The 2010 Stefan A. Riesenfeld symposium
ADVANCING ARBITRATION:
Modern Trends in International Arbitration: The Case for California
February 9 - 10, 2010
Online registration for the Symposium now available
The 2010 Riesenfeld Symposium will focus on new trends in international arbitration, examining the developing movement for transparency in international proceedings and the challenges to establishing a code of professional conduct for transnational practitioners. The program will investigate how California can evolve as a place of arbitration and establish as a venue at the forefront of these developing movements. A reception and dinner at the Bancroft Hotel will follow the day's events. Attendance at the event is limited.
Time: 12:45pm-8:00pm
Location: Boalt Hall with a Reception and Dinner to follow at the Bancroft Hotel [ Map ]
Agenda |
||
Tuesday, February 9, 2010 |
||
Lunch |
A Special Introduction to Arbitration for Boalt Students
|
Room 100 |
Wednesday, February 10, 2010 |
||
12:50-1:45 |
Lunch and Introductory Speech by Professor Andrea Bjorklund [ bio ] |
The Goldberg Room |
1:45-2:00 |
Coffee Break |
|
2:00-3:00 |
Panel: Professional Conduct for Transnational Practitioners |
The Goldberg Room |
3:00-3:10 |
Coffee Break |
|
3:10-4:20 |
Panel: Towards Transparency in Arbitration |
The Goldberg Room |
4:20-4:30 |
Coffee Break |
|
4:30-5:30 |
Panel: The Case for California -- Shaping a Seat of Arbitration |
The Goldberg Room |
5:30-6:00 |
Keynote Speech by the Honorable Charles N. Brower [ bio ] |
The Goldberg Room |
6:15-7:00 |
Reception at the Bancroft Hotel |
The Bancroft Hotel |
7:00-7:30 |
Dinner and Presentation of the Riesenfeld Award |
The Bancroft Hotel |
MCLE Credit: Up to four units of MCLE credit are available to practitioners, including two MCLE ethics credits.
Disability Access: This event is wheelchair accessible. For any disability-related accommodations contact the Symposium Editors at BJILSymposiumTeam@gmail.com. Advance notice is requested.
Biographies
Keynote Speaker
The Honorable Charles N. Brower is a world-renowned arbitrator, Judge of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal, Judge Ad hoc of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Former Acting Legal Advisor of the U.S. Department of State and more. A full biography is available here.
Speakers
Cyrus Benson (Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher) is a U.S. and English qualified partner in the London office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He is Co-Chair of the Firm’s International Arbitration Practice Group.
Mr. Benson focuses on international arbitration and represents clients from a wide variety of sectors before arbitral tribunals, including the ICC, LCIA and AAA/ICDR, with particular emphasis in telecoms, oil & gas and financial services. He is experienced in complex litigation and has significant trial and appellate experience in U.S. federal and state courts.
His representations include advising a major European financial institution in an ICC arbitration arising out of the termination of services and technology agreements for the establishment of a structured derivatives business; a joint venture contractor in a $1 billion ICC arbitration arising out of a refinery upgrade and crude oil pipeline project in Latin America; and a telecommunications joint venture in a $1.1 billion ICC arbitration in Stockholm arising out of an Eastern European privatization of telecommunications services.
Mr. Benson has represented numerous financial institutions in disputes concerning derivatives and other complex products; represents a European bank in multiple actions alleging predatory mortgage lending practices; and represented a major financial institution in Enron-related litigation. He has represented corporate clients in shareholder class action litigation and represented an individual involved in U.S. government investigations into accounting irregularities at a major insurance company.
Mr. Benson is ranked as a leading lawyer for International Arbitration by Chambers and Partners UK Guide in the2007-2010 annual editions, and Chambers and Partners Global Guide 2006 and 2007. He is "highly recommended" for Dispute Resolution: Arbitration in Practical Law Company's Which Lawyer? since 2007, and is identified by UK Legal Experts 2009 as an expert in the field of Arbitration. He is also recommended for Dispute Resolution: International Arbitration in Chambers Europe 2008. The 2009 edition of UK Legal 500 also recommends Mr. Benson for International Arbitration.
Mr. Benson is a frequent speaker and writer on arbitration topics and active in bar activities, including as a member of the IBA Arbitration Committee Task Force on Ethics for Counsel. Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Mr. Benson was co-head of the London international arbitration group at a U.S. law firm.
