The New York Convention of 1958 on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards provides for the international enforcement of arbitral awards. Considered as the most successful international convention in international private law, the Convention now has 164 Contracting States and more than 2,500 court decisions interpreting and applying the Convention (as of June 2020). The course will analyze and compare the most important of those decisions. It will offer a unique insight in treaty design, statutory enactments, varying court approaches, and the practice of international arbitration. The course materials will be made available at www.newyorkconvention.org.

The conflict of laws regulates international disputes before Singapore’s courts. This course focuses on two of its three central pillars – international jurisdiction and foreign judgments – which allocates disputes and decision-making authority between domestic courts. It will touch on the existence and exercise of jurisdiction, the interpretation and enforcement of jurisdiction clauses, sovereign immunity and non-justiciability, Mareva and anti-suit injunctions, and the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. Along with its sister course (Principles of Conflict of Laws), it aims to give students an in-depth understanding of conflicts theory and practice.

International construction contracts have by their nature special features, which affect the methods of resolving disputes arising from them. The course reviews terms and clauses of standard forms of international construction contracts (FIDIC Conditions), to explain how risks (inherent in all construction contracts) are typically allocated between parties; and what rights and remedies are available to parties when risks materialise. Further, the course examines how disputes arising from construction contracts are resolved through arbitration especially arbitrations conducted under the Rules of International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) which are included in the principal standard forms of contract (FIDIC).

What types of situations give rise to disputes in the international arena and how are these disputes settled? This course provides an overview of the various types of disputes and settlement mechanisms available for the resolution of international disputes - State to State, Individual/Investor to State and between international non-State entities. The course will explore the law pertaining to dispute settlement before the ICJ, WTO and ITLOS as well as international arbitration - both Investor to State Arbitration and Commercial Arbitration. The course will compare these different processes on issues such as jurisdiction, provisional remedies, equal treatment, evidence and enforcement.

This is primarily an interactive skill-based course with role plays and exercises as well as mediation theory. It will also cover the institutions and legal framework for international mediation, including the Singapore Convention on Mediation. Topics will include the nature of conflict, interest-based negotiation including active listening, reality testing, BATNAs, the mediation process, mediation and advocacy techniques, cultural differences, Arb-Med-Arb and drafting agreements to mediate and mediated settlement agreements.

Arbitral institutions are important stakeholders in the field of international arbitration, but the nature and importance of their role have often been overlooked. The course seeks to introduce participants to the role and function of arbitral institutions in guiding and shaping the practice and development of international arbitration, and to the complex issues that arbitral institutions face in the administration of arbitrations, including, among others, the appointment of arbitrators and the issuance of arbitral rules and practice notes. The course will be taught by visiting lecturers from the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) and other leading arbitration practitioners.

Mr Kevin Nash

Co-teachers: Mr Daryl Chew; Ms Jill Ann Koh; Ms Kate Apostolova; Ms Jennifer Lim; Ms Chui Lijun; Ms Ong Pei Ching; Mr Vivekananda Neelakantan; Mr Samuel Leong; Mr Andres Larrea Savinovich; Ms Duong Hoang; Mr Nusry Hussain; Mr Pranav Budihal; Mr Shivam Patanjali; Mr Vakhtangi Giorgadze; Ms Zhao Yue

The law governing the responsibility of States for internationally wrongful acts is absolutely central in public international law and cuts across various sub-fields of that discipline. This seminar investigates the fundamental tenets of the law of State responsibility, both from theoretical and practical standpoints, while tracing some of its historical roots. More broadly, the seminar will provide an overview of different doctrines of State responsibility and different theories and approaches to liability under international law. More importantly, the later sessions of the seminar will engage critically with the role that the law of State responsibility can play in specific areas.