Jonathan C. Hamilton, comments in “Boom Times for Hosting Arbitrations,” “Focus Latin America,” American Lawyer (2014)

The diversification of international arbitration centers and places of arbitration continues. According to American Lawyer "Focus Latin America,” in a focus on "Boom Times for Hosting Arbitrations," local arbitral institutes in Latin America are providing competition for the usual venues, and experts say there is room for all the new players. The article includes comments by Jonathan C. Hamilton on the negotiation of dispute mechanisms and arbitration institutions and places of arbitration as follows.

“The upper hand is not always in Europe or the United States in these negotiations,” said Jonathan Hamilton, head of Latin American arbitration for White & Case. “Multinationals are already agreeing to diverse arbitration rules -sometimes because they are operating through subsidiaries in these other markets and sometimes because they may be doing business with a very strong company, in Brazil for example.”

Meanwhile Latin American arbitral institutes are springing up to capture a share of the dispute resolution business. Lima, Peru; Santiago, Chile; Bogota, Colombia; Sao Paulo, Brazil; and Mexico City have developed “relatively strong arbitral institutions,” for commercial arbitrations as Latin American countries have modernized their arbitration laws over the past two decades, Hamilton said.

“Those markets have emerged as the stronger crop of regional players,” he said. “Depending on the country, they have relatively modern laws, good infrastructure, and at least one arbitration center with a significant volume of cases that is developing the experience necessary to be a more reliable institution.”

For more information, see the Survey of Latin American Arbitral Institutions.

The upper hand is not always in Europe or the United States in these negotiations. Multinationals are already agreeing to diverse arbitration rules.

Jonathan C. Hamilton