The Practitioner's Handbook on International Commercial Arbitration provides concise country reports on important jurisdictions for international arbitral proceedings, as well as commentaries on well-known arbitration rules which are frequently incorporated in international legal agreements. Most international commercial contracts now include an arbitration clause as an alternative to resolving disputes in the state courts. This second edition of the Practitioner's Handbook includes newly updated country chapters, expanded international coverage and commentary on the most important arbitration rules worldwide. It is written by world-leading arbitration practitioners and academics and combines a practical approach with in-depth legal research and analysis of important national and international case law. The book is unique in its coverage, providing uniformly designed country reports and thorough commentaries on internationally recognized arbitration rules in just one volume. There are individual chapters for the following countries: Austria, Belgium, China & Hong Kong, England, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, USA. Each country report covers: jurisdiction, the tribunal, arbitration procedure, the award, amendments and challenge to the award, liability of arbitrators and enforcement of national awards; and provides details of national arbitration laws, arbitral institutions in the jurisdiction, model arbitration clauses and a bibliography, including a list of key judicial decisions. The first edition was reviewed as "an outstanding book" and "an extremely useful tool". The work is an indispensable one-stop reference point for lawyers drafting international arbitration clauses or handling arbitration proceedings in different countries.

The chapters of this volume represent the majority of Professor Carbonneau’s scholarly writings on the subject of international commercial arbitration. They reflect his interest over the course of thirty years of law-teaching in international litigation, comparative law, and-of course - international arbitration. Some of the chapters are of a recent vintage, while others were written a decade or two ago. Whatever their date of production, the chapters have a continuing professional interest. Each addresses some of the major issues of trans-border arbitration law. A number of chapters emphasize the importance of courts in developing and maintaining a legal culture that is hospitable to arbitration. The work of the courts has been instrumental to the reception of arbitration in the United States and in several European jurisdictions. The courts can “make or break” arbitration by upholding arbitration agreements and enforcing arbitral awards. Other chapters underscore that arbitration can operate as a complete legal system. It not only provides workable trial procedures, but arbitrators can also create law in their rulings. With the addition of an internal arbitral appellate mechanism, arbitrations can function with almost absolute independence. The world law on arbitrations seems to favor the “a-national” and “a-juridical” operation of the arbitral process. A few of the chapters recognize that arbitration is being increasingly employed to resolve political or mixed political and commercial disputes. Investment arbitration and BITs are the most recent expression of this development; it had been apparent in WTO and NAFTA dispute resolution. The Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal presented the first great occasion for assessing the vocation of arbitration in a mixed dispute situation. While arbitration has made significant inroads in this area, political sovereignty remains resistant to the imposition of limitations. In many less visible “political” cases, determinations are nonetheless made and rendered enforceable. The concluding chapters address more specific developments in the field of ICA. A number of cases point to the strong, perhaps overweening, support of the judiciary for arbitration. The courts in some jurisdictions support arbitration unequivocally and are bent upon a single outcome no matter the impact on doctrine. Lawyer presence in the arbitral process has lead to increased formalization in some proceedings. The “judicialization” of arbitration tilts the process toward the protection of rights and hinders its ability to function effectively and reach finality. Lawyers can readily misunderstand and undermine the gravamen of arbitration. The concluding chapters also establish that the UK Arbitration Act 1996 is one of the world’s outstanding arbitration statutes. It rivals and bests the UNCITRAL Model Law on ICA and is the equal of the French codified law on arbitration. Finally, the express text of the New York Arbitration Convention appears to have been altered significantly by court practice. The possible limitations of national law have been neutralized and the provisions of the Convention articulate a truly trans-border regulation of the enforcement of awards. In sum, the chapters in this book reflect the author's lifetime work in the area of international arbitration and are required reading for all those practicing in the field- law students, arbitrators, academics and practicing lawyers.

This open-access book brings together international experts who shed new light on the status of social enterprises, benefit corporations and other purpose-driven companies. The respective chapters take a multidisciplinary approach (combining law, philosophy, history, sociology and economics) and provide valuable insights on fostering social entrepreneurship and advancing the common good. In recent years, we have witnessed a significant shift of how business activities are conducted, mainly through the rise of social enterprises. In an effort to target social problems at their roots, social entrepreneurs create organizations that bring transformative social changes by considering, among others, ethical, social, and environmental factors. A variety of social enterprise models are emerging internationally and are proving their vitality and importance. But what does the term “social enterprise” mean? What are its roots? And how does it work in practice within the legal framework of any country? This handbook attempts to answer these questions from a theoretical, historical, and comparative perspective, bringing together 44 contributions written by 71 expert researchers and practitioners in this field. The first part provides an overview of the social enterprise movement, its evolution, and the different forms entities can take to meet global challenges, overcoming the limits of what governments and states can do. The second part focuses on the emergence of benefit corporations and the growing importance of sustainability and societal values, while also analyzing their different legal forms and adaptation to their regulatory environment. In turn, the last part presents the status quo of purpose-driven companies in 36 developed and emerging economies worldwide. This handbook offers food for thought and guidance for everyone interested in this field. It will benefit practitioners and decision-makers involved in social and community organizations, as well as in international development and, more generally speaking, social sciences and economics.