CalArb President Dana Welch: News and Events – July 2024

All,

I hope that you’re enjoying your summer, beating the heat, and finding time to spend with your family and friends.

Here’s a look back on some of CalArb’s amazing accomplishments this year:

  1. First and foremost, in partnership with AAA-ICDR, we won the bid for ICCA 2028!  Facing stiff competition from Seoul, Dubai, and The Hague, our team prevailed. The ICCA Governing Board saw what we at CalArb see:  the growth opportunity for international arbitration in California.  Given California’s global importance and reach, particularly, although not exclusively, in technology and innovation, international arbitration is underdeveloped here. We at CalArb see the San Francisco 2028 ICCA Congress not only as a milestone, but as the pivot point for positioning our State as a first-tier venue for international arbitration.  It’s a victory for all of our members doing work in California, no matter where they reside, and more broadly, for international arbitration in the United States.  ICCA has held its biennial Congress only once before in the United States, in 2014 in Miami.
  2.  Over 500 people from around the globe attended (either in-person or online) California International Arbitration Week, held in San Francisco in March 2024.  CalArb organized this outstanding event with our partner, the California Lawyers Association.  Major arbitral institutions and organizations spoke on panels on topics ranging from AI in international arbitration, to arbitrating international IP disputes, to ethics, to differences in civil and common law, and so much more.  Participants were able to socialize with each other at wildly successful evening events, including an evening sponsored by JAMS at the DeYoung Museum.
  3. We continue to build our website.  Now available to CalArb members:  a bio, photo, and link to your website or LinkedIn profile.  Soon to arrive:  FAQs about international arbitration In California, providing a “one-stop shop” for practitioners interested in conducting international arbitrations in California.
  4. California conversations continue to highlight interviews with our members about their practice:  the latest, an interview with David Brennan can be viewed here.
  5. Young CalArb held successful “Days in the Life of an International Arbitrator” at Pepperdine, Stanford, and Berkeley law schools – attended by students eager to learn about the path to becoming an international arbitration practitioner.
  6. AB 1903, the bill that will update California’s international arbitration code to conform to the 2006 amendments to the UNCITRAL Model Law, has passed the legislature and is now on Governor Newsom’s desk for signing.  AB 1903 broadens the type of documentation that constitutes an arbitration agreement, provides standards to guide an arbitral tribunal in adopting interim measures of protection during an arbitration, and provides standards for enforcing such interim relief.  A special shout out to Board Chairman Dan Kolkey, Vice President Jeff Daar, past-president Gary Benton, and members Bob Lutz and Jeff Dasteel who played a pivotal role in shepherding through the legislature this important update to our Code.

Here’s a look forward to what we are working on:

  1. Our writing competition is live!  Know someone interested in winning $1500, but more importantly, contributing to thought leadership on the topic of “Arbitration’s Impact on the Environment and Human Rights?”  Deadline is August 30, 2024.  Details about eligibility and rules can be viewed here.
  2. Later this month our Board will be making decisions about service on the 2024-2025 CalArb Board of Directors and the Executive Committee.  Thank you to all those members who expressed interest in serving in leadership.  For those not appointed to the few slots on the Board or Executive Committee, there will be numerous other opportunities to serve in leadership capacities as committee chairs.
  3. Our first mentorship program will launch in September.  Over thirty young practitioners and law students from all over the globe will participate in a series of sessions that take them through the lifecycle of an international arbitration.
  4. California International Arbitration Week will be held in Los Angeles from March 10-13, 2025.  Requests for Proposals have been sent; responses are due by September 16, 2024.  Interested in presenting?  Submit your proposal here.
  5. Young CalArb is planning an eventful year ahead.  Their first Happy Hour will be in Los Angeles on October 8, 2024.  Stay tuned for information about exactly where and when.  Young CalArb also has committed to submitting regular articles to the Kluwer Arbitration Blog.  Interested in submitting an article or working with a law student or young practitioner on an article?  Contact Katie Connolly at katie.connolly@nortonrosefulbright.com.
  6. Although ICCA is four years away (in May 2028), we are beginning planning now.  We will be forming a CalArb working group in the next few months to start planning how to build support for this momentous event.
  7. CalArb members receive a number of benefits, including a Lexology subscription, inclusion on our website, opportunities to network with international arbitration practitioners, the opportunity to be featured in California Conversations, and other platforms.  If you haven’t joined, please do.  It’s easy.  Click here to join.

That’s it for now.

All my best,
Dana Welch
President, CalArb