October – December 2024
During the week of September 30, Meg visited the Max Planck Institute in Luxembourg. While there, she gave a lecture on the “Impact of NAFTA Chapter 11”, which will be published in the ICSID Review. NAFTA Chapter 11 inspired substantive and procedural obligations in many subsequent BITs, not to mention attitudes towards issues such as transparency in arbitration. During her visit, Meg also spoke on reform in investment arbitration and nationality of investors initiating arbitration.
On October 7, Meg was on a jury assessing presentations of the top papers submitted to the 2024 Nappert Essay Prize at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. The topics presented were at the frontiers of our discipline: Sara Nicola D’Sousa spoke on “The Protection of Crypto-Assets in International Investment Law”, Kseniia Soloveva addressed “Instrumentalising Nationality of Natural Persons: Legitimate Strategic Planning versus Abuse of Procedural Rights” and Joseph Ho spoke to “International Investment Treaty Compliance in Canadian Federalism: A Multi-Dimensional Challenge”.
Meg joined a panel on the mediation of investment disputes, on October 22, held on the margins of the Sixth Committee meetings of the United Nations in New York City. Mediation can certainly contribute to the resolution and simplification of many ISDS cases. Disputing parties should note that mediation can occur at any stage of a case, and it might be especially useful at the later stages, for example after a finding of liability.
On October 24, Meg delivered the 2024 Washington College of Law Annual International Commercial Arbitration Lecture on “Procedural Good Faith in Investment Arbitration – What Is It And What Could It Be?” Procedural good faith is invoked frequently in arbitration and supports the relevant arbitral rules in maintaining a balanced and fair process.
During November, Meg will be in Rome for UNIDROIT Meetings and the first annual UNIDROIT Conference (November 5 – 11), speaking on The Complex Interplay between Climate Law and International Investment Law ( November 8 – for more information, see Roma_Tre_UNIDROIT_Annual_Conference-Programme.pdf).
On November 13, Meg will take part in this year’s ICC World Business Law Annual Conference in Paris. The conference looks at Res Judicata, Claim Preclusion, Issue Preclusion and Claim Splitting (Res Judicata, Claim Preclusion, Issue Preclusion and Claim Splitting | Events2Go (iccwbo.org)), and Meg will address how ISDS tribunals have applied res judicata.
Finally, Meg will be the keynote speaker at The Winds of Change: ICSID in the Geopolitical Arena, a symposium co-hosted by The University of Vienna, ICSID and Herbert Smith Freehills LLP on November 27, 2024 ( for further information see The Winds of Change: ICSID in the Geopolitical Arena | Herbert Smith Freehills | Global law firm). Much has changed since the first BIT in 1959, and the conference will be a terrific opportunity to consider this evolution and potential directions for the next decades.
Lucinda participated in the September 14 meeting of the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR in Mexico City, having been appointed in June to a three-year term on the Commission. She continues to actively participate in the work of the Task Force on Dealing with Allegations of Corruption in International Arbitration and looks forward to the publication this fall of the Report of Track 3, which she co-chairs (with Abdulhay Sayed, Patrick Baeten and Xavier Andrade) on Red Flags in Arbitration. While in Mexico City, Lucinda participated in the LCIA’s Tylney Town Hall and certain IBA-related events, and enjoyed social time with USCIB, IBA, ABA and other colleagues and friends from Mexico and around the world.
October found Lucinda focused on managing her transition out of Steptoe; November will feature the same as well as participation in the ICC Institute on World Business Law in Paris, a program at which she spoke two years ago, where she will meet up with Meg for joint meetings in Paris and London. In December, LKDR will sponsor Washington Arbitration Week, on whose Advisory Board both Lucinda and Meg have been involved from the outset (for further information, see Washington Arbitration Week – 4th Edition – Nov. 27 to Dec. 01 – 2023). Lucinda will speak on an ICSID-organized panel on December 4 addressing arbitrator best practices to conduct an efficient and cost-effective proceeding. She will also receive an award at the WAW opening reception that same night. On December 5, she will participate in an ICC Institute of World Business Law Compliance Disputes Webinar, and on December 16, she will participate in a PLI webinar on trends in the drafting of cross-border arbitration agreements.