Restatement of the Law, The U.S. Law of International Commercial and Investor–State Arbitration

Restatement of the Law, The U.S. Law of International Commercial and Investor–State Arbitration restates the U.S. law of international commercial and investor-state arbitration and covers, among other topics:

• Arbitration agreements
• Conduct of and the judicial role in international arbitral proceedings in the United States
• Awards
• Recourse from and enforcement of international arbitral awards rendered in the United States
• The judicial role in international arbitral proceedings abroad
• Enforcement of international arbitral awards rendered abroad
• The preclusive effect of international arbitral awards
• ICSID Convention arbitration

This Restatement is an attempt to identify the role of the courts over the life cycle of an arbitral proceeding. This is designed, chapter by chapter, to focus on what courts are asked to do and among the things they’re asked to do, what are they willing to do. If they’re willing to do it, how do they go about doing it.

If you look at the life cycle of an arbitration — and particularly the role of courts in the life cycle of arbitration — we really have three fundamental phases. We have the role of courts in ensuring that an arbitration takes place. We get a court involved in the question of whether the arbitration agreement is enforceable. If the arbitration is launched and a proceeding takes place, we need to consider: Do national courts get involved? What roles might they play?