Originally from the Journal of Damages in International Arbitration

Preview Page

Mr. Sénéchal: I am very grateful to Juris for organizing and leading this event. Let me introduce today’s first panel, panel number three. As you can see in the program, we will discuss the impact of the COVID pandemic on the assessment of damages in international arbitration. That is a very prominent topic today. It is creating a lot of uncertainties, as we know, but as legal professionals or valuation professionals, we know how to deal with uncertainties and risk. We can see that business has been significantly impacted in the last few months, and it is still being impacted. 

This panel will reflect on the past situation related to the COVID-19 pandemic and develop ideas for future arbitral tribunals that could deal with COVID-19-related cases, which will certainly come up in the near future. The panel will discuss the relevant issues from the perspectives of investment arbitration and commercial arbitration, and how valuation practice is impacted.

We will proceed as follows: I will provide a short introduction on the topic of this panel. Then, the three panelists will step in with a different perspective. Irmgard will be the first to provide an evaluation of state measures taken to combat the pandemic from the perspective of investor-state arbitration. Herfried will be the second panelist and present the breaches of contract cases. After that, Roula will provide her presentation from the point of view of a valuation expert. Then, there will be Q&A and a panel discussion. 

Let me say a few introductory words on the panelists. I am Thierry Sénéchal, managing director of Finance for Impact. I will be the moderator. As a financial expert, I have been involved in international arbitrations in the past few years. I started my career working for the United Nations Compensation Commission working with Robert Briner. The UNCC was tasked with valuating and verifying claims brought against Iraq by Kuwait. Over the past years, I have been involved in ICC, ICSID, LCIA arbitrations, and, more recently, in two PCA cases related to the annexation of Crimea by Russia. I will turn now to the three panelists and invite them to introduce themselves. Let’s start with Irmgard, please.