ICCA Edinburgh 2022

On behalf of ICCA, I am pleased – finally! – to welcome you to the 25th ICCA Congress in Edinburgh. This may be two-and-a-half years later than planned due to Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, but that the Congress is oversubscribed shows just how eager we are to meet in person again. 

The 2022 Congress theme, “Arbitration’s Age of Enlightenment?”, is a fitting match with our host city Edinburgh, as the Scottish Enlightenment encouraged the forging of new and reasoned paths for novel ideas. By raising the question of ‘‘enlightenment” in this Congress, Program Co-Chairs Cavinder Bull, Loretta Malintoppi and Constantine Partasides are encouraging us to look anew at international arbitration in the global system of law.

As the Program Co-Chairs state, “The goal of this Congress is to look at the lessons of the past and take stock of the present reality in order to find ways to counter the many challenges that lie ahead for arbitration. By including the ideas and voices that emanate from new centres of arbitration activity and from beyond our field, we hope that ICCA 2022 will offer a rich exchange on whether our present era is – or can be – arbitration’s age of enlightenment.”

Key themes of the Enlightenment period, such as the exchange of ideas and a focus on innovation, will tie together the Congress panels. We will hear top-notch speakers from varied professional backgrounds vigorously debating topics such as the nature of investor-State dispute settlement, emerging regional themes, and new-age arbitral institutions.

ICCA will publish the Congress papers in the 21st edition of the ICCA Congress Series. I predict you will pull this volume down often in years to come, as I do with other Congress books.  Please do keep consulting ICCA’s other publications as well, including the Yearbook of Commercial Arbitration, the International Handbook on Commercial Arbitration, the ICCA Reports Series, and ICCA’s Guide to the Interpretation of the 1958 New York Convention, which is available on the ICCA website in 27 languages (yes, 27 languages).  And please visit our publisher Wolters Kluwer at their stand in the exhibition hall or on the KluwerArbitration and ICCA websites.

This Congress also offers a valuable opportunity for you to learn about the extraordinarily productive work of ICCA’s project groups. I invite you to attend the project-focused breakfast and lunch sessions and take advantage of the opportunities to provide feedback.

I welcome all ICCA Members to the ICCA Membership Lounge to visit and catch up with one another.  For those of you who are not yet ICCA Members, please come by the Lounge to learn about the benefits of membership – not the least of which are publication discounts and the opportunity to participate in cutting-edge ICCA projects. 

I cannot finish without thanking our Congress Host Committee, especially Co-Chairs Andrew Mackenzie and Brandon Malone, for their patience, determination and creativity in making this 25th ICCA Congress happen for all of us. 

Let our international arbitration enlightenment begin!

With best wishes,

Lucy Reed

ICCA President

Hosts:

• Brandon Malone, Chair, Scottish Arbitration Centre
• Andrew Mackenzie, Chief Executive, Scottish Arbitration Centre

Programme Committee:

• Cavinder Bull SC (Co-Chair)
• Loretta Malintoppi  (Co-Chair)
• Constantine Partasides KC (Co-Chair)
• Stephen L. Drymer
• Babatunde Fagbohunlu
• Yuet Min Foo
• Susan Franck
• Alvaro Galindo
• Francisco González de Cossío
• Jean Kalicki
• Elie Kleiman
• Jan Kleinheisterkamp
• Michelle MacPhee
• Ziad Obeid
• Shaneen Parikh
• Lindy Patterson KC
• John Rhie
• Christian Tams
• Galina Zukova