On 5 March, the David D. Caron Praelium 2020: An Annual Celebration of Advocacy will take place at the Metropolitan Club, New York.
The Praelium is an annual celebration of advocacy, with two leading international advocates deploying their oratorical and advocacy skills in the service of important current legal issues before a distinguished three-member tribunal. The event has been renamed to honor the life and legacy of Praelium co-founder Professor David D. Caron, an individual of great humility and kindness whose distinguished career in international law will long serve as a source of guidance and inspiration. The event is being held for the first time in the United States, having previously been held in London.
Three Crowns are co-founders of the event alongside King’s College London and Columbia Law School.
Details of the 2020 Tribunal and Advocates are below.
The Tribunal:
Jean Kalicki
Jean Kalicki is an independent arbitrator, associated with Arbitration Chambers, who specializes in investment disputes and complex international cases; until 2016, she was a Partner at Arnold & Porter LLP. Ms. Kalicki is a Vice President of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), a member of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) Governing Board, and a member of the American Arbitration Association (AAA) Council and International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Commission. She is the co-editor of two books on the future of investor-State dispute settlement and evolution and adaptation in international arbitration. Ms. Kalicki was named Chambers’ only 2019 “Star Arbitrator” in the USA (above Band 1), Global Arbitration Review’s “Best Prepared/Most Responsive Arbitrator” worldwide for 2017; Best Lawyers’ “Lawyer of the Year” for International Arbitration-Governmental in both NY (2017 and 2019) and Washington DC (2016); and one of Law360’s “Five Most Influential Female International Arbitrators” for 2016.
George A. Bermann
George A. Bermann is the Jean Monnet Professor of EU Law, Walter Gellhorn Professor of Law, and the director of the Center for International Commercial and Investment Arbitration (CICIA) at Columbia Law School. He principally teaches courses in transnational dispute resolution (international arbitration and litigation) and European Union law.
He is an active international arbitrator in commercial and investment disputes; chief reporter of the ALI’s Restatement of the U.S. Law of International Commercial and Investor-State Arbitration; coauthor of the UNCITRAL Guide to the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards; chair of the Global Advisory Board of the New York International Arbitration Center (NYIAC); co-editor-in-chief of the American Review of International Arbitration; and founding member of the governing body of the ICC Court of Arbitration and a member of its standing committee.
The Honorable Charles N. Brower
Judge Brower currently serves as Judge ad hoc of the International Court of Justice in three active contentious cases, has been a Judge of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal since 1983, and in the past served as Judge ad hoc of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. He is a member of Twenty Essex Chambers in London and has served as Distinguished Visiting Research Professor of Law at George Washington University Law School. Previously, Judge Brower served as Acting Legal Adviser of the United States Department of State, as Deputy Special Counsellor to the President of the United States, and as a partner at White & Case LLP, where he co-founded the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. Among other honors Judge Brower has been awarded the ASIL Manley O. Hudson Medal, U.C. Berkeley Law School’s Stefan A. Riesenfeld Memorial Award, the ABA Section of International Law’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the ITA-CAIL’s Pat Murphy Award, and GAR’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Advocates:
Christopher Harris QC
Christopher Harris QC is a highly regarded and experienced advocate and arbitrator. His practice spans the full range of complex commercial disputes under English and international law, including industry sectors from banking and finance, through energy and natural resources, to infrastructure projects and corporate finance. Mr Harris QC’s practice focuses on advising and appearing as counsel in commercial disputes before courts and arbitral tribunals in England and internationally. A substantial portion of his professional life is spent on arbitration matters or court applications relating to arbitrations. Alongside his commercial disputes practice, Mr Harris QC has represented investors and States in over 20 investment arbitrations. He is ranked by the directories as a leading QC across five areas of practice (including banking, energy, arbitration and international law) with consistent praise for his advocacy and strategic insight, as well as his ability to work with others to achieve results for his clients.
Kate Brown de Vejar
Kate Brown de Vejar specializes in international commercial and investor-State arbitration. She has represented private corporations, sovereign states and state-owned entities in connection with international arbitrations under the leading institutional and ad hoc arbitration rules (ICSID, UNCITRAL, ICC, LCIA, CANACO, JCAA, etc). She also acts as an arbitrator.
Kate is Vice-President of the LCIA’s Latin American Users’ Council, Co-Chair of the IBA’s Subcommittee on Recognition and Enforcement of Arbitral Awards, and a Board Member of the Arbitration Center for the Construction Industry in Mexico. Who’s Who Legal 2020 lists Kate amongst its most highlyregarded international arbitration practitioners, both globally and in Mexico. She’s an Australian National, a Mexican resident, is Fluent in English, Spanish and French, and is a graduate of the University of Queensland, Australia and Harvard Law School.