In May 2026, and again today, I have prepared a Commentary concerning the United States role in Venezuela after the removal and arrest of Nicolas Maduro during a short-duration military invasion of Venezuela by the United States. This is a subject of interest to the arbitration community for many reasons. So many of you have been involved as advocates or arbitrators in cases linked to Venezuela’s nationalizations of energy and mining interests. Some of us (not this Commentator) now have involvement as counsel in advising clients about dispute resolution aspects of new investment prospects for Venezuela. For many, the unique…
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Dear All: For the fourth time in six years, I will ride 556 miles over seven days to raise funds for cancer research at Roswell Park in Buffalo. We begin at the southern tip of Manhattan on July 26, 2026 and finish in Niagara Falls on August 1. Many of you have supported this effort in the past and I hope you will do so again. My intrepid life partner Cathy and our indefatigable dogs will sherpa all the way — an inn-to-inn tour of the Empire State in an all-electric vehicle. Your donations also provide them with moral support…
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At a time when prominent commentators in our community are asking whether arbitrators possess sufficient powers to address disruptive misconduct by parties and their counsel, a US District Judge in New York has issued a 45-page opinion that recites a five-year history of such conduct by a party in a high-value case involving a US private equity investment in Latin America. The Court’s decision – confirming a Tribunal’s final award and denying a motion to vacate based on “evident partiality” — rejects the notion that a party may engage in such misconduct during the proceedings and then achieve an ouster…
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This Commentary is addressed to members of the arbitration community who, like this Commentator, have seen Venezuela’s political and economic situation more or less vanish from the “headlines” in the nearly six months that have elapsed since US troops removed President Maduro and his wife from Venezuela and caused them to be transferred to New York to face federal criminal charges. But Venezuela has a particular fascination for our community, as dispute resolution has been and likely will continue to be a vital part of the equation for rebuilding Venezuela’s economy, democracy and civil society. If you are a lawyer…
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In a Commentary on this site posted March 23, 2026, I referred to a recent UK Court of Appeal decision concerning the powers of UK courts under the UK Arbitration Act to enforce the “peremptory orders” of UK-seated arbitral tribunals. Tecnimont S.p.A. and LLC MT Russia v. LLC EuroChem North-West, [2026] EWCA 5 (available on JusMundi). That case arose in the geo-political context of a commercial arbitration involving entities and persons affected by UK and EU sanctions against Russia. These sanctioned parties, despite having agreed to arbitrate in “Western” venues like London, under “Western” arbitration rules like the ICC Rules,…
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On March 12, 2026, I had the privilege of being a panelist in a one-hour program during California International Arbitration Week, in San Francisco, whose subject matter was broadly the impact on international arbitration of economic sanctions such as – but not limited to – those imposed by the USA, Canada, the EU and Switzerland against Russia.  And in the case of Russia, sanctions within the scope of our panel’s coverage included, but were not limited to, sanctions imposed as a consequence of Russia’s incursion into Ukraine that began in February 2022. Our subject was indeed quite broad, and included…
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