ISDS: Status Quo, Reform or Reinvention?

Presentation

Laborde Law is pleased to convene a high-level discussion on the opening day of Paris Arbitration Week 2026 about one of the defining questions of our time for international law: Where is investor-State dispute settlement heading—and who will shape its future?

The conference will take place on Monday, 23 March 2026, at the Hôtel Plaza Athénée, Paris, from 14:30 to 18:00, in person (limited seating) and via Zoom.

Join leading academics, state officials, corporate counsel, practitioners and arbitrators for an examination of the evolving global architecture of investor-State dispute settlement.

Through two complementary panels, this afternoon will explore whether ISDS is undergoing gradual reform, systemic transformation, or something even more fundamental.

The discussion will be preceded by a lunch and a session on the neuroscience of effective advocacy and leadership, co-organised with ARBalance, together with Racial Equality for Arbitration Lawyers (R.E.A.L.) and the Vienna International Arbitral Centre (VIAC).

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Arbalance | 11:00 - 12:30 (registration for this session is available via the separate calendar entry.)

Winning the Room: The Neuroscience of Effective Advocacy and Leadership

This session explores the biology behind effective advocacy and leadership–how your nervous system state shapes the way you think, speak, and persuade, and how learning to read those same states in others can transform the way you show up and lead the room.

• Amanda Lee, Founder, ARBalance
• Yulia Polyakina, Counsel, Laborde Law and Mental Health Advocate
• Ema Potocnik, Director, VIAC CAN
• Kabir Duggal, Partner, Akin

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Lunch

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Panel I | 14:30 – 16:00

Resistance or Reform? The Future of Investment Arbitration

The first panel will showcase a one-to-one debate between a leading representative of the investor perspective and a leading critic of the system. The discussion will address in particular:

• The proposal for a Multilateral Investment Court; and
• Shareholder claims and power to regulate, amid the most central issues being considered at UNCITRAL Working Group III.

Speakers:

• Tom J. Sikora, Senior Counsel, ExxonMobil Corporation
• Colin Brown, recent head of the EU Delegation in UNCITRAL WGIII

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Panel II | 16:30 – 18:00

The EU v. Investment Arbitration: From Collision to Confrontation?

The second panel will feature a roundtable discussion on the ongoing enforcement battles pitting intra-EU award creditors against the European Union across the world. The panel will consider how this enforcement saga is a part of the wider structural tension between EU policy and investment arbitration.

Speakers:

• Professor George A. Bermann, Professor, Columbia Law School
• Professor Dan Sarooshi KC, Barrister, Essex Court Chambers & Oxford University
• Ramona Ianus, Case Manager - DG Competition, European Commission

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Cocktail Reception | 18:00 – 19:00

Moderator: Gustavo Laborde, Laborde Law