Law and Practice of International Arbitration: Essays in Honor of John Fellas
The Law and Practice of International Arbitration: Essays in Honor of John Fellas is a landmark Festschrift, a commemorative volume of scholarly essays from over 60 authors, celebrating leading international arbitrator John Fellas. Edited by four former NYU LL.M. students of Prof. Fellas from the Covid-shaped class of 2022, this volume gathers essays authored by some of the most distinguished arbitrators, practitioners, and academics in the world. The result is a uniquely rich, cross-jurisdictional treatise that doubles as both a working reference for arbitration practitioners and a heartfelt tribute to a remarkable lawyer, teacher, and arbitrator.
The Law and Practice of International Arbitration is organized into two thematic parts—Jurisdictional and Subject Matter Perspectives—comprising 42 chapters that span the full architecture of contemporary international arbitration. The book explores a wide range of themes in international arbitration, from jurisdictional contrasts and procedural innovations to issues of corruption, contract interpretation, and the role of state sovereignty. Together, the essays offer a rich, global perspective on the evolving practice and theory of arbitration.
Featuring a clearly organized overview of international arbitration, progressing from foundational principles to more advanced and specialized topics. The essays emphasize real-world application, offering insights that are both timely and directly useful to new and experienced practitioners alike.
John Fellas is a full-time, award-winning International Arbitrator with over 30 years of experience. Recognized by Chambers USA as “one of the best,” John has received top honors including Best Lawyers’ “Lawyer of the Year” for International Arbitration (Commercial and Governmental) and Who’s Who Legal’s “Global Elite Thought Leader.” In 2025, he won the Global Arbitration Review Award for Best Prepared/Most Responsive Arbitrator. Prior to becoming a full-time arbitrator, he was co-chair of Hughes Hubbard & Reed’s International Arbitration group, and has served as counsel and arbitrator under all major rules across diverse sectors. John also teaches international arbitration at NYU School of Law and Durham Law School.
Part I - Jurisdictional Perspectives
Chapter 1 - The Supreme Court’s Policy Favoring Arbitration and Its Limits
George A. Bermann
Chapter 2 - The Arbitration Act 1925—Revolutionary or Evolutionary
Hilary Heilbron KC
Chapter 3 - United States Courts Treatment of International Comity and Antisuit Injunctions in International Arbitration
Hagit Muriel Elul
Chapter 4 - A History of Anti-Arbitration Injunctions under English Law
Louis Flannery
Chapter 5 - Witness Preparation, English Law and International Arbitration
Maxwell Pillmore
Chapter 6 - English and New York Approaches to Contractual Interpretation: An Ocean Apart?
Charlie Caher and Steven Finizio
Chapter 7 - A Tale of Good Faith in Two Cities—New York and London: The Implied Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing
Klaus Reichert and Oliver J. Armas
Chapter 8 - Putting It to the Witness: The Differing English and American Approaches to Cross Examination
John M. Townsend
Chapter 9 - Obtaining Evidence in the United States and the Netherlands in Support of Foreign Arbitration Proceedings
Gerard Meijer and Georgios Fasfalis
Chapter 10 - Recent Developments in Japan’s Arbitration and Mediation Frameworks: Modernization, International Alignment, and a Platform for Future Success
Aoi Inoue and Jo Tamura
Chapter 12 - Public-Private Arbitration in Brazil—From the 1990s to the 2020s
Gilberto Giusti and Gustavo Carneiro de Albuquerque
Chapter 13 - The Uncertain Standard: The Fragile Link Between Arbitrator Disclosure and Award Validity in Brazil
Henry G. Burnett, Marcio Vasconcellos and Thaís Harari
Chapter 14 - Taking Culpa Grave Seriously: Recent Arbitral Applications of Gross Fault under Chilean and Colombian Law
David Meza Mantilla
Chapter 15 - Balancing Interests: Regulating Third-Party Litigation Finance in African Common Law Jurisdictions
Derrick Kizito Kunyiga
Part II – Subject Matter Perspectives
Chapter 17 - Rethinking Procedural Order No. 1
Lucy Reed and Lindsay Gastrell
Chapter 18 - No Process—No Enforcement
Julie Arnth Jørgensen
Chapter 19 - Defence and Disregard: Party Autonomy within the Scheme of Control of the Award
Hugo Forno Odría
Chapter 20 - Mid-Stream Tribunal Engagement—An Abuse of Process or a Much Needed Panacea?
