As the world has gotten smaller, the globalization of law has enlarged the range of opportunities for recent law school graduates.
At the center of global law and practice sits international commercial arbitration. Some two decades ago, The Economist called international commercial arbitration “the Big Idea set to dominate legal-reform agendas into the next century.” That prediction has held true, with the number, diversity, and caseload of arbitration forums around the world blossoming.
Arbitration itself is the oldest form of adjudication. Anytime disputants turn to a third party neutral to adjudicate the disagreement, we may well think of them as using arbitration. While arbitration is distinct from mediation and negotiation, it shares, then, some of the same pre-legal intuitions and roots.
Arbitration, however, has become less an “alternative” and more the norm for many sorts of disputes, including international disputes. Businesses see arbitration as the primary mode of resolving cross-border fights, not least because it is much easier to enforce an arbitral award in a distant country than it is to enforce a foreign court’s judgment. With even mid-sized and smaller businesses becoming involved in international business transactions, the role of arbitration continues to grow.
Learning About Global Arbitration Law and Practice in London
Perhaps nowhere in the world is the globalization of law more apparent than in London, the most visited city on the planet. With more than 14 million travelers a year wending along its famously quaint streets, London is home not only to the Queen and her corgis but to some of the largest and most sophisticated law firms, including branches of many U.S.-based law firms. Much of the legal work in London, and in other leading world cities, involves international commercial arbitration and, increasingly, state-investor arbitration.
Every summer since 2005, Mitchell Hamline School of Law’s Dispute Resolution Institute has run a certificate program in Global Arbitration Law and Practice in London in cooperation with the world-renowned School of Arbitration, part of the Centre for Commercial Law Studies in the School of Law at Queen Mary University of London. The certificate program brings together a diverse group of law students and young lawyers from the U.S., Europe, and Asia to provide systematic and comprehensive exposure to international commercial arbitration.
The Benefits of Studying Abroad and Learning About Arbitration
Studying abroad can be a keynote experience in your legal education. Studying abroad in a world city like London, with easy and affordable access to weekend destinations in the UK and Europe, is amazing. And studying in an innovative program that balances meaningful substantive learning from world-leading experts in the field of international arbitration, rich experiential learning, and regular opportunities to network with lawyers, arbitrators and academics from around the globe is even better. If you are interested in learning more about studying global arbitration law in London, please visit our Website or contact Kitty Atkins or Professor H. Allen Blair.