The Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) Presents Academy Annual Lecture Featuring Professor Zachary Douglas KC

In this lecture, Professor Zachary Douglas KC will demonstrate how the decline in ethical standards is linked to the indeterminacy of investment law. He will argue that where substantive outcomes depend more on the particular constitution of the tribunal and less upon the principled, consistent and coherent application of the law, then focus unduly shifts to the profiles of the individual arbitrators and the potential upside of having them excluded from the process or otherwise compromised through tactical challenges. Professor Douglas will explore how indeterminacy encourages the mobilisation of huge resources in terms of the length and scope of pleaded cases despite the diminishing returns for the administration of justice of such expenditure. The lecture will further look at how indeterminacy in the rules applying to the assessment of damages has also produced some instances of highly publicised windfall recoveries, raising the financial stakes for counsel and experts as repeat participants in the system and creating incentives to downplay their duties to the tribunal. Professor Douglas will map out some ideas for improving the predictability of investment law.