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                   *                       *
                   *       EUROPEAN        *
              &nbp;        *      ARBITRATION      *
                   *                       *
                   *       issue  6.       *
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                                                        June 3rd, 1996.
CONTENTS

:1.  Introduction

2.  Diary of Arbitral Diary of Arbitral Events.

3.  News items.

4.  Feature Article:  Report of last month's On-line Dispute Resolution
                      Conference (held in Washington DC, May 22nd).
 

                      +++++++++++++++++++++

1. INTRODUCTION:

     Issue six follows rapidly on the heels of issue five, but the Diary of
Events is significantly revised ... even extending into 1997 now.
     Thank you for sending the details in.

                                         Michael Chapman
                                         Publisher.
mchapman@zen.dedal.fr.net
 

:         &nbsbsp;               +++++++++++++++++++++

2. DIARY OF EVENTS:

        All contributions to this DIARY are welcome. It is intended both to
be of use to the individual arbitrator in Europe and also to those that have
to plan or schedule meetings.
        Generally, listed meetings will be of at least half-a-day's and more
likely a full day's duration. Evening meetings, etc., are only likely to be
of local interest.
        Also -subject to reader feedback- the emphasis is European. However
as the Diary is intended to help in scheduling meetings, it will include
major world events.

                PLEASE see important note below,
                 before using any of this info.

1996:
-----

June 13-16   Institute of International Business Law and Practice (IIBLP)
              Workshop on:  "International Commercial Arbitration", Parimmercial Arbitration", Paris.
             Many distinguished speakers, the Chairmen include: Pierre
:             Lalive, David Sarre, Serge Lazareff, Lord Mustill, and
             Pierre Karrer.

June 13-15   CIArb, Annual Meeting,
             Tudor Park Hotel, Maidstone, Kent, England.

June 19      CIArb / LCIA / Worshipful Company of Arbitrators.
             'Cost Effective Arbitration - Meeting the User's Needs -
             The Options for the User', London.
             Speakers to include: Prof.Bockstiegel, Lord Ackner and
             Sir Michael Kerr.  (Details from CIArb, see below.)

June 24-28   International Congress of Maritime Arbitrators, Paris.
             ''Does the current system of Maritiurrent system of Maritime Arbitration properly
             serve the interests of the users? Is there a preference that
             the Courts decide maritime disputes? If not arbitration or
             Courts, then what ADR may better satisfy user needs?
             Mediation, Conciliation or ...?''
             (contact: Chambre Arbitrale Maritime de Paris,
                          fax: 00331-45.62.00.17)

June 26-28   LCIA, Conference and Symposium.   Bermuda.
             Wednesday, evening cocktail. Thursday conference:
:             'International Arbitration Reforms and the Growth of World
             Trade'. Friday: symposium.

July 4       'Arbisp;   'Arbitration Bill/Act'. One day meeting, London.
             IBC 0044-171-453-2711. fax: -631-3214.

July 12      CIArb: Adjudication Training.

July 21-26   'International Commercial Arbitration', Eynsham Hall, Oxford.
             The Study Group for Int'l Comm.Contracts. 0044-181-785-7050
             fax: -7649.

Sept. 3-12   CIArb, Diploma in Int'l Comm. Arb., Summer School.
             Keble College, Oxford, England.

Sept. 17-18  'Telecommunications for Arbitrators and Mediators', Geneva.
             Contact: Maggie Frances, InterConnect Communications, Merlin
             House, Station Road, GB-Chepstow-NP6 5PB.
             Tel: +44 1291-620 425, FAX:  -627 119

Sept. 26-28  CIArb, Conference.  Boston, U.S.A.

Oct. 10      'La Mediation', at: CETEL, Mediation', at: CETEL, Faculte de Droit, UNI-MAIL,
:              CH-1211 Geneva 4.  Fax: 0041-22-705 8414.
             A one-day conference in French.

Oct. 10-13   ICCA 1996 Conference: 'Towards an International Arbitration
             Culture', Korea. Contact: Korean Commercial Arbitration Board
             (fax: 00822-551-2020)

Oct. 18-20   LCIA European Council Symposium, Potsdam, Germany.

Oct. 18-20   CIArb/DIS. Special Fellowship Course, Berlin.

Nov. 8-10    European Branch of the CIArb. Biannual Meeting.
             Hotel Ambasciatori, Rome.
             Contact: Dr.Ing. Renato Casalotti  (t/f: 0039-2.55700500)

Nov. 14-16   CIArb. Special Fellowship Course. Paphos, Cyprus.

