers, Singapore SGP
• John Beechey CBE, Arbitration Chambers, London UK

10:00-11:00 am - The Role of Public International Law in International Investment Arbitration

Moderator: Christina L. Beharry, Foley Hoag LLP, Washington D.C., USA

Panelists:

• Chiara Giorgetti, Richmond Law School, Virginia, USA
  
• Veijo Heiskanen, Independent Arbitrator, Geneva CHE
• Martina Polasek, International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, Washington D.C, USA
• Scott Little, Trade Law Bureau of the Government of Canada, Ottawa, ON, CAN

11:00-11:15 am - Break

11:15 am-12:15 pm - The Role of Public International Law in International Commercial Arbitration

Moderator: Charles T. Kotuby Jr., Three Crowns LLP, Washington D.C., USA / University of Pittsburgh School of Law, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Panelists:

• Hagit Elul, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, New York, NY, USA
• Rahim Moloo, Gibson Dunn, New York, NY, USA
• Jeremy K. Sharpe, Independent Arbitrator, Ottawa, ON, CAN
• Sylvia Tonova, Pinsent Masons LLP, London, UK

12:15-12:25 pm - Concluding Remarks

• Dr Crina Baltag, Chair, ITA Academic Council; Stockholm University, Stockholm, SWE

12:30-2:00 pm - A Conversation with Sir Daniel Bethlehem KCMG KC (Twenty Essex, London, UK)

Interviewed by Dapo Akande, University of Oxford, Oxford UK

Overnight Accommodations

Washington Hilton
1919 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington, DC 20009, US

Book Your Hotel

Sponsorship Opportunities

Lanyard Sponsor - $ 3,000 (exclusive)

• Name/logo on the conference name badge lanyard
• Exposure to thousands of ITA and ASIL constituents
• Recognition as Lanyard Sponsor on the conference website, in all marketing, and at the conference (posters, screens, etc.)
• 3 complimentary conference registrations (including luncheon)
• 1 exhibition table for promotional materials for opportunity to display company/firm materials at the conference
• Name/logo on the conference website with link to company page
• Post-conference recognition at ITA’s website and in its quarterly newsletter

Conference Luncheon Sponsor - $ 2,500 (limited to four)

(feat. “Preserving Perspectives” Oral History Interview of Sir Daniel Bethlehem KCMG KC, interviewed by Prof. Dapo Akande)

• Exposure to ITA and ASIL constituents
• Recognition as a sponsor of the Luncheon on the conference website, in all marketing, and at the conference (posters, screens, etc.)
• 2 complimentary conference registrations (including luncheon)
• 1 exhibition table for promotional materials for opportunity to display company/firm materials at the conference
• Name/logo on the conference website with link to company page
• Post-conference recognition at ITA’s website and in its quarterly newsletter

Refreshments and Coffee Breaks Sponsor - $ 2,000 each

• Exposure to ITA and ASIL constituents
• Recognition as a sponsor of the refreshments and coffee break on the conference website, in all marketing, and at the conference (posters, screens, etc.)
• 1 complimentary conference registration (including luncheon)
• 1 exhibition table for promotional materials for opportunity to display company/firm materials at the conference
• Name/logo on the conference website with link to company page

Exhibitor (non-law firms only)

Contact the ITA Director of Sponsorships Lilly Hogarth for information on pricing for exhibitors (subject to available space).

• Exposure to ITA and ASIL constituents
• Recognition as an exhibitor on the conference website, in all marketing, and at the conference (posters, screens, etc.)
• 1 complimentary conference registration (including luncheon)
• 1 exhibition table for promotional materials for opportunity to display company/firm materials at the conference
• Name/logo on the conference website with link to company page

Faculty Dinner

If you are interested in sponsoring the invitation-only faculty dinner on April 15, 2025, with the ITAASIL Conference speakers, please contact ITA Director T.L. Cubbage (tlcubbage@cailaw.org)

• Exposure to thousands of ITA and ASIL constituents
• Name/logo on the conference website and the conference platform with link to firm/company page
• An opportunity to display company/firm materials at the conference, and to add links/materials to your online exhibitor booth on the conference platform
• Post-conference recognition at ITA’s website and in its quarterly newsletter News & Notes

Other Information

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