LL430E      Half Unit
Investment Treaty Law

This information is for the 2015/16 session.

Teacher responsible

Dr Jan Kleinheisterkamp NAB7.09

Availability

This course is available on the Executive LLM. This course is not available as an outside option.

Available to Executive LLM students only. This course will be offered on the Executive LLM during the four year degree period. The Department of Law will not offer all Executive LLM courses every year, although some of the more popular courses may be offered in each year, or more than once each year. Please note that whilst it is the Department of Law's intention to offer all Executive LLM courses, its ability to do so will depend on the availability of the staff member in question. For more information please refer to the Department of Law website.

Course content

The aim of the course is to introduce students to international investment law and dispute settlement, the latter emphasizing developments in investment treaty arbitration. The course focuses on the public international law rules and institutions that govern investments and investment treaty disputes. The course has four components: (1) the historical, theoretical and policy background behind investment treaties and dispute settlement by arbitration; (2) the rules governing jurisdiction and admissibility of investor-state arbitration cases; (3) the substantive principles and standards – such as national treatment, most-favoured-nation treatment, expropriation, and the minimum standard in international law – that may apply to the investor-state relationships; and (4) recognition and enforcement of investor-state arbitral awards and interaction between international tribunals and national courts. Introduction; policy background. Treaties, institutions, rules. Theoretical perspectives. Jurisdiction: temporal, personal, subject matter. Admissibility: duty to exhaust local remedies, fork in the road. Standards: expropriation. Standards: minimum standard of treatment. Standards: national treatment, most favoured nation treatment. Standards: umbrella clauses, contract/legislation-based investment arbitration. Awards/recognition and enforcement.

Teaching

24-26 hours of contact time.

Formative coursework

Students will have the option of producing a formative exam question of 2000 words to be delivered one month from the end of the module’s teaching session by email.

Indicative reading

R Dolzer and C Schreuer, Principles of International Investment Law (2nd edn, Oxford 2012); G Van Harten, Investment Treaty Arbitration and Public Law (Oxford, 2006); C McLachlan QC, L Shore, M Weiniger, and L Mistelis, International Investment Arbitration: Substantive Principles (Oxford, 2007)

Assessment

Either a take-home examination or 8,000 word assessed essay (100%).

Key facts

Department: Law

Total students 2014/15: Unavailable

Average class size 2014/15: Unavailable

Controlled access 2014/15: No

Value: Half Unit

Guidelines for interpreting course guide information

Personal development skills

  • Communication
  • Specialist skills