Juliet Blanch and Tim Robbins
Chapter 21 - Quest for the Holy Grail: The Continued Search for a Definition of Abuse of Process in International Dispute Settlement
Hon. Charles N. Brower and Timothy McKenzie
Chapter 22 - Law by Constellation: Autonomous Interpretation of Article VI of the New York Convention
Manuel Ferreyros
Chapter 23 - Presumption of Predictability: The Default Rule in International Arbitration
Chiann Bao and Daniel Gaw
Chapter 24 - DMZ v. DNA [2025] SGHC 31—Reflections on Recourses Available Against the Decisions of an Arbitral Institution
Jatan Artur Rodrigues
Chapter 25 - Corruption Allegations and the Evolution of International Arbitral Procedures
Arif Hyder Ali, B. Ted Howes and Kai-Chieh Chan
Chapter 26 - Corrupted by Consent: Arbitral Discretion and Institutional Duties in the Shadow of Tainted Settlements
Gaurika Mohan
Chapter 27 - When Corruption Meets ISDS: Shield, Sword, Escape Hatch, or All of the Above?
Kabir Duggal and Andrés Alvarez Calderón
Chapter 28 - Guerillas in Our Midst
Stephen Pearson, James Egerton-Vernon, and Carla Gharibian
Chapter 29 - Third-Party Funding Initiated Midway Through International Arbitration Proceedings
Ogeday Demirer
Chapter 30 - Behavioral Economics and Arbitrator Selection: How Heuristics and Biases Influence Parties’ Choices
Luciano Benetti Timm and Ana Paula Ribeiro Nani
Chapter 31 - The Impact of Transnationalism on the Interpretation of Commercial Contracts in International Arbitration
Franco Ferrari
Chapter 32 - Three Myths on the Interpretation of Contracts in Civil Law Systems
Philippe Pinsolle
Chapter 33 - Arbitrating Sovereignty? Lessons from Energía y Renovación v. Guatemala and Seda v. Colombia
Lilia Rosa Mendoza Rosales
Chapter 34 - Sovereign Players in the Arena: State-Owned Entities in Investment Arbitration
Stanislav Dobshevich and Natalia Andreeva
Chapter 35 - International Arbitration and the Rule of Law: Balancing Principles, Practice, and Judicial Oversight
Patricia Shaughnessy and Fabrício Fortese
Chapter 36 - Sports Arbitration: What To Expect, Decision-Making, and Fairness in the Game
Can Eken
Chapter 37 - Damages Calculation Issues in International Arbitration Intellectual Property Disputes—An Overview
Stephen S. Strick
Chapter 38 - Cybersecurity in International Arbitration—A Legitimacy Crisis?
Lei Chen and Qian Gao
Chapter 39 - The Durham Influence on Arbitration
Christian Leathley
Chapter 40 - Beyond the Award: The Scope and Extent of Manifest Disregard of the Law
Mauricio Gomm Santos and Ana Carolina Martins Santoro
Chapter 41 - The Mysterious Federal Policy in Favor of Arbitration: Festschrifts Squared
Robert H. Smit
Chapter 42 - Writing (and Publishing) Your Book About International Arbitration
James H. Carter
Hugo Forno Odría is an LL.M. graduate from NYU School of Law (‘21) and a Senior Associate at Garrigues, Lima, Peru.
João Gabriel Campos is an LL.M. graduate from NYU School of Law (‘21) and an Associate at Ferro, Castro Neves, Daltro & Gomide Advogados, São Paulo, Brazil.
Kateryna Shokalo is an LL.M. (Dean’s Graduate Award) graduate NYU School of Law (‘21) and an Associate at Elsberg Baker & Maruri, New York.
Lynn Moubarak is an LL.M. (Dean’s Graduate Award) graduate from NYU School of Law (‘21) and an Associate at Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, New York.
