ICSID's Investment Mediation Insights webinar, which debuted in 2021, returns in 2025 with a new installment of practical insights into the growing field of mediation between States and investors.

In the session “Investment Mediation – Background & Process”, we took a deep dive into mediation at ICSID – when is mediation suitable to resolve an investment dispute? How does the ICSID mediation process work? What are mediator profiles qualifications? What is the general policy landscape for investment mediation? We also discussed what is happening at UNCITRAL in the investment mediation context, including a status update on the Singapore Convention.

Links shared during the session:
•    ICSID Mediation Rules https://icsid.worldbank.org/rules-regulations/mediation  
•    How to File a Request for Mediation at ICSID https://icsid.worldbank.org/procedures/mediation/how-to-file-a-request/2022 
•    ICSID’s Background Paper on Investment Mediation https://icsid.worldbank.org/resources/publications/background-paper-investment-mediation  
•    ICSID’s Overview of Investment Treaty Clauses on Mediation https://icsid.worldbank.org/resources/publications/overview-investment-treaty-clauses-mediation 
•    UNCITRAL - International Commercial Mediation https://uncitral.un.org/en/texts/mediation 
•    UNCITRAL - Investor-State Dispute Settlement https://uncitral.un.org/en/texts/isds

Speakers:

Frauke Nitschke: Frauke is a Senior Legal Counsel at ICSID and serves as the team lead for one of the Centre’s case management teams. Frauke further leads ICSID’s investor-State mediation activities, including the development of the ICSID Mediation Rules, amendments to ICSID’s conciliation frameworks, and ICSID’s Background Paper on Investment Mediation. Frauke has developed and conducted investor-State capacity-building workshops and trainings for mediators and government officials, and led the Centre’s contributions on mediation to the United Nations Commission on Trade and Law (UNCITRAL) Working Group III on investor-State dispute settlement reform. She is an accredited mediator and admitted to practice law in New York and Washington, D.C., and holds law degrees from the Freie Universität Berlin and Georgetown University Law Center (LL.M.), and a Master’s degree in Organizational Psychology from the FernUniversität Hagen.

Judith Knieper: Judith Knieper is a legal officer at the Secretariat of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) in Vienna. Until her appointment to the Secretariat, she had been working in South East Europe from 1998 to 2013 for numerous donors/organizations, e.g. OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe), CoE (Council of Europe), World Bank and GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), the German international cooperation. She obtained both Legal State Exams in Frankfurt, Germany, as well as her Ph.D. and is also qualified and certified as a mediator.

Moderator:

Anna Holloway: Anna (LLB(Hons)/BSc (University of Otago ‘03), LLM (HLS ’07)) is a Senior Legal Counsel at ICSID, where she assists arbitral tribunals and ad hoc committees, and contributes to ICSID’s institutional projects. Anna has led the Centre’s extensive research on existing dispute resolution clauses in bilateral investment treaties, free trade agreements, and dispute settlement provisions in model treaties, analyzing the full range of approaches to integrating mediation in existing investment treaties. Prior to joining ICSID, she was counsel in WilmerHale’s international arbitration group (in London and DC) for 9 years. She began her legal career in New Zealand, first as a judge's clerk at the New Zealand Supreme Court, and then practicing as a barrister (2004 – 2006).