About the lecture
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.
About the speaker
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.
Lecture speech
Video clips
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Photos
The impact of international arbitration on the rule of law.
Prior to the 2012 lecture, Doug Jones, the head of Clayton Utz's International Arbitration group, and
David W. Rivkin, Co-Chair of the International Dispute Resolution Group of Debevoise & Plimpton and
Secretary-General of the International Bar Association, discuss the impact of international arbitration
on the rule of law. Watch their conversation in the video below.