Vienna International Arbitration Forum
On 21 November 2008 Professor Walter H. Rechberger, Department for Civil Procedure Law, and Professor August Reinisch, Department for European, International and Comparative Law, co-hosted the “Vienna International Arbitration Forum” on “Investment and Commercial Arbitration – Similarities and Divergences”. The Conference took place at the University of Vienna and focused on topical issues in international investment and commercial arbitration. It featured speakers from academia as well as practitioners. Christina Knahr and Julia Mair (both University of Vienna) spoke about “Consolidation of Proceedings in Investment and Commercial Arbitration”, Stephan Wittich (University of Vienna) and Franz T. Schwarz (Wilmer Hale, London) addressed “The Limits of Party Autonomy in Investment and Commercial Arbitration”, Irmgard Marboe (University of Vienna) and Vladimir Pavic (University of Belgrade) dealt with the issue of “Annulment of ICSID Awards” and “Challenge of Arbitral Awards before Domestic Courts”, Noah Rubins (Freshfields, Paris) and Christopher Kee (Deakin University) spoke about “Independence, Impartiality and Duty of Disclosure in Investment and Commercial Arbitration”. The Conference was very well attended, particularly by members of the Austrian arbitration community, and the presentations were followed by engaging debates about the topical issues identified by the speakers.
