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Bridge of the Americas: The Panama Convention and Latin American Commercial Arbitration

Brief Summary: JONATHAN C. HAMILTON, WHITE & CASE. At the edge of Panama City, on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal, the "Bridge of the Americas" stands at the crossroads of the Americas. It was in Panama that Latin America met a crossroads with respect to the resolution of international disputes through arbitration—and concluded the 1975 Panama Convention. This essay discusses how the legal framework of international commercial arbitration has evolved and considers the role of the Panama Convention in principle and in practice, the efficacy of the Panama Convention in light of the ratification of the 1958 New York Convention across Latin America, and arbitral precedents in jurisdictions across Latin America.

2009
University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law
DOWNLOAD PDF: Three Decades of Latin American Commercial Arbitration

At the edge of Panama City, on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal, the "Bridge of the Americas" stands at the crossroads of the Americas. It was in Panama that Latin America met a crossroads with respect to the resolution of international disputes through arbitration—and concluded the 1975 Panama Convention.  This essay discusses how the legal framework of international commercial arbitration has evolved and considers the role of the Panama Convention in principle and in practice, the efficacy of the Panama Convention in light of the ratification of the 1958 New York Convention across Latin America, and arbitral precedents in jurisdictions across Latin America.

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