Philippe De Baere, Nicholas Lawn and Adriana Pérez-Gil participate in the first edition of the Mexico City Investment Arbitration Days

• 30/05/2023
• News

On 17-19 May 2023, Van Bael & Bellis participated in the first edition of the Mexico City Investment Arbitration Days, which took place within the framework of the World Arbitration Update (WAU) Americas 2023. The event reached more than 1000 participants worldwide.

On 17 May, Nick Lawn and Adriana Pérez-Gil participated in an educational session at the Faculty of Law of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)The aim of this programme was to give non-experts an introduction and an overview of the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) regime, including the historical development of ISDS, its basic concepts and provisions, and most recent developments.

On 18 May, Nick Lawn moderated the first session of the conference held at the Faculty of Law of the UNAM, “Do’s and Don’ts in Investment Arbitration”, where the panel discussed good and bad practices within investment arbitration. Adriana moderated the fourth session of the day held at the Faculty of Law of the UNAM, “Is Latin America Special in Terms of Investment Arbitration?”, where the panel addressed current trends in investment treaty and arbitration practice in Latin America.

On 19 May, Philippe De Baere spoke at the second day of the conference held at the Legal Research Institute of the UNAM, “What can ISDS (and ISDS lawyers) learn from the WTO (and WTO lawyers)?”Mr. De Baere focused on the differences between the ISDS regime and the WTO regime and on what lessons could be drawn from the WTO system to improve current flaws or perceived flaws within the ISDS system.

Mexico City Investment Arbitration Days, a joint initiative of VBB and RRH Consultores, was conceived to bring together experienced arbitrators, practitioners, officials from sovereign States and international organisations, and academics from around the world to discuss key issues in investment arbitration – in Mexico, Latin America, Europe and beyond and debate the future of the ISDS system - how it is adapting or will need to adjust to thrive. The inaugural edition of the event was supported by and took place as part of the World Arbitration Update.

The Keynote Speaker for the first edition of Mexico City Investment Arbitration Days was Ms Meg Kinnear, the Secretary-General of ICSID.