Professor Andrea Bjorklund (King Hall, UC Davis) teaches courses in international arbitration and litigation, international trade, international investment, international business associations, conflict of laws, and contracts. She is co-rapporteur of the International Law Association's Study Group on the Role of Soft-Law Instruments in International Investment Law. She has written extensively on investor-state arbitration issues, and has published chapters in many books, as well as pieces in several journals, including the American Journal of International Law, the Hastings Law Journal, the American Review of International Arbitration, and the Virginia Journal of International Law. She is also co-author of Investment Disputes Under NAFTA: An Annotated Guide to NAFTA Chapter 11.
Prior to entering the academy, Professor Bjorklund worked on the NAFTA arbitration team in the U.S. Department of State's Office of the Legal Adviser, and also worked for Commissioner Thelma J. Askey on the U.S. International Trade Commission and in private practice at Miller & Chevalier in Washington, D.C. A graduate of Yale Law School, she clerked for Judge Sam J. Ervin, III, on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
She says, "Traditionally, international law has been divided into two realms: the public and the private. This dichotomy is breaking down as governments grant greater rights to private individuals, while at the same time increasing their regulatory powers over private international transactions. Recognizing both the private and public aspects of international transaction is an essential skill for today"s lawyers."
Maria Chedid (Morrison & Foerster) is litigation counsel at Morrison & Foerster in San Francisco, specializing in international and domestic arbitration, international litigation, and appeals.
In her 17 years of private practice, Ms. Chedid has represented clients in international and domestic arbitration in a variety of arbitral institutions, including the ICC, the AAA, the ICDR, the LCIA, the WGA, the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal, and the United Nations Compensation Commission. Ms. Chedid’s arbitrations have involved international licensing disputes; IP ownership disputes; breach of government contracts; regulatory expropriation claims; shareholder disputes; and other private commercial contract disputes. Her practice is geographically diverse, extending to disputes arising in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. Ms. Chedid is a frequent speaker and writer on arbitration topics.
Ms. Chedid has represented clients in U.S. courts in cases involving a wide variety of multi-jurisdictional and cross-border litigation issues, including Alien Tort Statute matters; enforcement of foreign judgments; 28 U.S.C. §1782 applications; the Hague Service Convention and Hague Evidence Convention; and forum non conveniens matters.
Ms. Chedid also specializes in the briefing and presentation of complex cases on appeal. She has represented clients in numerous appellate proceedings, on a broad range of civil law subjects, including the enforceability of arbitration agreements and awards; federal preemption of state laws; anti-SLAPP claims; and the Alien Tort Statute. She is frequently consulted about appellate strategy by Morrison & Foerster’s trial lawyers, and provides training to the firm’s associates in legal writing, oral argument, and the handling of writs and appeals.
Ms. Chedid holds a B.A. with distinction in Philosophy from Barnard College and earned her J.D. from New York University School of Law, where she was an editor of the international law journal and elected a Fellow of International Law at the Center for International Studies.
Ms. Chedid is originally from Lebanon and is fluent in spoken Arabic. .
Jan Dalhuisen (Kings College/UC Berkeley) is Professor in the School of Law since 1996. He graduated from the University of Amsterdam, where he also received his PhD, and from the University of California at Berkeley. He is a Corresponding Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Professor Dalhuisen is a Member of the New York Bar, a well known international commercial arbitrator, Member of the ICSID Panel of arbitrators and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. Before joining the King’s Law Faculty he was a senior investment banker, Secretary General of the International Primary Market Association, and senior in house counsel.
He is a regular Visiting Professor at UC Berkeley, and earlier at the Tsinghua University in Beijing and the UNSW in Sydney. He holds the Miranda Chair in Transnational Financial Law at the Catholic University in Lisbon.
Daniel Kolkey (Gibson Dunn & Crutcher) is a partner in the San Francisco office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He is a member of the Litigation Department and co-chair of the Appellate and Constitutional Law Practice Group. Mr. Kolkey returned to the firm in November 2003 after five years as an Associate Justice on the California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District, in Sacramento.
Named in 2004, 2005, and 2006 by theDaily Journal as one of the top 100 attorneys in California, and recognized in 2005 and 2007 by California Lawyer magazine as an Attorney of the Year in the fields of Government/Public Policy and Appellate law, respectively, Mr. Kolkey's practice focuses on appellate litigation. He also writes a column on appellate practice, has advised four different governors on legal issues, and has served as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's lead negotiator for tribal-state compacts under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
Prior to being appointed as an Associate Justice on the California Court of Appeal, Mr. Kolkey served as Legal Affairs Secretary and counsel to Governor Pete Wilson for four years. As such, he was responsible for all of the legal advice within the Governor's Office; approving all state agency appeals; supervising and directing litigation strategy with respect to lawsuits brought against the Governor in his official capacity; drafting the Governor's civil justice reform legislation; and negotiating tribal-state compacts under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
Before serving Governor Wilson, Mr. Kolkey was a partner at Gibson Dunn, where he handled litigation at both the trial and appellate levels, including commercial disputes, political law litigation, and international arbitration.
