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

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I. AN APPEAL TO THINK TWICE

“Those who practice in the field, especially at the international level, are not only heavily engaged in international arbitration, but they also are heavily engaged by it.”

George A. Bermann, 34 (2018) ARB. INT‘L. 341, 341

A number of events have shaken the practice of international arbitration since Professor George A. Bermann shared the above observation in his 2018 paper on what it means to be “pro-arbitration.” His description, however, appears no less fitting today. Years into a pandemic which has profoundly impacted the arbitration enterprise and shifted most of it to the virtual space, the commitment of arbitration practitioners to the health and well-being of their field remains unfettered. More recently, devastating military conflict in Europe has been a reminder of how important it is to foster peaceful and rules-based means of dispute settlement on the international plane.

That a highly active arbitration community exists, and that this community is particularly concerned with the arbitration-friendliness of policies and the decisions which they entail, is in part the merit of figures like Professor Bermann himself. His thinking has motivated—and continues to motivate—a significant number of students and young practitioners across the world to partake in the arbitration debate and enrich it with their views.