2012: The Impactof International Arbitration on the Rule of Law

The 11th year of the International Arbitration Lecture serieswas presented by David W. Rivkin. The lecture was entitled " TheImpact of International Arbitration on the Rule of Law".

Arbitration began as a means to resolve commercial disputes.From ancient Greece through to the 20th century, businesses sought afinal determination of their disputes. In the process, they created arule of law – enforcing contracts as they were written –and a lex mercatoria.

The certainty provided by this rule of law promoted the growthof commerce, international trade, created arbitration between statesand developed a new body of public international law.

David W. Rivkin examined the evolution of arbitration and itsrelevance in the 21st century. He addressed questions such as; Towhat extent does it still effectively promote trade? Does it provideadequate levels of certainty? What is the impact of the increasinguse of state to state arbitration? And will the creation of a newsupranational law that establishes standards for sovereign behaviourprovide greater certainty to modern-day merchants as they do businessworldwide?

Following the success of the previous year, the lecture wasstreamed live to invitees across the globe for colleagues and friendsthat could not attend the event in Sydney.

David W. Rivkin, Co-Chair of Debevoise & PlimptonLLP’s International Dispute Resolution Group, has more than 30years of experience handling international arbitrations throughoutthe world and before virtually every major arbitration institution.Subjects of these arbitrations have included long-term energyconcessions, investment treaties, joint venture agreements, insurancecoverage, construction contracts, distribution agreements andintellectual property, among others.

David is consistently ranked as one of the top internationaldispute resolution practitioners in the world in guides such asChambers Global and USA, IFLR Benchmark: Litigation, and The Legal500, among others. In 2011, the National Law Journal named him as oneof the “Most Influential Attorneys” in the United States.The Global Arbitration Review called a $750 million arbitration awardhe won for Hyundai Heavy Industries the Arbitration Win of 2010.

David holds many leading positions in internationalorganisations, including Secretary-General of the International BarAssociation; President of the North American Users’ Council ofthe LCIA; Vice Chair of the Arbitration Institute of the StockholmChamber of Commerce and a member of the Board of the SingaporeInternational Arbitration Centre; and a member of the Council of theAmerican Law Institute, for which he is also an Adviser to theRestatement of the Law of International Arbitration.

He has written three books and more than 30 articles oninternational arbitration and international litigation. He is on thepanels of many arbitration institutions and served as an arbitratorfor the Court of Arbitration for Sport at the 2002, 2004 and 2008Olympic Games.

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