The 43rd of a series of annual lectures in honour of the late Dr FA Mann QC (Hon) (1907-1991) will take place in London on 18 November 2021. This series of lectures is arranged by the Partners of Herbert Smith Freehills LLP and given under the auspices of the British Institute of International and Comparative … Read more

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (“UNCTAD“) has recently published its report (available here) on investor-state dispute settlement (“ISDS“) cases in 2020 (“Report“). The Report confirms that in 2020, investors initiated at least 68 publicly known ISDS cases pursuant to various international investment agreements (“IIAs“). This marks an increase in the number of … Read more

Ten years ago this summer, the United Nations Human Rights Council unanimously endorsed the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (the “UNGPs”). The UNGPs are perhaps the most prominent manifestation of an accelerating global trend toward accounting for a legal or quasi-legal obligation on the part of corporations to conduct business in a manner that respects … Read more

In General Dynamics United Kingdom Ltd v State of Libya [2021] UKSC 22 the Supreme Court (the “Court“), by a majority of 3 to 2, held that s12(1) State Immunity Act 1978 (the “SIA“) contains a “mandatory and exclusive” procedure for the service of documents instituting court proceedings on a State through the Foreign, Commonwealth … Read more

On 24 June 2021, an international panel of legal experts (the Panel) published a legal definition of ‘ecocide’ (the Proposal, link) proposed to be adopted as a fifth crime to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (the ICC or the Court). The Rome Statute addresses crimes that are deemed to be of international … Read more

On June 15, 2021, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (“ICSID“) Secretariat published its Fifth Working Paper on Proposals for Amendment of the ICSID Rules (“WP5“), featuring the proposals for amended ICSID rules on arbitration. The proposals build upon the suggested amended rules in Working Paper 4 (“WP4“), and address issues such as … Read more

We are proud to be a part of London Climate Action Week 2021 (LCAW), the annual event bringing together world-leading climate professionals and communities across London and beyond to find practical solutions to climate change. Founded in 2019, LCAW is the largest independent climate change event in Europe, helping to shape our future into one that is … Read more

On May 12, 2021, Canada published its new Model Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (the “New Model BIT”), revising the 2004 Model Agreement for the Promotion and Protection of Investments (the “2004 Model BIT”). The New Model BIT modernizes Canada’s framework and brings a few interesting innovations in the Bilateral Investment Treaty (“BIT”) world. … Read more