III Oxford Symposium on Comparative International Commercial Arbitration
Videos of the event can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWv0d3i1AgIMZFFqZ-ryEdg/videos?view_as=subscriber
III Oxford Symposium on Comparative International Commercial Arbitration took place at Wolfson College, University of Oxford on 16th November 2018. The conference brought together specialists from the Americas and Europe to discuss key issues in international commercial arbitration from a comparative perspective. It was co-organised by the Commercial Law Centre at Harris Manchester College, the Oxford International Arbitration Society and the EDUCA Foundation.
Once again the conference welcomed a particularly strong set of speakers. After the welcome address delivered by Professor Louise Gullifer QC (Hon) (Commercial Law Centre at Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford) and André Luís Monteiro (Andrade & Fichtner), the conference started with Panel I, comprised of Kai-Uwe Karl (GE Renewables), Karl Hennessee (Airbus), Ivan Apsan (BHP Billiton Brasil), Martim Della Valle (Zenith Source) and Talitha Fernandez (VTTI), all of whom are in-house counsel. They discussed arbitration from the client’s point of view, intermediated by Felipe V. Sperandio (Clyde & Co).
Lord Mance, former Deputy President of the UK Supreme Court, then delivered the keynote speech, discussing important cases related to international arbitration, some of which were decided by the UK Supreme Court.
There followed a debate on the role of arbitral organisations in regulating arbitration, under the guidance of panel chair João Ilhão Moreira (University of Oxford). Charles Brown (CIArb), Sofia Martins (IBA), Luiz Aboim (White & Case) and Flávia Bittar (CBAr) explained how arbitral organisations can contribute to improving legal certainty in arbitration by issuing rules, recommendations and all types of soft law.
The afternoon session considered the biggest challenges for oil and gas arbitration. A panel composed of Wendy J. Miles QC (Debevoise), Beata Gessel-Kalinowska vel Kalisz (GESSEL), Sophie Nappert (3VB) and Sergio Mannheimer (Andrade & Fichtner Advogados) was led by Daniel Levy (Enyo Law LLP).
The last panel of the day took the conference to one of the hottest topics in arbitration. Ana Gerdau de Borja (Derains & Gharavi) chaired a panel made up of Geneviève Helleringer (University of Oxford and Essec Business School), Christian Leathley (Herbert Smith Freehills), Carlos Alberto Carmona (University of São Paulo) and Hugh Carlson (Three Crowns) to discuss the impacts of artificial intelligence on arbitration.
The event was sponsored by (i) Centro de Arbitragem e Mediação da Câmara de Comércio Brasil-Canadá; (ii) Lex Finance; (iii) Leste Litigation Finance; (iv) Debevoise & Plimpton LLP; (v) Andrade & Fichtner Advogados; (vi) Cesar Asfor Rocha Advogados; (vii) Enyo Law LLP; (viii) PLMJ Sociedade de Advogados; (ix) Clasen, Caribé & Casado Sociedade de Advogados; (x) PVG – Perlman, Vidigal, Godoy Advogados; (xi) Beneti Advogados; and (xii) Aprigliano Advogados.
The event also had the institutional support of (i) ICC; (ii) Kluwer, (iii) CIArb; (iv) CBAr; (v) TDM+Ogemid; and (vi) IBDP.
The organising panel were: Professor Louise Gullifer QC (Hon), André Monteiro, Felipe V. Sperandio, João Ilhão Moreira and Tom Foxton