ISLP in Kenya with NCIA, White & Case, and Latham & Watkins

ISLP volunteers from White & Case and Latham & Watkins delivered a week-long workshop in Nairobi, Kenya for state counsels from the Office of Attorney General. The aim of this training was to provide practical insights, comparative experience, and best practices to enhance the capacity of the state counsels to effectively negotiate and draft arbitration agreements, as well as handle and resolve international disputes.

The training was implemented in partnership with the Nairobi Centre for International Arbitration (NCIA) and covered essential topics in international commercial arbitration and investor-state dispute resolution, including: protocols, document production, cross examination, ADR in international construction projects, third-party funding, ESG/climate change and arbitration, investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) dispute avoidance, investment treaties, key steps in ISDS arbitration and opening presentations in international arbitration. The week-long training program in Nairobi concluded with a round-table discussion on the newly-revised rules and protocols of the NCIA, which benefited from the substantive input of a fantastic volunteer team from White & Case’s London-based arbitration group.

In the words of one Kenyan lawyer participant, “the training was an eye opener to [me] as a legal practitioner, and the skills obtained will be essential in the practice of investor-state arbitration.” Another stated that “the content and presentations were top notch,” for which we heartily thank our in-country volunteers Robert Wheal, Clare Connellan, and James Holden from White & Case, and Charlie Rae and Isuru Devendra from Latham & Watkins, as well as the extensive teams of colleagues at each firm that contributed in important ways to developing the materials and preparations.