"The person honored in this book is an English gentleman in New York - and no, we are not talking about King Charles III and his visit to New York on 29 April 2026, even though the honoree is as striking as King Charles' speech to Congress. As Lucy
Reed, the former President of the American Society of International Law ("ASIL"), confessed in the Foreword, she was breaking a nearly "unbreakable rule not to contribute to Festschrifts", but could not withhold mentioning that John Fellas is not only a very inspiring English arbitration lawyer practicing for decades in New York, but also someone with an encyclopedic knowledge of music from the 1970s and 1980s - including David Bowie, Elvis Costello, Joni Mitchell, The Cure, The Stones, and the Pauls: both McCartney and Simon. The 42 chapters invite the reader to browse through challenging topics such as "'Leak to Us': From WikiLeaks to International Arbitration; Towards a New Framework for the Admissibility of Illegally Obtained Euidence" by Clara Colboc, "Quest for the Holy Grail: The Continued Search for a Definition of Abuse of Process in International Dispute Settlement" by Hon. Charles N. Brower, and Timothy McKenzie and Philippe Pinsolle's "Three Myths on the Interpretation of Contracts in Ciuil Law Systems". An ideal book for a rainy Sunday when you feel like doing something useful, but are not quite prepared to finally organize your office or your basement."
-Lars Kramm and Stephan Wilske, Transatlantic Journal of Law, Volume 4, Issue 3 (May 2026)
Hugo Forno Odría is an LL.M. graduate from NYU School of Law (‘21) and a Senior Associate at Garrigues, Lima, Peru.
João Gabriel Campos is an LL.M. graduate from NYU School of Law (‘21) and an Associate at Ferro, Castro Neves, Daltro & Gomide Advogados, São Paulo, Brazil.
Kateryna Shokalo is an LL.M. (Dean’s Graduate Award) graduate NYU School of Law (‘21) and an Associate at Elsberg Baker & Maruri, New York.
Lynn Moubarak is an LL.M. (Dean’s Graduate Award) graduate from NYU School of Law (‘21) and an Associate at Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, New York.
"The person honored in this book is an English gentleman in New York - and no, we are not talking about King Charles III and his visit to New York on 29 April 2026, even though the honoree is as striking as King Charles' speech to Congress. As Lucy
Reed, the former President of the American Society of International Law ("ASIL"), confessed in the Foreword, she was breaking a nearly "unbreakable rule not to contribute to Festschrifts", but could not withhold mentioning that John Fellas is not only a very inspiring English arbitration lawyer practicing for decades in New York, but also someone with an encyclopedic knowledge of music from the 1970s and 1980s - including David Bowie, Elvis Costello, Joni Mitchell, The Cure, The Stones, and the Pauls: both McCartney and Simon. The 42 chapters invite the reader to browse through challenging topics such as "'Leak to Us': From WikiLeaks to International Arbitration; Towards a New Framework for the Admissibility of Illegally Obtained Euidence" by Clara Colboc, "Quest for the Holy Grail: The Continued Search for a Definition of Abuse of Process in International Dispute Settlement" by Hon. Charles N. Brower, and Timothy McKenzie and Philippe Pinsolle's "Three Myths on the Interpretation of Contracts in Ciuil Law Systems". An ideal book for a rainy Sunday when you feel like doing something useful, but are not quite prepared to finally organize your office or your basement."
-Lars Kramm and Stephan Wilske, Transatlantic Journal of Law, Volume 4, Issue 3 (May 2026)
Part I - Jurisdictional Perspectives
Chapter 1 - The Supreme Court’s Policy Favoring Arbitration and Its Limits
George A. Bermann
Chapter 2 - The Arbitration Act 1925—Revolutionary or Evolutionary
Hilary Heilbron KC
Chapter 3 - United States Courts Treatment of International Comity and Antisuit Injunctions in International Arbitration
Hagit Muriel Elul
Chapter 4 - A History of Anti-Arbitration Injunctions under English Law
Louis Flannery
Chapter 5 - Witness Preparation, English Law and International Arbitration
Maxwell Pillmore
Chapter 6 - English and New York Approaches to Contractual Interpretation: An Ocean Apart?
