Introduction to the Symposium on Global Labs of International Commercial Dispute Resolution

Anthea Roberts

doi:10.1017/aju.2020.83

Abstract

Introduction to the Symposium on Global Labs of International Commercial Dispute Resolution

Highlights

TO THE SYMPOSIUM ON GLOBAL LABS OF INTERNATIONALCOMMERCIAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION Anthea Roberts*Legal globalization has never been flat, but is it decentralizing and rebalancing? The two main centers for international commercial dispute resolution and global governance since the post-World War II period—New York and London—are based in states that have been affected by strong anti-globalization movements
This symposium explores the emergence of these “new legal hubs” across Eurasia and beyond,[1] and considers what this global laboratory of international commercial courts and dispute resolution services might mean for the diversification of such dispute resolution going forward
New international commercial courts—English-language domestic courts that focus on international commercial disputes—have been established or considered in Eurasian economies like Dubai (2004), Qatar (2009), Singapore (2015), and China (2018), and continental European states like France (2010), Germany (2018), and the Netherlands (2019).[4]

Summary

Anthea Roberts*

Legal globalization has never been flat, but is it decentralizing and rebalancing? The two main centers for international commercial dispute resolution and global governance since the post-World War II period—New York and London—are based in states that have been affected by strong anti-globalization movements. Multiple jurisdictions in Asia, the Middle East and Continental Europe are experimenting with novel institutional designs in an effort to become world-recognized fora for resolving international commercial disputes This symposium explores the emergence of these “new legal hubs” across Eurasia and beyond,[1] and considers what this global laboratory of international commercial courts and dispute resolution services might mean for the diversification of such dispute resolution going forward. New international commercial courts—English-language domestic courts that focus on international commercial disputes—have been established or considered in Eurasian economies like Dubai (2004), Qatar (2009), Singapore (2015), and China (2018), and continental European states like France (2010), Germany (2018), and the Netherlands (2019).[4] Many of these new courts are intended to serve as one-stop shops for international commercial dispute resolution, primarily for private parties and potentially for investor-state disputes, in financial centers like Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Dubai, and Kazakhstan. These new dispute resolution services are aimed at catering for the economic rise of the region, but they reflect the much more positive popular sentiment toward

AJIL UNBOUND

Findings

TO THE SYMPOSIUM ON GLOBAL LABS OF INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL