Visiting Brazil for an arbitration, or for ICCA 2010? Some tips to assist with your planning and on how to spend any downtime.

Arbitration clauses are now standard practice in public contracts in Brazil after groundwork was laid in 2005. It's just taken a while for people to stop dwelling on one particular blip in the case law. By Arnoldo Wald (partner) of Wald, Sao Paulo

It’s less controversial than ever to propose Brazil as a seat. But which local cities or institutional rules are recommended?

Luiz Aboim and Alex Wilbrahim of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer introduce Global Arbitration Review's Brazil edition.

Foreign direct investment continues to flow into Brazil – US$31 billion is expected this year – but nowadays it is flowing out almost as fast. As Brazilian companies invest from Angola to the UAE should the government change its stance towards a BIT programme?

President Lula predicted that Brazil would be “last in, first out” when it came to the crisis.It looks like he was right, but despite that the local international arbitration bar isn’t complaining.

Pedro Batista Martins (partner) of Batista Martins Advogados describes the modern framework for enforcing a foreign arbitral award

Brazil’s courts have come a long way in their attitude toward arbitration. Gilberto Giusti of Pinheiro Neto Advogados in São Paulo recalls the milestones passed along the way

There are plenty of Brazilian arbitrators to choose from in Brazil – but who are the non-nationals capable of hearing a case there? 

Need a non-Brazilian who – Brazilians say – could conduct a proceeding in Portuguese? Here are a few suggestions, of different ages and stages:

The ability of arbitrators to order protective measures has been something of a grey area in Argentine procedural law. Federico Godoy and Juan Sonoda (partners) of Beretta Godoy explain the two viewpoints

Those who are recalcitrant in paying awards in southern China will go on a police watch list and be stopped from leaving the country, a provincial government has decreed. Ik Wei Chong (partner) of Clyde & Co in Shanghai reports

More and more arbitrators now avoid once-popular split hearings for complex disputes. But has the pendulum swung too far? Perhaps, think Mark Goodrich (partner) and Christopher Hunt (associate) of White & Case in Tokyo

France’s highest court recently said it is acceptable to evaluate the validity of an arbitration clause – and an employee’s authority to sign one – without resorting to conflicts of law rules. Isabelle Michou (partner) of Herbert Smith explains how the case arose

The annulment committee hearing Azurix chose to avoid several – plausible – arguments about double counting in the investor’s $165 million award. Or did it? Mark Kantor, DC attorney and member of Global Arbitration Review’s editorial board, reports

Russia’s highest court has been making noteworthy statements about foreign arbitral awards By Alexander Muranov* (partner) and Dmitry Davydenko* (lawyer) of Muranov Chernyakov & Partners in Moscow

The Saipem decision shows treaty arbitration’s scope for providing relief at the hands of domestic courts, where investors have suffered injustice but at the same time might not make a good precedent. By Matthew Weiniger (partner) and Promod Nair (associate) of Herbert Smith in London

Switzerland’s arbitration association bade a warm farewell to its president – and celebrated its court’s principled stances – at this year’s annual general assembly. Andrea Meier and Christopher Boog of Schellenberg Wittmer in Zurich report

25 September

65 attendees

Ever wondered how to become an investment arbitration lawyer? By Boris Kasolowsky (counsel) and Caroline Harvey (associate) of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, Frankfurt

22 October

140 attendees

The professor laid out three competing “models” of reality, but said that they are each of equal validity, to the surprise of some. By Phillip Landolt (partner) of Charles Russell LLP

28 September

Singapore recently hosted the Association of International Petroleum Negotiator’s annual arbitration event, the first time the landmark meeting has visited Asia. Steven Lim (partner) and Jun Bautista (associate) of Baker Botts LLP in Hong Kong report

26-27 October

More than 100 attendees

Organisers: Association of International Petroleum Negotiators, the SIAC and ICDR

The chief executive officer of Energenics in Singapore, a supplier of alternative energy technologies, talks about where he likes to seat arbitration, his preferred firms and the amazing billing practices that have turned him into an active case manager