GAR Live: Technology Disputes 2024
20th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94111
Event summary
Cooley was proud to host the first edition of the GAR Live: Technology Disputes conference, which took place as part of California International Arbitration Week.
The inaugural conference in San Francisco brought together leading practitioners from the US and internationally to discuss the notable developments happening in the world of technology – and the increased risk of disputes likely to follow. The event included high-level discussion around topics such as how we define a tech dispute, drafting suitable clauses, investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) and tech, and a Global Arbitration Review debate on blockchain arbitration.
An audience of arbitrators, counsel, in-house practitioners, expert witnesses and more networked, debated, and analyzed the pressing developments in a sector that’s potentially ripe with disputes.
Featured agenda item
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 | 12:00 – 1:15 pm PDT
ISDS Tech Disputes – An Incoming Wave?
Cooley partner Rachel Thorn presented at this session, along with Catherine Amirfar, partner at Debevoise & Plimpton, and Mark Stadnyk, senior legal counsel at thyssenkrupp nucera. The session was moderated by Brody Greenwald, partner at White & Case.
As governments start to implement more stringent regulation on tech-related industries, companies may feel, or foresee, significant impact on their business models. Will those changes in regulation lead to investor-state claims by tech investors? In this session, our panel examined the issues and possibilities – and suggested what the future may look like in this space for companies and governments.
The panelists discussed:
- Do states have a clearer right to regulate the tech sector in the public interest?
- Will this new regulatory landscape be the basis for new ISDS claims?
- How likely are such claims to succeed, and what would their real objective be?
Wednesday, March 13, 2024 | 4:00 – 5:15 pm PDT
The GAR Live Debate
Cooley partner Marc Suskin participated in this Oxford Union style debate, where attendees heard teams of debaters argue in favour of, or against, the following motion: This house believes that blockchain arbitration will go the way of bell bottoms and disco.
A panel of judges voiced opinions on what had been heard, before choosing which side to support and giving reasons for their decisions.
For more information, please email Sydney Sachs.
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