Improving Judicial Performance in Matters Involving International Arbitration

University of Missouri School of Law Associate Professor S.I. Strong has published a book chapter entitled Improving Judicial Performance in Matters Involving International Arbitration in Selected Topics in International Arbitration: Liber Amicorum, Julio César Betancourt, 2014, Forthcoming; University of Missouri School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2014-19.  In her chapter, Professor Strong examines how best to ensure that judges enforce international commercial and investment arbitration awards.

Here is the abstract:

Parties have long expressed concern about the quality of judicial decision-making in litigation ancillary to international arbitration. Although parties can and often do contract in advance for experienced arbitrators and efficient procedures, all of that planning and forethought can come to naught if a judge refuses to enforce an arbitration agreement or award.

For years, the international arbitral community has focused on raising the competence of advocates in international arbitration, based on the belief that a well-prepared bar is the best means of ensuring a well-informed bench. However, those efforts have and will continue to fail for a variety of reasons.

This chapter discusses why attempts to educate judges indirectly through practitioners are ineffective and what steps are being taken by states and other international actors to improve the quality of judicial decision-making in matters relating to international commercial and investment arbitration. In so doing, the discussion provides useful information on what steps can and perhaps should be taken in the coming years to make sure that national court judges are as well-prepared as possible to address disputes arising out of international arbitration.

This and other scholarly publications authored by Professor Strong may be downloaded free of charge from the Social Science Research Network.

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