Charlie Caher and Steven Finizio
Chapter 7 - A Tale of Good Faith in Two Cities—New York and London: The Implied Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing
Klaus Reichert and Oliver J. Armas
Chapter 8 - Putting It to the Witness: The Differing English and American Approaches to Cross Examination
John M. Townsend
Chapter 9 - Obtaining Evidence in the United States and the Netherlands in Support of Foreign Arbitration Proceedings
Gerard Meijer and Georgios Fasfalis
Chapter 10 - Recent Developments in Japan’s Arbitration and Mediation Frameworks: Modernization, International Alignment, and a Platform for Future Success
Aoi Inoue and Jo Tamura
Chapter 12 - Public-Private Arbitration in Brazil—From the 1990s to the 2020s
Gilberto Giusti and Gustavo Carneiro de Albuquerque
Chapter 13 - The Uncertain Standard: The Fragile Link Between Arbitrator Disclosure and Award Validity in Brazil
Henry G. Burnett, Marcio Vasconcellos and Thaís Harari
Chapter 14 - Taking Culpa Grave Seriously: Recent Arbitral Applications of Gross Fault under Chilean and Colombian Law
David Meza Mantilla
Chapter 15 - Balancing Interests: Regulating Third-Party Litigation Finance in African Common Law Jurisdictions
Derrick Kizito Kunyiga
Part II – Subject Matter Perspectives
Chapter 17 - Rethinking Procedural Order No. 1
Lucy Reed and Lindsay Gastrell
Chapter 18 - No Process—No Enforcement
Julie Arnth Jørgensen
Chapter 19 - Defence and Disregard: Party Autonomy within the Scheme of Control of the Award
Hugo Forno Odría
Chapter 20 - Mid-Stream Tribunal Engagement—An Abuse of Process or a Much Needed Panacea?
Juliet Blanch and Tim Robbins
Chapter 21 - Quest for the Holy Grail: The Continued Search for a Definition of Abuse of Process in International Dispute Settlement
Hon. Charles N. Brower and Timothy McKenzie
Chapter 22 - Law by Constellation: Autonomous Interpretation of Article VI of the New York Convention
Manuel Ferreyros
Chapter 23 - Presumption of Predictability: The Default Rule in International Arbitration
Chiann Bao and Daniel Gaw
Chapter 24 - DMZ v. DNA [2025] SGHC 31—Reflections on Recourses Available Against the Decisions of an Arbitral Institution
Jatan Artur Rodrigues
Chapter 25 - Corruption Allegations and the Evolution of International Arbitral Procedures
Arif Hyder Ali, B. Ted Howes and Kai-Chieh Chan
Chapter 26 - Corrupted by Consent: Arbitral Discretion and Institutional Duties in the Shadow of Tainted Settlements
Gaurika Mohan
Chapter 27 - When Corruption Meets ISDS: Shield, Sword, Escape Hatch, or All of the Above?
Kabir Duggal and Andrés Alvarez Calderón
Chapter 28 - Guerillas in Our Midst
Stephen Pearson, James Egerton-Vernon, and Carla Gharibian
Chapter 29 - Third-Party Funding Initiated Midway Through International Arbitration Proceedings
Ogeday Demirer
Chapter 30 - Behavioral Economics and Arbitrator Selection: How Heuristics and Biases Influence Parties’ Choices
Luciano Benetti Timm and Ana Paula Ribeiro Nani
Chapter 31 - The Impact of Transnationalism on the Interpretation of Commercial Contracts in International Arbitration
Franco Ferrari
Chapter 32 - Three Myths on the Interpretation of Contracts in Civil Law Systems
Philippe Pinsolle
Chapter 33 - Arbitrating Sovereignty? Lessons from Energía y Renovación v. Guatemala and Seda v. Colombia
Lilia Rosa Mendoza Rosales
Chapter 34 - Sovereign Players in the Arena: State-Owned Entities in Investment Arbitration
Stanislav Dobshevich and Natalia Andreeva
Chapter 35 - International Arbitration and the Rule of Law: Balancing Principles, Practice, and Judicial Oversight
Patricia Shaughnessy and Fabrício Fortese
Chapter 36 - Sports Arbitration: What To Expect, Decision-Making, and Fairness in the Game
Can Eken
Chapter 37 - Damages Calculation Issues in International Arbitration Intellectual Property Disputes—An Overview
Stephen S. Strick
Chapter 38 - Cybersecurity in International Arbitration—A Legitimacy Crisis?
Lei Chen and Qian Gao
Chapter 39 - The Durham Influence on Arbitration
Christian Leathley
Chapter 40 - Beyond the Award: The Scope and Extent of Manifest Disregard of the Law
Mauricio Gomm Santos and Ana Carolina Martins Santoro
Chapter 41 - The Mysterious Federal Policy in Favor of Arbitration: Festschrifts Squared
Robert H. Smit
Chapter 42 - Writing (and Publishing) Your Book About International Arbitration
James H. Carter