Nov. 15-16   WIPO Workshop for Arbitrators, Geneva. Instructors: Serge
             Lazareff, Arthur Mnbsp; Lazareff, Arthur Marriott. Jan Paulsson, David Plant, Albert
             Van de Berg, and David Wagoner.

Nov. 16-18   CIArb. Entry Course.  Paphos, Cyprus.

:Nov. 22-24   CIArb. S.F.C. and an Entry Course.  Edinburgh region.
 

1997:
-----

May 16-18     European Branch of the CIArb. Biannual Meeting.
             Strasbourg, France.  Details to be finalised,
             and contact details to be notified.

Please CONFIRM all details directly with organisers, the above material is
drawn from various sources and should not be relied on by itself(!).

NO apologies are made for meetings omitted. If this Diary is to be
efficacious it needs your contributions, please. (In the same format as
above to: mchapman@zen.dedal.fr.net)
 

contact details for frequently  cited organisations:
---------------
CIArb  Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London.
        t: 00441-718-374.483, f: 00441-718-374.185.)
   &n
       BUT NOTE CIArb Branch meetings: make direct contact with
:                                      local organiser, as above.
IIBLP  Institute of International Business Law and Practice, at the
       International Chamber of Commerce, Paris.
        t: 00331-4953-2921, 00331-4953-2867 or 00331-4953-2853,
        f: 00331-4953-2938.
LCIA   London Court of International Arbitration .
        t: 00441-714-178.228, f: 00441-714-178.404
WIPO   World Intellectual Property Organisation, Geneva.
        t:0041-22-730.9111, f: 0041-22-733.5428
 

                      +++++++++++++++++++++

3. NEWS ITEMS:

Interim Relief in Arbitration:
------------------------------
This seems to be one of the developing areas of arbitral practice, or more
precisely of the menu of services that institutional supervisors of
arbitration offer. Many institutions now offer 'expedited', 'fast track' and
similar arbitral rules. Discussions currently are on the desirability of
improved methods for interim relief. The recent (May'96) LCIA Symposium
(Tylney Hall, England) touched on possible approaches that the London Court
:might take.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (contact details as at end of
Diary, above) has now issued a consultation document ('WIPO/ARB/SR/5')
seeking responses by July 31st on a proposed Emergency Interim Arbitral
Procedure. As currently formulated this would allow for appointment from a
panel of arbitrators who have agreed to be available at 24-hours' notice.
The rules would be supplementary (that is parties could opt in when
contracting) and are seen not least as a means to avoid duplication of fora.
If adopted the supplementary rules are likely to come into effect next
January.

Agriculture:
------------
        Peter Brown is keen to make contact with others interested in
agricultural aspects of arbitration. (Commodities, tenancies, livestock,
cros, livestock,
crops,...) He hopes to recreate the Agricultural Special Interest Group of
the CIArb. Anyone interested should contact him at 65 Maltings Wharf,
Manningtree, Essex, CO11 1XE. tel: +44-1206-39.69.30, fax -39.19.19.

Other specialisms:
------------------
        The CIArb has SIG's for Accountants, Insurance, Intellectual
Property and Medicine. I know of colleagues keen to promote cooperation
:within agriculture (see above), pharmaceuticals and telecommunications. I
would be interested to publish a contact list two or three times a year, if
interested readers would care to send in details of their interests and/or
groups to which they belong.

Recent books:
-------------
Yves GUYON, L'Arbitrage. Economica, Paris. 111pp. 49FRF. (1995)
ISBN 9 782717 829044
We don't usually review books, but as this short work is rather interesting
and is not published in English a short note is given.
Despite being a short, low-priced 'pocket book' this work has a wide
coverage. It includes a historical introduction and a conclusion that looks
at the possible future for arbitration. It also includes those extra
sections that publt>
sections that publishers of longer books even love to excise to make a
'shorter' work: an index, and a bibliography, as well as a list of leading
francophone arbitral centres.
Interesting in the introductory chapter Professor Guyon reviews the
perceived advantages of arbitration (speed, economy, expert tribunal) and
concludes that these are largely illusory. The one definite advantage being
confidentiality.
Yves Guyon is professor of business law at Pantheon-Sorbonne, Paris, and
author of numerous books on business law. He is also series editor for the
:collection which the present work comes from.

Software / databases:
---------------------
The Alternative Database. offers material from The Alternative Newsletter on
IBM formatted computer disk in WordPerfect 5.1. The material is from the
last five years of the Newsletter. DISK 1 is the collection of book reviews.
DISK 2 is a database of articles published in law reviews and ADR speciality
journals plus a guide to ADR resources.
The disks are five US dollars each from: James B. Boskey, The Alternative
Newsletter, Seton Hall Law School, 1 Newark Center, Newark NJ 07102-5210,
USA.

