Curriculum Guide · Courses

Professors David Bowker and Mark Joelson

LL.M Seminar 888 (cross-listed) | 3 credit hours

The seminar will be a combination of the theoretical and practical aspects of international commercial arbitration, with an emphasis on the practical. Its centerpiece will be the handling of a mock international arbitration case from the drafting of the arbitration agreement to the drafting of a final award, with units in between on the appointment and challenge of arbitrators, discovery of documents, and a live arbitration hearing. Teams of students will participate (as counsel to the parties) in the negotiation of arbitration agreements, in the drafting of motions and replies, in oral argument on such issues as the disqualification of arbitrators and the production of documents in discovery, in the hearing in a case, and in brief writing. Playing the role of arbitrators, students will also write final arbitral awards.

To the extent time permits, the course will also consider a handful of the many difficult and, to a large extent, still unanswered questions of national and international law that are emerging as the practice of international arbitration expands, including choice of law issues and, particularly in the United States, issues of the relation between federal and state laws.
The course will be limited to 12 students. It will meet once a week for two hours. There will be no final exam.

Prerequisite: A general course in international commercial arbitration. Students not having this precise prerequisite but having had a course in arbitration generally or substantial law practice experience in arbitration may apply for admission to the course by emailing Professor Joelson at joelsonmr@msn.com.

This course does not meet the J.D. writing requirement (WR).