ICSID’s Investment Mediation Insights webinar series provides practical insights on the growing field of international investment mediation.

Episode one in the series took stock of how States have integrated investment mediation into the dispute resolution clauses of bilateral investment treaties, free trade agreements, and dispute settlement provisions in model treaties. We also reviewed the Energy Charter Secretariat’s Model Instrument on Investment Dispute Management, which sets out policy options for a domestic legal framework to support effective investment dispute management, including through negotiation and mediation.

Topics Discussed:

• How is mediation featured as a dispute settlement option in investment treaties? What are common approaches to doing so?
• What are aspects policymakers may wish to keep in mind when drafting a mediation provision in an investment treaty?
• What tools does the ECT Model Instrument on Management of Investment Disputes highlight for States to consider?
• What domestic or international legal frameworks create ‘enabling environments’ for mediation of investment disputes? What trends are apparent and what is still needed at the domestic level?

Speakers: ​

Alejandro Carballo-Leyda: Alejandro is the General Counsel of the International Energy Charter and heads its Conflict Resolution Centre, which provides good offices and mediation support. From December 2020 to mid-September 2021, he was also the acting Deputy Secretary-General. He coordinated the Guide on Investment Mediation (2016), the Model Instrument on Management of Investment Disputes (2018) and the first training for investment mediators. Currently, he supports several countries in developing their internal instrument on preventing/managing investment disputes and is working on a joint research paper with the World Bank on investment dispute prevention in the energy sector. Alejandro also teaches foreign investment law at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.

Anna Holloway: Anna (LLB(Hons)/BSc (University of Otago ‘03), LLM (HLS ’07)) is a Legal Counsel at ICSID, where she assists arbitral tribunals and ad hoc committees, and contributes to ICSID’s institutional projects, in particular ICSID’s rules amendment process and the drafting of ICSID’s mediation rules. 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, Ms. Holloway 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).

Moderator:

Frauke Nitschke: Frauke is a senior 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 recent 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. Frauke is an accredited mediator and admitted to practice law in New York and Washington, D.C. Frauke 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 FU Hagen.