From the Editor | Rio de Janeiro and Beyond

Rio de Janeiro and Beyond:
Arbitration and Latin Investment

Brazilians call football jogo bonito - the beautiful game. As the 2010 World Cup approached, Latin America hosted the world's largest arbitration conference for the first time. When delegates gathered at Pão de Açúcar in Rio de Janeiro for the opening ceremony of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration ("ICCA") Congress, the sense of optimism in the air underscored the extent to which Brazil and Latin America have come to embrace another "beautiful game" - arbitration.

In this context, the timing for the launch of Latin Arbitration Law could not be better. Latin Arbitration Law looks to be a critical player in the field of arbitration, offering a compendium of analysis and information on Latin American arbitration and investment. Latin Arbitration Law is trilingual, free and features insights from leading observers across the region, as well as country profiles, streaming news and more.

This publication has been a long time in the making. When I first visited Rio over three decades ago, Brazil, like the rest of the region, was far from adopting the legal framework necessary to facilitate confidence in arbitration. When I worked in Peru in the mid-1990s, Latin American arbitration remained mostly a dream. Today, arbitration law is a vibrant component of investment decisions, economic development and dispute resolution throughout Latin America, relevant to businesspeople, transactional lawyers, policymakers, governments and dispute lawyers alike.

Arbitration is not only a "game" for lawyers but also a tool for business and for economic development. The availability of reliable dispute resolution mechanisms minimizes the risks of doing business across borders in Latin America and beyond. For companies and governments alike, arbitration can be central to the management of investment risks.

The Rio event was a marker for the past, present and future of Latin American arbitration law - and the importance of a publication dedicated to Latin Arbitration Law - at the turn of this decade.

• Antecedents. Things were not always so beautiful. The history of arbitration in the region is marked by antipathy. Latin America was perceived as a hostile environment for international dispute resolution due to unreliable courts, a cultural disdain for arbitration and the difficulty of enforcing judgments. The lack of reliable dispute resolution mechanisms was an impediment to economic growth. Latin Arbitration Law addresses these antecedents through a range of articles on the evolution of arbitration law.
• 1990s - Consolidating the Legal Framework. Starting in the 1990s, most Latin American countries adopted a host of legal and policy changes aimed at promoting free markets. At the same time, they gradually changed their policies with respect to arbitration. The legal framework for international arbitration was constructed almost from the ground up in many counties - treaty ratification by treaty ratification, law by law, jurisdiction by jurisdiction. Latin American states overhauled their domestic arbitration laws, and ratified arbitration treaties and investment treaties that provide for arbitration. Latin Arbitration Law surveys the legal framework "country briefs" for numerous jurisdictions.
• 2000s - Expansion. The changes in the legal framework created the foundation for a significant increase in the volume of arbitrations related to Latin America., including significant growth in domestic arbitration in the region. Simultaneously, the combination of a legal framework for investment disputes and the subsequent frustration of foreign investors led to an explosion of investment arbitration in Latin America. Latin Arbitration Law tracks legal changes through the Compendium of Latin American Arbitration Law and articles by leading lawyers throughout the region.
• 2010s - Maturation. At the start of this decade, commercial arbitration continues its growth across Latin America. Notably, Latin American arbitral institutions play an increasingly significant role in the management of domestic and also international disputes. Most, if not all, of the time, courts across the Americas give aid to arbitration. At the same time, investment arbitration related to Latin America continues to grow notwithstanding high profile steps by countries like Bolivia and Ecuador to denounce and terminate treaties that provide for international arbitration. Hints of the demise of arbitration are overstated. Troubling developments in one or two markets have not stopped the ratification of additional investment treaties or the growth of commercial arbitration across the region. The arbitration legal framework put into place over many years otherwise remains in place. Latin Arbitration Law describes and will continue to track the developments in the region.

Latin America has become a legal environment in which arbitration is part of a toolbox of dispute resolution mechanisms that may include commercial arbitration, treaty disputes, litigation, enforcement proceedings, workouts, negotiations and settlements-sometimes all at once. When investments in the region go sour, they often spawn a combination of potential contract and treaty-based arbitrations.

These are signs of the maturation and viability of Latin arbitration law going forward, and of the relevance of this publication. Latin Arbitration Law: Bookmark it, and enjoy the beautiful game.