Announcing the ITA Latin American Arbitration Forum

ITAFOR

For more information about ITAFOR, click here
To subscribe to ITAFOR, click here.

The Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA), the Asociación Latinoamericana de Arbitraje (ALARB) and the Comitê Brasileiro de Arbitragem (CBAr), are pleased to announce the launch of a new online forum for the discussion of pertinent legal issues relating to arbitration of Latin American business disputes.   

The ITA Latin American Arbitration Forum (ITAFOR) provides a listserv platform for informed discussion of the important issues of the day.  The Forum will focus on current issues, practical questions and new developments and is not intended as a forum solely for extended academic expositions or debates.

The discussions on ITAFOR will be moderated by a first-rate team of arbitration experts.  We are delighted to announce that Fernando Cantuarias, Eduardo Gonçalves, Francisco Gonzalez de Cossío, Cliff Hendel and Elsa Ortega have agreed to moderate the Forum.  Their full biographies can be accessed at the ITAFOR website (www.cailaw.org/ita-itafor).  As most readers will know, they are active players in the world of arbitration, accomplished commentators who think about the issues that affect arbitration, and who are leaders in a variety of organizations and arbitration-related efforts.

ITAFOR will also offer timely commentary from a distinguished group of contributors, also identified on the ITAFOR website, on current developments of interest to the arbitral community.  ITAFOR is supported by many arbitral institutions throughout Latin America, Spain and Portugal, also identified on the ITAFOR website.

But while the moderators and the contributors can introduce matters of topical interest, the success of the Forum depends ultimately on a second constituency:  the users.    ITAFOR was conceived out of a sense that arbitration is a dynamic field of practice and law in the region that is attracting leading practitioners and thinkers who, through a good means of communication and exchange, could further enrich and improve arbitration as a means of dispute resolution across the region -- essentially by learning from each other.  The depth of that enrichment will depend on the contributions of those lawyers and other arbitration participants who are dealing with the stream of issues in the field.   

With that in mind, ITAFOR is open for comment by anyone having a positive contribution or question.  Although designed primarily for the Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking legal communities, ITAFOR subscribers are welcome to send messages in English as well.

The contributions to the Forum should be concise.  Contributions should not normally be supported by extensive legal citations.  Ideally, contributions will center on new developments (such as new laws and jurisprudence), current practices, and topical problems.  Contributions should not normally exceed more than 3 or 4 paragraphs. 

Advertisements (such as advertisements for forthcoming conferences) are not permitted without permission of the ITAFOR moderators.  Similarly professional announcements (such as the announcement of new partners or offices) are not permitted.

We look forward to your contributions and welcome your candid feedback on the service.  Please feel free to reach out to us, the ITAFOR moderators or the ITA’s Director David Winn with all suggestions you might have.

With best wishes,  

José Astigarraga
Chair, ITA Americas Initiative

Guido S. Tawil
President, ALARB

Lauro Gama, Jr.
President, CBAr