This book brings together a group of distinguished academics and practitioners and codifies their discussion of cutting-edge topics in the contemporary law of arbitration. A number of the contributors are members of the American Law Institute’s drafting committee on the Restatement of the Law of International Arbitration, a document likely to have a significant impact on the development and evolution of law in the area. The subject matter of the chapters variously accesses the development of investment arbitration, the difficulties raised by adhesionary arbitration, the problems associated with the State regulation of the arbitral process, the role of courts in acclimatizing the legal system to arbitration, the continued power of contracting parties in establishing and operating arbitrations, and the significance of recent US Supreme Court rulings. A number of the authors have substantial practical experience in the process; all are well-known and regarded in the field. Originally published as a symposium issue of the Penn State Law Review, the volume is intended to provide meaningful insights and useful guidance to students and practitioners of the process alike. The perspective adopted in the considerations is both national and international. The Dean of Penn State Law, Philip J McConnaughay, himself an authority on arbitration, provided invaluable support for the symposium and book project.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Chapter One Contractual Modifications of the Arbitral Process - Hans Smit Chapter Two Ascertaining the Parties’ Intentions in Arbitral Design - George A Berman Chapter Three State Interests and Arbitration: The Russian Model - William E Butler Chapter Four Agreements to Arbitrate and the Predictability of Procedures - Lawrence W Newman Chapter Five Arbitration, Civilization and Public Policy: Seeking Counterpoise between Arbitral Autonomy and the Public Policy Defense in View of Foreign Mandatory Public Law - Christopher S Gibson Chapter Six Private Ordering and International Commercial Arbitration - Christopher R Drahozal Chapter Seven Personal Autonomy and Vacatur After Hall Street - Richard C Reuben Chapter Eight How Congress Can Make a More Equitable Federal Arbitration Act - Richard A Bales and Sue Irion Chapter Nine Empirical Research on Consumer Arbitration: What the Data Reveals - Sarah R Cole and Kristen M Blankley Chapter Ten Consumer Arbitration in the Evolving Canadian Landscape - Geneviève Saumier Chapter Eleven The Emerging Civilization of Investment Arbitration - Andrea K Bjorklund Chapter Twelve The Relevance of the Interests of Third Parties in Arbitration: Taking a Closer Look at the Elephant in the Room - Stavros Brekoulakis Chapter Thirteen Denial of Benefits and Article 17 of the Energy Charter Treaty - Loukas A. Mistelis and Crina Mihaela Baltag Chapter Fourteen Restating the U.S. Law of International Commercial Arbitration - George A Bermann, Jack J Coe Jr, Christopher R Drahozal, and Catherine A Rogers Chapter Fifteen Judicial Approbation in Building the Civilization of Arbitration - Thomas E Carbonneau Index