Professor Rogers presents progress on Restatement of U.S. arbitration law
February 8, 2010
Professor Catherine Rogers together with Reporter Professor George Bermann of Columbia Law School and fellow associate reporters Professor Jack Coe Jr. of Pepperdine University School of Law, and Professor Christopher Drahozal of the University of Kansas School of Law presented a significant portion of the Restatement of the U.S. Law of International Commercial Arbitration last week in Philadelphia. A 30-member advisory committee of expert law professors and lawyers in the field of international arbitration and a Members Consultative Group assigned specifically to this project reviewed the work of the four-person team who have taken on the job—expected to take ten years—of restating the law.
The project, which got underway in 2007, includes the monumental task of bringing clarity and consistency to the field of international arbitration law. Last year, the four law professors published an article previewing the project in the Penn State Law Review titled "Restating the U.S. Law of International Commercial Arbitration." Upon its completion, the Restatement will cover international conventions, federal and state court decisions, and national and international conflict of laws principles.
"This Restatement is distinct from others," according to Professor Rogers. "Instead of distilling divergent precedents involving state common law, this Restatement seeks to bring conceptual order to a field that is predicated on international conventions and their implementing legislation. Despite the statutory foundation, however, there is a great deal of confusion in the field of international arbitration, which is why there is so much enthusiasm for this project."
Professor Rogers and the team first tackled a section of the law that focuses on the recognition and enforcement of awards. The topics include the obligation to recognize and enforce international awards, the grounds for denying recognition and enforcement, and actions to enforce awards. The ALI reports that the project will cover:
- arbitration agreements
- conduct of and the judicial role in international arbitral proceedings in the United States
- awards
- recourse from and enforcement of international arbitral awards rendered in the United States
- the judicial role in international arbitral proceedings abroad
- enforcement of international arbitral awards rendered abroad
- the preclusive effect of international arbitral awards; and
- International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes Convention arbitration.
Comprised of more than 4,000 members, the ALI is a leading independent U.S. organization that produces scholarly work to clarify, modernize, and improve the law. The full ALI membership will have a chance to review the status of the restatement at its May annual meeting. Restatements are considered the premier work of ALI because they are formulated over several years with extensive input from law professors, practicing attorneys, and judges. They reflect the consensus of the American legal community as to what the law is (and in some areas, what it should become), according to ALI president Roberta Cooper Ramo.
An internationally recognized expert in international commercial arbitration, Professor Rogers served as a member of the American Society of International Law Task Force on Global Legal Ethics and as a member of the Academic Council on of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration. Prior to her academic career, she practiced international litigation and arbitration in New York, Hong Kong, and San Francisco.
