Topic 1

Third-party litigation funding (TPF) is a rapidly expanding industry composed of speculative investors who finance legal claims in exchange for influence over case management and a contingency in the recovery.[1] The potentially high damage awards (recently averaging $500 million per dispute) characteristic of investor-state arbitration (ISDS) under the bilateral investment treaty (BIT) regime[2] have made it a new and highly attractive market for TPF.

On August 2, 2018, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) Secretariat released its "Proposals for Amendments of the ICSID Rules" (Proposals).[1]

This Insight analyzes the immunity of Judge Aydin Sefa Akay, a Turkish citizen and a former judge of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, who was a judge at the United Nations Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (Mechanism) since July 25, 2016, assigned to the case of Prosecutor v. Ngirabatware, until June 2018.[1] The Mechanism was created to perform residual functions of the now terminated International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.

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Introduction

The People's Republic of China (PRC) is establishing an "international commercial court"[1] (guoji shangshi fating, CICC), marking the first time the PRC is creating legal institutions for the world.[2]

Introduction

At its 30th summit in January 2018, the African Union (AU) decided to approach the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ).[1] Kenya has made a formal request that this matter be placed on the agenda of the UNGA in September 2018. The subject matter of this legal opinion relates to the immunities of sitting heads of state before the International Criminal Court (ICC). 

Introduction        

On March 6, 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued its judgment in Slovak Republic v. Achmea BV,[1] concluding that the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)[2] precluded a provision in a bilateral investment treaty (BIT) between two member states of the Europe Union (EU) authorizing investor-state arbitration.

Introduction