    &n>                      +++++++++++++++++++++

4. FEATURE ARTICLE:

                          Report of the

      ON LINE DISPUTE RESOLUTION CONFERENCE HELD IN WASHINGTON,DC
                           MAY 22, 1996

Contacts:
:   Henry H. Perritt, Jr. Professor of Law    perritt@law.vill.edu
   Kenneth P. Mortensen Director of Operations    kmortens@law.vill.edu
      Villanova Center for Information Law and Policy,
      Villanova University School of Law.

   "On May 22, a group of fifty experts in law, technology and information
services concluded a one day meeting in Washington, DC to evaluate the
prospects for specialized "courts" for Cyberpsace.
   The Conference on Online Dispute Resolution was convened by the National
Center for Automated Information ReAutomated Information Research ("NCAIR"), a New York-based law
and technology research foundation, to hear a series of reports on a six
month pilot project for a Virtual Magistrate system, and on the
possibilities for other forms of private dispute resolution on the
Information Superhighway.  The Virtual Magistrate pilot project is a joint
venture of the Cyberspace Law Institute, the American Arbitration
Association, the Villanova Center for Information Law and Policy, and
several online service providers and public interest groups, funded by
NCAIR.  Virtual Magistrates are available to resolve disputes which catch
service providers between conflicting claims over copyright, misuse of
network communications channels, libel or slander.  Such disputes can be
submitted through a World Wide Web page maintained at Villanova, assigned to
a magistrate by the AAA administrator, and resolved within 72 hours.
   Complaints, answers, hearings and awards all are electronic, exchanged
:through specialized Web pages and dockets maintained on the World Wide Web.
In the first case resolved by a virtual magistrate, America Online was
ordered to remove an advertisement offering to provide mailing lists of
ailing lists of
thousands of email addresses.
   Attendees at the May 22 meeting considered the enforceability of Virtual
Magistrate decisions, incentives for service providers and individuals to
use the Virtual Magistrate system, confidentiality of proceedings, and the
relationship between the Virtual Magistrate concept and international
arbitration.  The conference also heard plans for NCAIR supported family
mediation and ombudsman programs conducted through the World Wide Web and
email.

   The conference began on Tuesday evening with a keynote address by Tom
Field, President of Tax Analysts, a pioneer in delivering public information
through electronic formats.  Mr. Field urged the participants to consider a
variety of models for dispute resolution- not only the royal courts of
England, the antecedent of traditional American courts, but also the public
library, an archetypal community which works out and enforces its own rules
through informal custom and procedure.
   Conference participants included Ellen Kirsch, the General Counsel of
America Online; Peter F. Harter, the Public Policy Counsel of Netscape
Corporation, William Olmstead, Associate General Counsel of Associate General Counsel of the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, James Tierney, the former Attorney General of Maine,
:and Charles Richey, United States  District Judge for the District of
Columbia.  Among other things, conference participants considered the
possibility of legislation to provide legal protection against lawsuits for
system operators who refer disputes to Virtual Magistrates, adaptation of
the Virtual Magistrate system to resolve disputes in the federal prisons,
and the role of international treaties in legitimating dispute resolution
systems.  The moderator for the programs was Henry H. Perritt, Jr.,
Professor of Law at Villanova Law School, who encouraged the participants to
be bold in putting into practice a variety of models and techniques for
resolving new kinds of disputes with some of the new tools enabled by new
information technology.  The Internet represents not only new spaces for
social communities, but also a market for commercial transactions, and
presents the potential both for creating and or resolving disputes, he said.
   Virtual Magistrate Executive Director Robert Gellman credited David R.
Johnson, Chairman of Counsel Connect and founder of the Cyberspace Lawunder of the Cyberspace Law
Institute, with organizing the Virtual Magistrate pilot project.
   At the conclusion of the program, NCAIR chairman Timothy Leixner
announced an NCAIR commitment to support another six months of activity by
the Virtual Magistrate system, noting however, that the system must seek
self sufficiency from the various communities interested in the successful
deployment of specialized judging and rulemaking institutions for
Cyberspace.

:   The Virtual Magistrate is accessible on the Internet at
http://www.law.vill.edu.8080.  Papers for the May 22 conference are
available on the Internet at http://www.law.vill.edu/ncair/disres."

                      +++++++++++++++++++++

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END OF THIS ISSUE.