On 14 January 2016, Allen & Overy hosted a public international law debate, which posed the following question: Has the time come for the establishment of a permanent investment court?
This hard fought debate pitted Professor Philippe Sands QC and Sophie Lamb (for the affirmative) against Ali Malek QC and Stephen Fietta (for the negative), and considered the pros and cons of the existing Investor-State dispute settlement (‘ISDS’) regime and whether a permanent court could address its shortcomings. The affirmative team called the current system a “lottery” dependent on arbitrator selection; emphasised the ever-increasing caseload of ICSID; the lack of accountability of arbitrators and the potential for conflicts given their dual role as counsel in other arbitrations; political illegitimacy of the system; and the current cost of the process. The negative team acknowledged the problems with the current system but advocated spending time and energy addressing those issues rather than creating a new court which, in their view, would be expensive, impractical, and suffer from the same problems.
With an overwhelming majority of attendees initially indicating a firm lack of support for the establishment of a permanent investment court, the unfolding debate swayed its eager listeners with the final result that a permanent court for ISDS was seen by many in the room as preferable to maintaining the status quo.
It was a fascinating, topical debate, broaching an issue that will no doubt remain firmly on the agenda as multilateral trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (‘TPP’) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (‘TTIP’) continue to receive intense political and media scrutiny.
See more detail here.
We are pleased to announce that Robert Rothkopf has been appointed as a Director of the International Legal Finance Association (ILFA).
ILFA plays a pivotal role in shaping the future of legal finance globally and promoting best practices across jurisdictions. Robert will bring Balance’s experience and voice to ILFA’s mission, ensuring that the benefits of litigation finance are properly understood.
This board role adds to Balance’s leading contribution and involvement with the ILFA in the UK with Oliver Hayes in London, and in Australia with Simon Burnett in Sydney.
Topics covered ASIC and the private credit markets including the recent collapse of First Guardian, Shield and Australian Fiduciaries; what to expect from changes to Australia’s climate disclosure regime; and a discussion unpacking the Australian class action market, including insights on how funders raise and deploy capital and emerging trends in class actions.
The session brought together leading voices in the industry Sarah Johnson from The D.E. Shaw Group, Robert Marven KC, Susan Dunn from Harbour, and Nicholas Marler from Litica, expertly moderated by Elena Rey from Brown Rudnick LLP.
Two wonderful celebrations of Balance’s 10-year anniversary, one in Sydney at the Museum of Contemporary Art and another in London at the Tate Modern.
As part of our 10-year anniversary celebrations, we were lucky enough to spend some time together in Bath.
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Balance is a member of the Association of Litigation Funders of England & Wales. Our membership of the ALF requires us to satisfy on an ongoing basis stringent financial and capital adequacy tests and to comply with the ALF Code of Conduct.
Balance is a founding member of the Association of Litigation Funders of Australia, and a member of ILFA, the International Legal Finance Association.
Balance Legal Capital LLP is authorised and regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority.
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