11th ITA-IEL-ICC Joint Conference on International Energy Arbitration

13:45

Registration

14:30-14:45

Welcome remarks

• Laura Robertson, Immediate Past IEL Chair, Deputy General Counsel, Litigation and Arbitration & IP, ConocoPhillips Company, Houston
• Claudia Salomon, President, ICC International Court of Arbitration
• Tom Sikora, ITA Chair, Senior Counsel - International Disputes Group, Exxon Mobil Corporation, Houston

14:45-14:50

Welcome to the Roundtable: Young Lawyers Roundtable

Presented by

• ICC Young Arbitration and ADR Forum (YAAF)
• IEL Young Energy Professionals (YEP)
• Young ITA

14:50 – 15:50

Ethics of Arbitrator, Conduct and Challenges:

Panelists will consider whether the standards for challenging an arbitrator’s independence and impartiality align with user expectations of arbitrator conduct by examining concrete examples of arbitrator disclosures and conduct, and polling the audience on whether the conduct should reasonably result in the challenge/removal of the arbitrator. Panelists then will discuss whether that conduct intuitively appears ethical from their perspective, and whether the conduct could support a valid challenge.

Moderator:

• Elizabeth J. Dye, Associate, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pitman, Houston

Panelists:

• Rahul Donde, Counsel, Levy Kaufmann-Kohler, Geneva
• Kabir Duggal, Attorney, Arnold & Porter, New York
• M. Imad Khan, Associate, Winston & Strawn, Houston
• Lucy Winnington-Ingram, Associate, Reed Smith, London

15:50 – 16:55 

Evolving Doctrines of Excuse in the Face of Global Disruption: 

Recent global disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, sanctions, supply chain disruptions, and environmental disasters have called into question traditional strict interpretations of force majeure, impossibility, hardship, and other contractual excuse doctrines. Panelists first will discuss the impact of recent developments on the doctrine of excuse, and then will engage in a debate.

Debate Resolution: This house maintains that contractual excuse doctrines should be interpreted broadly to excuse contractual non-compliance caused by catastrophic unforeseeable events.

Moderator:

• Christina G. Hioureas, Partner, Chair of United Nations Practice Group, Foley Hoag, New York

Panelists/Debaters:

• Naomi Briercliffe, Counsel, Allen & Overy, London
• Andrea Orta González Sicilia, Attorney, Ruiz - Silva Abogados, S.C., Mexico City
• Carla Gharibian, Associate, Jones Day, Los Angeles

16:55 – 17:00

Roundtable Closing Remarks

• Meredith Craven, Roundtable Co-Chair, Young ITA representative; International Arbitration Associate, White & Case LLP, Houston

17:00 – 18:15

Welcome Reception

18:30 – 20:30 

Joint Conference Dinner (optional)

08:00

Registration and Continental Breakfast

09:00-09:10

Welcome address

• Liz Snodgrass, Conference Co-Chair, Partner, Three Crowns, Washington, D.C

09:10-09:40

2022 Year in Review: International Arbitration Blockbusters and Flops (With Energy Bonus)

This presentation will consider both investor-state and contractual disputes in the energy sector. It will cast an eye over the wide range of matters that have come before arbitral tribunals in 2022 and will attempt to identify the ten (or close to ten) special rulings and industry trends that will have the most significant influence on energy arbitration in 2023 and beyond.

•  Danielle Morris, Partner, WilmerHale, Washington D.C.
• Timothy J. Tyler, Counsel, Vinson & Elkins LLP, Houston

09:40 – 10:00

Coffee Break

10:00 – 10:50 

Lessons Learned from the Field: Navigating the Challenges of Enforcement Against State-Owned Entities

Recent geopolitical issues have highlighted the fact that, when it comes to enforcement risk, the differences between investor-state arbitration and commercial arbitration may not be as vast as we once thought, and there are lessons learned that are equally applicable to both types of arbitration. This panel will focus on the unique challenges posed in enforcement of awards involving state owned entities, particularly in jurisdictions with localization requirements, where issues of veil piercing and the integrity of arbitration clauses are of particular concern.

Moderator:

• Alex Yanos, Partner, Alston & Bird, New York

Panelists:

• Christopher P. Moore, Partner, Cleary Gottlieb, London
• Isabel Fernandez de la Cuesta, Partner, King & Spalding LLP, New York
• Andrew Stafford KC, Lawyer, Kobre & Kim, London

10:50 – 11:40 

The Implications of Changing Energy Policy in Energy Disputes

Whether as a result of political changes (characteristics and ideology of the public administrations), efforts to address climate change/energy transition or otherwise, we have been witnessing the impact of turnarounds in energy policy in different countries and regions. This panel will analyse this situation, discuss different examples, and evaluate how these issues are likely to arise in energy arbitrations (investment or commercial). Along the way, the panel will discuss the scope of regulatory freedom, strategies for managing political risk, and concepts like force majeure and hardship.

