Type: Upper Class

This course provides an introduction to the international legal regime for the regulation of foreign investment and the resolution of disputes between foreign investors and states before international arbitral tribunals. Investor-state arbitration is an ever-evolving and politically charged field, often involving high-stakes, complex, multi-million-dollar disputes. International investment law is comprised of thousands of bilateral and regional investment treaties, which typically provide investors with similar substantive protections and procedural rights to compel host states into binding international arbitration. This course will include an examination of: the history, objectives, and structure of the investment treaty regime, including the main institutional rules for dispute settlement; jurisdictional requirements of investment treaties; the main substantive investment treaty protections (including guarantees against expropriation without compensation, fair and equitable treatment (FET), non-discrimination, and others); the assessment of damages; and challenges to and enforcement of arbitral awards. This course will also consider the interactions between international investment law and other areas of international law, including human rights.
Completion of International Law or an equivalent course prior to (or concurrently with) taking this course is recommended but not required.