As a litigator (before and after his government service from 1995 to 2003), Mr. Kolkey has handled class and shareholder actions; construction, real estate, employment, and contract disputes; unfair competition litigation; and political law litigation, including ballot litigation, Voting Rights Act claims, and redistricting matters.
Michelle Leetham (Bechtel Corporation) is Vice President, Principal Counsel and Manager of Litigation for Bechtel Corporation. Michelle has led the effort to develop Alternative Dispute Resolution Programs for Bechtel, and she is a regular contributor to bar association and other legal group efforts to promote the use of ADR in both domestic and international venues. She is a member of the CPR Arbitration Committee and Advisor to the American Law Institute project to develop a Restatement of the U.S. Law of International Commercial Arbitration.
Michelle recently completed a two-year term as President of the Northern California International Arbitration Club, a group formed to study, support and promote international arbitration to resolve global business disputes. The department she manages is responsible for Bechtel’s global caseload of uninsured lawsuits and arbitrations, including class actions, complex construction disputes, employment and other commercial matters. Bechtel is a global provider of engineering, construction and procurement services to a wide variety of market sectors. A graduate of Boalt Hall School of Law in Berkeley and former law clerk for the California Supreme Court, Michelle joined Bechtel in 1993 from Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, where she litigated commercial, employment and insurance coverage matters.
The Honorable Richard Mosk (California Court of Appeal) is a U.S. Appointed Judge to the United States-Iran Claims Tribunal.
Edward Mullins (Astigarraga Davis) focuses his commercial litigation practice on international commercial litigation and arbitration, intellectual property litigation, and consumer class action defense. He brings to this practice broad experience as a commercial litigator, having handled an array of commercial disputes over the years, including contract, media, intellectual property, shareholder, and class action disputes.
He is a member of the American Bar Association (ABA), serving as Co-Chair of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee of the Litigation Section and former Co-Editor of the International Litigation Quarterly. He is the former Co-Editor of the International Law Quarterly and is the Treasurer and a member of the Executive Council of the International Law Section of the Florida Bar. Mullins has substantial appellate experience and is the former Chair of the Appellate Court Rules Committee of the Florida Bar. He also has served as Chair of the International and Appellate Courts Committees of the Dade County Bar.
Selected by The Best Lawyers in America for Commercial Litigation and International Arbitration, Mullins frequently speaks and writes on international litigation and arbitration issues for the ABA and the Florida Bar. Some of his recent publications include "Franchisees Sued for Violation of Athlete's Foot Trademark," The Judicial View (Winter 2009), "Contractual Waiver of Personal Jurisdiction Under F.S. §685.102: The Long-Arm Statute's Little-Known Cousin," 80 Fla. Bar J. 5 (May 2006); "Waiver, Preemption, and Permissive Clauses," 7 ABA, Comm. & Bus. Litig. J. No. 2. at 1 (Winter 2006); "The Hunt for Federal Court: Removing International Cases," 22 ABA, Int'l Litig. Q. 1 (Fall 2005); "Staying a Money Judgment in Federal Court Without Posting a Supersedeas Bond," 57 Fla. Bar J. 45 (Dec. 2003); "You Better Shop Around: Appellate Forum Shopping," 25 ABA, Litigation 32 (Summer 1999), which was republished in the Litigation Manual. He has spoken frequently on international litigation and arbitration issues for the ABA and Florida Bar, and has spoken in conferences in Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. He has chaired and served on the steering committee for the Florida Bar International and Arbitration and Litigation Conference for years. He has appeared in Florida Trend's Florida Legal Elite, in Florida Super Lawyers, and in numerous editions of Marquis' Who's Who.
His broad experience includes litigating media, defamation, privacy, and intellectual property disputes, including trademark and copyright actions. A former Chair of the Florida Bar's Media and Communications Committee, Mullins often speaks on such subjects at conferences, including the Entertainment Law Section Conference and the Media Law Conference of the Florida Bar, the Practicing Law Institute, and the Inter-American Press Association.
Mullins also has substantial experience in class actions. He has defended financial institutions, insurers, and other corporate entities against class action cases on federal and state claims ranging from claims under Truth-in-Lending Act, other federal consumer protection statutes, state insurance code claims, and claims pursuant to the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act (FDUTPA).
