Originally from Pro-Arbitration Revisited: A Tribute to Professor George Bermann from his Students Over the Years

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I. INTRODUCTION: TRIBUTE TO PROF. BERMANN AND THE TWO APPROACHES TO THE PRO-ARBITRATION NOTION

Very few have had the unique opportunity to be taught international investment law and arbitration by the extremely knowledgeable and intellectually curious combination of Professors George Bermann and Kabir Duggal. And even fewer encountered, in parallel, such a smart, pioneer, and forward-thinking group of LL.M. students as Gustavo Favero Vaughn, Gino Rivas, and Elora Farias, are. I was one of those lucky few. Together with Gustavo, Gino, and Elora, we committed and pushed each other to take the most out of our year at Columbia Law School. 

The idea to embark together on the creation of the very first Columbia Law School arbitration practitioners’ Alumni book, is simply a sign of the deep mutual professional and personal respect that we have for each other. And it is even a greater representation of the profound personal respect and professional gratefulness that the entire network of CLS Alumni feels towards our very own Prof. Bermann. As someone who has shaped the legal minds of generation after generation not only in the U.S. but worldwide, no one in the arbitration community deserves this tribute more than Prof. Bermann. Together, we immediately entrusted CLS Professor Kabir Duggal with the responsibility of helping us take the project to life. Unsurprisingly as it is, he excelled and led us through the quite arduous process that culminated in this book that we, today, have the pleasure of not only co-direct but also to contribute to as authors. And, from a personal standpoint, I am even more pleased to bear the responsibility of bringing to this book a chapter dedicated to the Uruguayan—my home country—“pro-arbitration” notion.