Every two years the top international arbitration professionals and legal scholars from around the globe gather at the International Council for Commercial Arbitration's Congress, or "ICCA Congress," as it is commonly known, to discuss the latest topics and trends in the field. For the first time since the 1980s, the ICCA Congress is returning to the United States next week. The event will take place in Downtown Miami on April 6 through April 9 at the InterContinental hotel. More than 1,000 people are expected to attend this year's event. The fact that Miami has been chosen as the city to host the event is recognition of Miami's rise as an important international arbitration venue, joining the ranks of cities like New York, Paris and Hong Kong.
Propelling its rise to international arbitration stardom is the fact that Miami has emerged as Latin America's destination of choice for the resolution of complex, high value commercial disputes. The rapid growth of the Latin American economies and their growing acceptance of arbitration as a form of alternative dispute resolution (in part, because it is able to provide a greater degree of privacy and confidentiality than a public court proceeding) has fueled a substantial increase in the referral of disputes to arbitration in recent years. The International Center for Dispute Resolution reports that 128 arbitrations were filed in Miami in 2013, compared to only 49 in 2010. The expectation is that filings will far exceed that number in 2014. And, these numbers do not reflect arbitrations filed with the International Chamber of Commerce ("ICC"), another popular institution for resolving important international disputes.
Among the most notable filings is the recent Panama Canal dispute over the excess cost of the canal's expansion. The expansion project has been plagued from the start by chronic delays which are estimated to have cost millions of dollars in lost shipping revenues. An ICC arbitration tribunal seated in Miami will hear the dispute between an international consortium of infrastructure firms and the Panama Canal Authority over $1.6 billion in cost overruns. The parties have already selected a Madrid-based arbitrator and a London-based arbitrator to comprise the tribunal. The third arbitrator has yet to be selected.
The fact that Miami is the seat of such an important, multibillion-dollar, international dispute speaks volumes about the city's emergence as a top venue for Latin American disputes. While the range and extent of advantages to conducting international arbitrations in South Florida are vast, Miami provides a strategic geographic location, a welcoming and fostering environment, and a similar culture.
An important factor in determining the location of any arbitration is the convenience of the location. A location that is inconvenient, expensive, or unsafe will affect the availability of counsel, arbitrators and witnesses. Because of its proximity to Latin America, Miami is privy to one of the most strategic locations in the world for arbitrations involving Latin America. Miami has a multilingual and multicultural workforce; experienced and bilingual court reporters, stenographers and videographers; world-class hotels and an ever-expanding international airport with connections throughout the world. In fact, Miami has more direct flights to Latin America than any of the other important arbitration cities like New York, London, Paris or Hong Kong. And, considering that the cost of services and the legal rates in Miami can be up to 60 percent lower than in any of the other traditional international arbitration venues, Miami is an absolute bargain.
Effective July 1, 2010, Florida became a "Model Law" jurisdiction by enacting the Florida International Commercial Arbitration Act, which substantially adopts the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration. This adds a sense of predictability to the arbitration process by providing a familiar legal platform and framework for many international practitioners. Additionally, the act does not restrict the choice of arbitrators to U.S. attorneys, but allows anyone, regardless of their nationality, to act as an arbitrator. The obvious significance of this framework is that parties are not required to use Florida-based counsel, but may instead use their trusted counsel of choice from anywhere in the world to handle their disputes.
On Dec. 17, 2013, the Miami-Dade County Circuit Court announced the creation of an International Arbitration Court "designed exclusively to handle international commercial arbitration matters." The court, a subdivision of Miami-Dade's Complex Business Litigation court, will feature specially trained judges to hear international arbitration matters. Although Miami has in recent years seen an exponential increase in the number of international arbitrations and related proceedings, few state court judges are familiar with this specialized area of the law. Designated judges will be better able to address the complex issues that arise in the international arbitration context. Overall, this will add consistency and predictability to the process. This court is only the second international arbitration court in the United States and one of only a handful across the globe.
Miami presents a fully trilingual environment in which Latin Americans feel as though they are — as indeed often is the case — in their second home. Many South Florida attorneys speak Spanish and Portuguese, and are able to handle all aspects of an international arbitration in English, Spanish, or Portuguese, or any combination of the three languages. But, perhaps more importantly, local practitioners understand the culture. Understanding the Latin American culture is more than just about speaking the language. The ability to understand the extent to which cultural norms affect concepts of fairness, patterns of negotiation, or even beliefs regarding the proper method of resolving disputes are just as important to a successful arbitration.
Given the range of advantages to conducting international arbitration in Miami, it is no wonder that the city was chosen to welcome ICCA back to the United States. Offering a familiar legal framework, a supportive infrastructure, and a bench and bar committed to fostering South Florida's role as an international arbitration center, but at a fraction of the cost of the more traditional arbitration venues, Miami was the logical choice.
This article is reprinted with permission from Law360.
