Researchers' Activities

Professor Lucy Reed, CIL Director, represented the Centre at the 111th Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law in Washington DC on 12–15 April 2017. Professor Reed was President of the American Society of International Law from 2008 to 2010. With the topical theme of ‘What International Law Values’, highlights of the meeting included: the Grotius Lecture by Harvard University Professor David Armitage entitled ‘Civil War Time: From Grotius to the Global War on Terror’; an interview by New York University Law School Professor Philip Alston of Hudson Medal Winner Professor Georges Abi-Saab; an Assembly address by Professor Philippe Sands on the origins of the ideas of ‘genocide’ and ‘crimes against humanity’ as illustrated in his new book East West Street; and a keynote address by the new General Counsel of the World Bank Group, Ms Sandie Okoro, on gender-based violence entitled ‘Seen and Not Heard’. NUS Law Faculty Dean and CIL Board Deputy Chairman, Professor Simon Chesterman, spoke on the panel on ‘Claims Against the United Nations: From Within and Without’. Ayelet Berman, soon to join CIL as a Senior Research Fellow, spoke on the panel on “The Rise of Multistakeholder Global Governance’. Professor Reed, Dean Chesterman and NUS Professor Tony Anghie attended the Colleague Societies Breakfast as representatives of the Asian Society of International Law. [Photos]

On 27 October 2016, CIL Director Lucy Reed delivered the 31st Queen Mary University–Freshfields Arbitration Lecture in London, on the topic of ‘Ab(use) of Due Process: Sword vs Shield’. Professor Reed, who for many years led the Freshfields International Arbitration Group, framed her topic with the example of Donald Trump impugning the US federal judge who is presiding over a case against Trump University, by claiming the Mexican heritage of the judge—who was born and raised in Indiana—is biased because of Trump’s plans to construct a wall at the Mexican border if he is elected President.

Professor Reed described a growing trend in international arbitration for the unreasonable invocation of procedural complaints ‘under the banner of due process’ as a ‘brazen strategy’ to seek to pressurise arbitral tribunals. Her thesis was that arbitral tribunals should not allow parties to conflate routine procedural complaints (however stridently or repeatedly articulated, as Trump has done in interviews) with genuine ‘due process’ violations which have the potential to undermine the legitimacy of the arbitral process.

Defining due process as ‘a person’s right not to be deprived as property or other rights without the opportunity to represent themselves before neutral judges’, Professor Reed outlined the historical evolution of the concept of due process as a shield for legitimacy in international arbitration, before providing some practical illustrations of the strategy of (ab)using due process as a sword to influence the outcome. She focused on the boundaries and grey areas between routine procedural complaints and true due process violations. She concluded by urging arbitrators to confront the strategy, to prevent toleration leading to normalisation.

Due process, in Professor Reed’s words, ‘is meant to be a shield against procedural unfairness’ and for a party to ‘gleefully use due process as a sword is to cheapen due process’. As she concluded: neither Zorro nor the Three Muskeeters should be welcome in international arbitration hearing rooms.

On 20 July 2016, CIL Director Lucy Reed participated in the Panel Discussion on The Rule of Law and Dispute Resolution held in Singapore. The panel discussion, which was accompanied by a performance by the Temple Church Boys’ Choir from London, was moderated by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon and was jointly organised by The Honourable Societies of Inner and Middle Temple, The Temple Church and Singapore Academy of Law. To view the eBrochure, please click here. [View photo]

The Expert-Level Workshop on Addressing the Threats Posed by Sea Level Rise was meant for the UN Delegates and Staff to learn relevant background on an issue of significant concern for a growing number of Member States, including those most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, such as communities in Small Island Developing States and coastal states.