Moderator:

• Analia Gonzalez, International Counsel, BakerHostetler, Washington, D.C.

Panelists:

• Alberto Fortún, Partner, Cuatrecasas, Barcelona
• Antonio Ortiz-Mena, Senior Vice President, Albright Stonebridge, Washington, DC
• Lindsey D. Schmidt, Partner, Gibson Dunn, New York

11:40 – 13:30

Luncheon

This interview conversation is the latest in a series organized by the ITA Academic Council to record the evolution of modern international arbitration in the words of those who have led it.

• Alan R. Crain, Jr., Independent Arbitrator, Former Senior Vice President and Chief Legal and Governance Counsel, Baker Hughes, Houston
• Professor Catherine A. Rogers, Vice Chair, Academic Council Università Bocconi (Milan} and Queen Mary University of London (London)

13:30 – 14:20

Natural Gas: What Next?

The natural gas sector has recently seen major disruption resulting from measures taken in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Russia’s reaction to those measures, and latterly from physical disruptions to supply caused by acts that may (or may not) be connected to armed conflict. That disruption is layered on top of ongoing evolution in the natural gas market that has led, over the past decades, to successive waves of gas pricing disputes in Europe and Asia. This panel will attempt to forecast where disputes are likely to be coming from in this sector, addressing the impact of supply disruptions, import restrictions and a mooted “price cap” on Russian gas, issues of liability for damage to infrastructure resulting from regular or irregular armed conflict, and how all of this is likely to affect the evolution of gas price review arbitrations.

Moderator:

• Gisele Stephens-Chu, Founder, Stephens Chu, Paris

Panelists:

• Cristian Nitsch, Assistant General Counsel, Pavilion Energy, Madrid
• Michael Polkinghorne, Partner, White & Case LLP, Paris

14:20 – 15:10 

Back to the Future or the New Normal (No, This is Not a Panel on Virtual Hearings)

The past few years have seen many disruptions to the way we typically practice energy arbitration, resulting from restrictions on travel and gathering in person during the height of the pandemic. There were obvious downsides, but necessity was also the mother of innovation when it came to proactive case management. Anecdotally, we saw tribunals demonstrating greater openness to procedural techniques such as bifurcation and early dispositive motions in order to make such progress on cases as was possible even without a full, in-person merits hearing. This panel will evaluate whether we should want to return to pre-pandemic approaches to such techniques, or whether the forced experiment of the past few years has yielded valuable case management insights that we should take forward into the “new normal.”

Moderator:

• Caroline Richard, Partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Washington, D.C.

Panelists:

• J. Brian Casey, Arbitrator, Bay Street Chambers, Toronto
• Ema Vidak Gojković, Independent Arbitrator, New York
• Pedro José Izquierdo, Special Counsel, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, New York

15:10 – 15:30 

Coffee Break

15:30- 16:00

Queen Mary University of London/Pinset Masons Survey on the Future of International Energy Arbitration – Final Results 

This session will be the global launch of the QMUL and Pinsent Masons Survey on the Future of Energy Disputes. It will address the likely causes of future disputes, the impact of climate change and international sanctions on energy disputes and how arbitration is adapting to address such issues. The survey looks forward as well as reports in the energy disputes of recent years.

• Prof. Loukas Mistelis, Queen Mary University of London; Partner, Clyde & Co LLP, London
• Jason Hambury, Partner, Pinsent Masons LLP, London
• Kathryn McQueen Barnes, Senior Counsel, Chevron, San Ramon

16:00- 17:00 

ITA-IEL-ICC Forum

The Forum is an open informal discussion providing the opportunity for arbitrators, arbitration counsel and in-house counsel to share experiences and raise concerns in transnational arbitration in an off -the-record unstructured dialogue format. The agenda for the Forum is determined by the participants, by pre-submitted questions and topics and by spontaneous remarks at the event. Registrants will receive instructions on how to submit questions or topics for discussion at the Forum.

Co-Moderators:

• Denton Nichols, Partner, Norton Rose, Houston
• Joanne Luu, Partner, BD&P, Calgary

17:00

Closing Remarks

• Teresa Garcia-Reyes, Conference Co-Chair, Vice-President – Litigation, Baker Hughes, Houston

17:10 – 18:15

Young Lawyers Networking Reception

For members of the Young ITA, the IEL Young Energy Professionals (YEP), the ICC Young Arbitrators Forum (YAF) and other young lawyers interested in international energy arbitration.