Originally from World Arbitration And Mediation Review (WAMR)

Good afternoon, I am Andrea Bjorklund. I am a professor of law that the University of California-Davis and the Chair of the ITA Academic Council. It was a great privilege to have been with you this morning on this 10th anniversary of the ITA-ASIL Conference. Yes, it was 10 years ago that David Caron, Jack Coe, and Chip Brower founded this conference, which is now a stalwart on the arbitration scene. Our outstanding Co-Chairs, Sophie Nappert and Tom Stipanowich have lined up for you this year another stellar cast, whose presentations posed provocative, timely, and I think mostly unanswered questions.

One of the hallmarks of the ITA has been the intersection between practice and the academic, and here we have had a discussion by both academics and practitioners about the existential issues, one might even the say the existential crises, that underpin arbitration.