In its recent Brazil focus (Volume 4, issue 6 ) GAR explained how Brazil has traditionally given investment treaties a wide berth. Since then, we’ve learnt that Brazil has started negotiations with Chile for a treaty to protect and promote mutual investments. Alison Ross reports

Heading to Singapore for an international arbitration? Read on for tips on where to eat, drink and shop

The interim awards in the Yukos case – allowing Energy Charter Treaty claims worth up to US$100 billion to proceed against Russia – have been made public. But do they live up to the hype? Alison Ross reports

Maxwell Chambers debuted in January to some enthusiastic reviews, with one arbitrator describing it as the “the best hearing centre in the world” and another remarking that Hong Kong has some “catching up to do”

They say challenges are on the increase in investment treaty cases. The past three months certainly suggest that is true. Alison Ross reports on four recent challenges that have attracted attention: against arbitrators Charles N Brower, Robert Von Mehren and Stanimir Alexandrov, and counsel Barton Legum

Parties to ICSID cases will be able to hold hearings at Maxwell Chambers after ICSID’s secretary general Meg Kinnear and the chambers’ chief executive signed a memorandum of understanding

Alison Ross summarises the background to the US$100 billion claim, and the reasoning in the interim awards

In a decision that some see as having more impact on practice than West Tankers, England’s Court of Appeal has held that a Spanish ruling about an arbitration must be given effect under EU law.

Bahrain’s new arbitration provider, a partnership between the government and the American Arbitration Association, has opened its doors and unveiled plans to offer both traditional and “statutory” arbitration.

An international arbitration specialist has left Fulbright & Jaworski to join Crowell & Moring – following in the footsteps of three former colleagues.

The International Centre for Dispute Resolution has closed its headquarters in Dublin after nine years, saying that Mark Appel’s peripatetic existence means it can do without a “bricks and mortar” office to handle cases from Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

An ICSID tribunal has found that Ukraine violated international law on tenders by awarding radio broadcasting licences in secret – but rejected other claims brought against the state by a US radio investor.

The New Year has seen the usual flood of partner promotions in international arbitration groups worldwide.

Tributes have poured in for Swiss arbitrator Robert Briner, who died on 3 December aged 80.

The public international law world has been shocked and saddened by the death of Sir Ian Brownlie CBE QC.

Former Reed Smith partner Stephen York has become head of Lovells’ fledgling dispute resolution practice in Dubai.

Dubai has created a special tribunal to hear disputes arising from Dubai World’s debt restructuring – taking them out of international arbitration or the DIFC courts.

Clients may value a lawyer’s “never-say-die” attitude, but US courts faced with unjustifiable attacks on arbitration awards have grown irritable. Mark Kantor, an attorney in Washington, DC and a member of GAR’s editorial board, reports on a recent decision in which a US appeals court ordered lawyers to personally pay costs for an unsuccessful attempt to vacate an award – a painful lesson for aggressive litigators about the strength of the “national policy favoring arbitration”

Federico Godoy and Juan Sonoda, partners at Beretta Godoy in Buenos Aires, describe how a dispute over family trademarks led an Argentine appeal court to clarify the limited circumstances when parties can bring a motion for annulment – and the scope of waivers to challenge an award

Richard Hill and Jessica Fei of Fulbright & Jaworksi LLP in Hong Kong report on a recent Supreme People’s Court of China notice that removes any uncertainty as to the enforceability in mainland China of Hong Kong awards arising from ad hoc arbitrations and arbitrations under the auspices of “foreign” arbitration institutions such as the ICC

Christophe von Krause, a partner at White & Case in Paris, identifies a new trend of construction disputes linked to the financial downturn

Adjudication has become an established method in construction disputes and it is no longer restricted to jurisdictions such as the UK. Patricia Nacimiento, a partner at White & Case in Frankfurt, highlights recent developments in adjudication in Germany

From 1 January 2010, the latest of Hong Kong’s civil justice reforms could bring new risks for parties who refuse to mediate in Hong Kong. Two lawyers at Minter Ellison in Hong Kong, partner Steven Yip and senior associate James Yeung, explain what they are

A recent decision of the Indian Supreme Court holds that court proceedings need not be stayed in favour of arbitration when the dispute features complex fraud allegations. Two lawyers at Herbert Smith in London, partner David Brynmor Thomas and senior associate Promod Nair, say that the ruling affords obstructionist parties the perfect excuse to subvert their agreement to arbitrate

In Romak SA v Uzbekistan, an UNCITRAL tribunal considered the extent to which investment treaties provide protection for enterprises engaged in the cross-border sale of goods – and ended up applying the ICSID definition of investment. Partner Matthew Weiniger and senior associate Promod Nair of Herbert Smith in London report

James Hope, consultant and head of international arbitration at Advokatfirman Vinge KB in Stockholm, reports on a rare example of the Svea Court of Appeal setting aside an award because a tribunal exceeded its mandate

An event to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first bilateral investment treaty appears to have kickstarted discussion on the future of BITs in policy circles – especially within the EU. David Samuels reports

One of the first events to be hosted in the magnificent new Maxwell Chambers in Singapore raised interesting questions about whether the writing requirement of article II(2) of the New York Convention should remain. James Kwan, a partner at Simmons & Simmons in Hong Kong and a co-chair of the AFIA executive committee for 2010, reports.

For its annual Goff lecture in December 2009, City University of Hong Kong School of Law invited David Caron, a professor of international law at UC Berkeley, to speak. Caron, one of the world’s foremost authorities on the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, spoke on the quandaries faced by those seeking to update them. Report by Jun Bautista, an associate at Baker Botts in Hong Kong

On 11 December 2009, the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre Users’ Council held its first symposium, a well-attended event that attracted not just lawyers but engineers, accountants, physicians and other professionals. Jun Bautista of Baker Botts in Hong Kong reports on the symposium’s success in agreeing “best practices”

Editors: Ian A Laird; Todd J Weiler

Price: US$175 (Volumes I and II), US$125 (Volume II only)

Publisher: Juris