For many years, the Frankfurt Investment Law Workshop – jointly organized by Rainer Hofmann (Frankfurt), Stephan W. Schill (Amsterdam), and Christian J. Tams (Glasgow) – has been a forum for the discussion of foundational issues of international investment law.

The next workshop, to be held on 11-12 March 2016, inquires on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the entry into force of the ICSID Convention into whether, and to what extent, international investment law and investor-State arbitration are ‘engines of legal development’ and have radiating effect in general international law. The workshop does so against the background that international investment law has developed from a highly specialized, and even exotic discipline into international law mainstream. The increasing numbers of investment treaties, proliferating investment disputes, and the negotiation of mega-regionals, such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership or the Trans-Pacific Partnership, attest to this. Topics addressed in presentations to the workshop are the contribution of investment law and investor-State arbitration to the international law of dispute settlement, the law of treaties, and state responsibility. As in previous years, the workshop will bring together academics and practitioners and provide them with a forum for open and frank exchanges.

If you are interested in participating, please contact Sabine Schimpf, Merton Centre for European Integration and International Economic Order, University of Frankfurt by 28 February 2016.

Programme