The Digital Competence of International Arbitrators: An Emerging Legal Duty or Merely a Moral Desideratum?

ISBN-13: 9783031116803 / Angielski

Katia Fach Gómez

Opis

Preliminary:

International arbitration is facing a moment of revolutionary change due to new technologies’ irruption into the entire arbitration procedure. Technical-legal concepts such as remote meetings, e-discovery, e-bundling, e-hearing, remote cross examination, virtual persuasion, cyber-security protocol, e-deliberations, algorithmic decision making, algorithmic bias, encryption, and digital signatures are part of day-to-day life in international arbitration. Technology’s impact on international arbitration is unlikely to decrease after the COVID crisis has been overcome; on the contrary, the way that the arbitration milieu positions itself vis-à-vis technology will be a key factor in determining the future of arbitration. Faced with this challenging scenario, the book reflects on a hitherto novel legal topic: the relationship of commercial and investment arbitrators with this increasingly ubiquitous and rapidly changing technology.
 
This book applies journalism’s “5 W questions” to the underexplored issue of international arbitrators’ digital competence. Arriving at a workable definition of what digital competence is in the current international legal context is the necessary starting point in determining who has to be digitally competent in this T-context. If attention is focused on the figure of the international arbitrator and his/her relationship with other actors in international arbitration, the question arises as to when international arbitrators need to be digitally competent. This connects with where, which is responsible for determining whether there are currently any soft or hard law provisions that impose a digital competence duty on international arbitrators, as is already the case with respect to lawyers in some jurisdictions. It should be noted that the leading arbitral institutions worldwide are gradually incorporating these technological realities into the latest versions of their rules and guidelines, which also suggests that in the near future they will have to set their sights on their arbitrators themselves. All this leads to the essential question of why international arbitrators’ digital competence is relevant from a legal point of view, prompting reflection on whether Luddite arbitrators can be successfully challenged and whether technological incidents attributable to arbitrators may have effects in terms of award annulment or enforcement.


As it is the first monographic study to scrutinise the rapidly changing relationship between arbitrators and technology, the book sparks a crucial debate among practitioners and international scholars. Academically rigorous and making use of the latest legal material, the book emphasises arbitrators and practitioners’ needs and presents them with carefully selected hands-on topics. The unprecedented and well-grounded proposals for arbitrators’ digital competence are intended to be a call to action for its broad target audience.

Spis treści

Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. What is Digital Competence in the Current International Arbitration Context?.- Chapter 3. Who has to be Digitally Competent in the International Arbitration Context?.- Chapter 4. When do International Arbitrators Need to be Digitally Competent?.- Chapter 5. Where is International Arbitrators’ Digital Competence Regulated?.- Chapter 6. Why is International Arbitrators’ Digital Competence Relevant from a Legal Point of View?.- Chapter 7. Conclusion.- Case List.- Analytical Index.

O autorze

Katia Fach Gómez, Dr iur., LLM, is a tenured Lecturer (Profesora Titular) of International Law at the University of Zaragoza (Spain). She is the author of several legal books and book chapters published in English, Spanish and German. Her scholarly articles have appeared in a number of international peer-reviewed law reviews. Her latest edited volume is The Award in International Investment Arbitration (OUP 2023) and her latest English monograph is Key Duties of International Investment Arbitrators (Springer 2019). Katia graduated summa cum laude from the University of Zaragoza, holds a European PhD and an LLM from Fordham University (NY-US) (summa cum laude and Edward J Hawk prize). She has taught international investment and commercial arbitration, ADR, global law, international litigation, conflict of laws, etc., at numerous European, US, and Latin American universities. She has been a recipient of a Humboldt scholarship for senior scientists. Katia has been designated  by the Kingdom of Spain to the Panel of Conciliators of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) (2020-2026) . She acts regularly as arbitrator and mediator in domestic and international disputes and has been involved in various key international litigation cases in the USA and Europe.  She is also a member of the International Law Association (ILA), the International Academy of Comparative Law (IACL) and the European Society of International Law (ESIL) and is elected member of the editing board of various legal journals.

Blurb

Arbitration is facing revolutionary changes due to new technologies’ irruption into the entire arbitration proceeding. Wide-ranging technical-legal concepts such as e-discovery, e-hearing, cyber-security protocol, e-deliberations, algorithmic decision-making and digital signing have become part of life. Technology’s impact on arbitration is unlikely to decrease after the COVID crisis; on the contrary, how the arbitration community positions itself vis-à-vis technology will be a key factor in determining arbitration’s future. Faced with this challenging scenario, the book discusses a novel legal topic: arbitrators’ relationship with this increasingly ubiquitous, rapidly-changing technology.

This innovative book applies journalism’s “5 W questions” to the underexplored issue of arbitrators’ digital competence. It reaches a workable definition of what digital competence in the current arbitration context is, also providing answers to the essential question of why arbitrators’ digital competence is relevant from legal and financial points of view. Attention then shifts to who, with reflections on arbitrators working in a highly technological context and clarification of their relationship with other legal and non-legal actors. The book equally offers an in-depth comparative study of the question of where arbitrators’ technological competence is regulated, with critical analysis of soft and hard law provisions that may impose a digital competence duty. Finally, the book specifies when arbitrators need to be digitally competent and develops legal proposals regarding key procedural stages (initial conference, hearings) and legal topics (cybersecurity, data protection).

The first study to scrutinise the rapidly changing relationship between arbitrators and technology, the book aims to spark a crucial debate among practitioners and scholars. Academically rigorous and using the latest legal material, it emphasises arbitrators’ needs, rights and duties in our technological age, presenting them alongside carefully selected practical topics. The unprecedented and well-grounded proposals for arbitrators’ digital competence are intended to be a call to action for its broad target audience.