Aníbal Martin Sabater (Fulbright & Jaworski, Houston) is partner in the International Arbitration Group of Fulbright & Jaworski LLP (Houston office). He is a licensed lawyer in the United States (California), England and Wales (solicitor), and Spain, where he obtained his Ph.D. and practiced law in the field of international dispute resolution between 1997 and 2003.
Aníbal Sabater has served as counsel in arbitration cases conducted in English and/or Spanish under various rules, including the AAA/ICDR, ICC, ICSID, LCIA, and UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules.
Aníbal Sabater is also frequently appointed to serve as an arbitrator in international cases. He is a member of the ICDR international list of arbitrators, the register of arbitrators of the Houston Maritime Arbitrators Association, the Madrid Court of Arbitration, and the panel of arbitrators of the Central America - Chile Free Trade Agreement.
A frequent speaker on his field, in 2007 and 2008 Aníbal taught as an adjunct professor a course on the International Law of Foreign Investment at the University of Houston Law Center.
Steve Smith (O'Melveny & Meyers) is a partner in O’Melveny & Myers LLP’s San Francisco office and Chair of the Firm’s International Arbitration practice. His practice focuses on the arbitration and litigation of complex international commercial and intellectual property disputes in the energy, aerospace, technology and pharmaceutical sectors. In his 26 years of private practice, Steve has handled matters for and against sovereign entities from the Middle East, Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa. In addition to serving as counsel in arbitrations administered by a variety of arbitral institutions throughout the world, he also has served as an arbitrator in International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and UNCITRAL arbitrations.
Recognized in many notable lawyer directories, Steve is highly recommended nationally by Chambers and Partners USA 2007 as “a truly outstanding advocate whose written product and oral advocacy simply astound.” Chambers and Partners USA 2008 commended Steve “for his ‘superior written work,’ which, according to one high-profile client, is ‘the best I’ve ever seen.’ He is also a ‘masterful advocate’ who can ‘put together a mesmerizing argument.’” For the past years, he has been among a handful of lawyers in San Francisco who were “recommended” in the Global Counsel Handbook on Dispute Resolution: The Law and Leading Lawyers Worldwide.
Steve is one of the few advocates identified as a leading counsel for arbitration by Who’s Who Legal California, which characterized Steve as an “outstanding counsel,” (2008), and as a “first-class advocate” (2009). Steve was also recognized as a leader in international arbitration in the 2009 International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers.
Steve is the recipient of the 2008 California Lawyer of the Year (CLAY) Award for his extraordinary achievement in Alternative Dispute Resolution.
Steve holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, graduate degrees in history and law from Cambridge University and a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was founding editor-in-chief of the school’s international law journal.
Read Steve's full bio here.
Ruth Teitelbaum (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer) is a member of the Latin American arbitration group, specializing in disputes involving states or state entities under commercial or international law.
Prior to joining Freshfields, Ruth served as a law clerk at the International Court of Justice, where she was involved in territorial and maritime boundary disputes. She is an editor of Arbitration International and a member of the American Society of International Law.
Epaminontas Triantafilou (White & Case, Washington D.C.) practices international arbitration and litigation, focusing on the representation of private entities and sovereign States before various courts and arbitral tribunals, including ICSID, the ICC, the AAA, and the International Arbitral Centre of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber. His experience includes disputes in the Middle East, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.
Epaminontas holds a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, where he served as Comments & Developments Editor of the Chicago Journal of International Law. He is the recipient of the 2008 LCIA Gillis Wetter Memorial Prize for Essays in the Field of International Arbitration.
Moderators
Professor Richard Buxbaum (UC Berkeley) is a Professor of Law.
Professor David Caron (UC Berkeley) is the C. William Maxeiner Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California at Berkeley. He currently serves as President-Elect of the American Society of International Law and is an American Law Institute appointed Adviser on the Restatement 3rd of the U.S. Law of International Commercial Arbitration. David Caron has served as arbitrator, lead counsel and expert in both private and public international arbitral proceedings. He is included as a leading international arbitrator from the United States in Chambers USA, The International Who’s Who of Commercial Arbitration and in Who’s Who Legal, California. He served as Chair of the Institute of Transnational Arbitration (ITA) from 2005 to 2009, is a founding fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators and is a Co-Editor of the World Arbitration and Mediation Review. He is a member of the Bars of the State of California and of England and Wales, and is a Barrister with Chambers at 20 Essex Street.
Read David Caron's full bio here.
Professor Andrew Guzman (UC Berkeley) is a Professor of Law.
